Panning for Acts.
I’ve spent most
of the morning sending out texts and emails, trying to book some interesting acts for Mostly Comedy
in the New Year.
By being lucky
enough to have such excellent line-ups in 2014, we’ve created a rod for our own
back. In recent months we’ve had – and will have - Phill Jupitus, Stewart Lee,
Kevin Eldon, Richard Herring, John Thomson and Sean Hughes, all of which sold
out; some, weeks in advance. We now have to maintain the same level to keep the
night selling, and to meet our audience's expectations.
It’s not an awful
position to be in. It still excites me to have these people on the bill. I
would never have anticipated it when we started it. I see it as a challenge to see
who we can get next. It’s fun to aim big. There’s no harm in asking somebody
high profile, as they can only say no at worst.
(Unless they own a gun.)
The downside is
you spend too much time concerned with admin. It takes ages, juggling names,
budgets and availabilities about, trying to pull together line-ups that work.
It would be nice to make some money from it; any profit we make from
Hitchin at the moment goes straight into funding our London dates, which generally
work at a loss. I’d also like to spend a little time trying to write something funny.
Thankfully,
November and December’s Hitchin dates have already sold out. This gives us a
little grace to start thinking about the New Year. Here’s hoping we get some
good people. Personally, I've got my fingers crossed for a Russ Abbot / Bella Emberg double bill.
