Im trying to start a small comedy night in asmall function room at my local pub in Warrington. The room holds up to 40 people.
I need advice where I can find stand-ups who are starting out and not looking to be paid too much. Plus any ideas or advice anyone may have to make the night go well.
Well you could advetise here or Chortle or there's a sort of Chortle North.
You'll get the comedians soon enough.
Have a look here, http://www.manchestercomedyforum.co.uk/phpBB3/index.php and for advice on setting up comedy nights have a look in the "Chortle Gold" section on http://forums.chortle.co.uk
Also, if you have a look in the "Performance" section on this very forum (down the bottom of the main menu) there's some threads in their which will be of assistance.
Good luck. 
Thought I'd save you a bit of time and copy Tony and my comments over for you.
Quote: Tony Cowards @ January 20 2011, 10:58 AM GMTA few quick bits of advice;
1. Find a supportive venue, one which will allow you to put up posters and flyers around the place, if they'll help you sell tickets so much the better.
2. Put the gig on in a separate room, not the main part of the pub and restrict entrance to people who specifically want to watch the comedy.
3. Charge an entrance fee, even if it's a nominal amount (£2 or £3), this does two things, firstly it gives you a budget to pay a headline act who'll hopefully entice people to stay until the end of the show and secondly, if the audience have actually invested in the night they are more likely to stay AND behave themselves a bit better.
4. Make sure you have a decent PA. The audience need to be able to hear the comedians clearly. You can be the best stand up in the world but if they can't hear you they won't laugh.
5. Make sure the lighting is okay. A lot of stand up comedy is visual, a comic's facial movements or body language can make a big difference to the experience, the audience need to be able to see this. Also make sure the stage is well lit but the audience are in relative darkness, audiences relax more if they are hidden slightly in the shadows, nothing kills laughter more than bright light on the audience.
6. Advertise as much as possible, it is impossible to promote a gig too much, acts are easy to find, audience members are not.
7. Try to get a decent compere. An experienced compere can make all the difference to a comedy night, an inexperienced MC with a procession of inexperienced open spots is a recipe for disaster. A really good MC can hold the night together even if the other acts are bombing.
8. Try to be discerning with your booking. I know that this might be anathema to the ethos of an open mic night but try to balance giving everyone a chance with maintaining the quality of the night, after all you need to entertain an audience and try to ensure that they come back again.
9. Don't allow the night to drag on, try to be quite harsh with timings, if people are doing a 5-7 minute spot make sure they know that at 6 mins they should be preparing to get off stage no matter how much they are enjoying it. Have a system where you can flash/wave a light (red bike lights work well for this) when acts should be wrapping up. Audiences get fidgety and need to get home, you might not have work the next day or babysitters to get back to but the audience probably do.
10. Have several intervals. This allows the audience to stay refreshed and means that they won't be coming and going too much during the acts. try to keep sections of the show to 40-45mins, any longer than that and you'll have people getting up to go to the toilet or the bar.
Anyway, that's a few pointers, if you need any more advice or tips feel free to get in touch... oh and if you need an experienced MC or decent closing act I'm based in Wiltshire and relatively cheap!
Quote: Nat Wicks @ January 20 2011, 3:31 PM GMTHave to agree with everything Tony says.
Don't be one of those nights which have 15 open spots all going 5 minutes. Those are not fun to play or watch IMO. Start off with a 10 minute spot from a more experienced open spot, and then a couple of 5 minute spots. Interval. 2-3 more 5-7 minute spots. Interval. PAID headliner doing 20 minutes. Also, like Tony Said, make sure you have a good MC. For the love of god, don't do it yourself! Put some feelers out, try to find a slightly more experienced comic who is on the verge of turning pro and see if they are interested in a regular compare spot. It's good for them because they ge to build up MC skills and it's good for you as you have someone good who can be a permanent fixture and build a relationship with the sudience. If you have a likable MC, that might be enough to get you a core fan base.
Advertise on Facebook and comedy forums such as this and chortle, set up a temporary website or blog for the club, because people WILL Google it. But also make sure you have some physical advertising too. You need posters around the venue and some locals shops/cafes etc and you need to flyer- once a week, a day or two before the gig. if you flyer 200 people, and the flyers look good, and you're not in direct competition you might pull in 20 people. Might. While it seems a lot of effort for not loads of people, you need to be doing this while you're not established. Also, make sure you have a mailing list so you can take peoples' emails at the gig. If you say to the audience before an interval "if you join the mailing list, you can have a fun sized mars bar!" you will be amazed how easily people are swayed!
Try to look as professional as you can- if you have friends who are great at graphics etc, see if they will give you a hand with flyer/poster designs. The way your club looks will have a big impact.
See if the pub will put a little money in- £50 a time will pay for your printing and flyering costs, and will be a good way of getting people in. £100 will pay for that, plus a bit of money for a headliner. One person generally spends around £10 at a comedy night on drinks alone, so if you're getting in even 20 people that's already £200 the bar wouldn't normally be getting. If the pub won't put money in, email about and see if you can get any sponsorship money.
GOOD LUCK.
Moving this thread to Performance Discussion.
