Lane Kwederis investigates the point of flyers

Written by: Lane Kwederis
Published: Sunday 23rd July 2023

There's one thing that passes through everyone's hands in the Fringe more than tickets, beer, or a good consensual grope. They litter the streets yet put those butts into seats: Flyers.

You might think that in today's digital age, this form of advertising would be extinct but the flyer still reigns supreme. My question, as a first time flyerer, is why?.

Why does this seemingly outdated piece of cardboard still help sell most tickets for Fringe shows? What is it about flyering that works and how do you stand out among a sea of discarded pamphlets? I asked other Fringe performers about their experiences to help me figure out how to stand out with my little piece of paper.

Award winning Canadian comedian, Lief Oleson-Cormack, who will be performing The Disney Delusion alongside me at Underbelly Bristo Square admitted, "My first stab at flyering was brutal. Most people would walk away before I could finish the first sentence of my pitch. Some thought I was asking them for change, others thought I was hitting on them. I became so desperate to avoid being rejected as myself that I wound up taping a bunch of my show posters to my clothes and started marching around the grounds like some kind of narcissistic mummy. And it worked! People were suddenly way more responsive to hearing my pitch and that night I wound up with a nearly-filled house. Which goes to show that when it comes to flyering, it's better to be crazy than to be yourself."

NYC comedian, Katy Berry, who has been to the Fringe numerous times with Baby Wants Candy and now brings her solo show Diamond Goddess Crystal Pussy to Just the Tonic this year, told me that, "People are inundated with flyers. If you give them literally anything else (a piece of candy, a keychain, a sticker), people suddenly say 'Oooh!' Also, if you use flimsy paper... Honey, you're doomed. I like my flyers like I like my men... THICK."

In addition to a well-hung flyer, it seems that creativity is key. West End performer Chris Fung confirmed this by saying, "Many look hungrily for novel ways to flyer at the Fringe. It's a rite of passage. There was a show set in the back of a pizza store one year, so one plucky theatre maker had custom pizza boxes printed and delivered pizzas strategically to punters to get them in. In that vein, THE SOCIETY FOR NEW CUISINE will try something different this year. Instead of A5 flyers, they have business cards to recruit for their cult."

The other issue is that you have to find a hook to even be able to hand a passerby your flyer. Comedian Lauren Gamiel, who brought One Single Thread to Greenside came up with the brilliant idea of holding her flyer (featuring her headshot) next to her face and asking frantically, "Have you seen this woman?!" She said it gave people a good laugh and they immediately opened up and wanted to talk to her. "I had way more people attend my show when I spent a long time talking to a few people rather than handing out flyers to as many as possible."

I've learned that flyering is much less about the flyer itself (though make sure that flyer is well hung or you will be rejected by one Katy Berry). It's more about really talking to each other and making a real connection. People come to the Fringe to meet people and flyering is all about that. That is what still makes The Flyer king in the biggest theatre festival in the world! They're a vehicle for creating bonds between the audience and the performers before the show even begins and experiencing all of that chaotic energy together. That is the why I was searching for.

So how will I be flyering for my show Sex Job, a comedy show about my day job as a financial dominatrix? I'm going to make it a point to really connect with people... about sex and kink! Keep your eye out for me. I'll be the one in the red latex passing out lube.