Juggling Punters.


One thing that particularly pleased me about last night’s Mostly Comedy, as dull as this may sound, was the slickness with which we got the audience in.

This can be a challenge to orchestrate, particularly when the demand is as high as it was yesterday for Stewart Lee. The show sold out in four hours back in June - and the emails, phone calls, texts, tweets and Facebook messages asking for tickets didn’t stop from then until a few hours before curtain up. We’ve never had such a constant demand, except for last September’s show, which also featured Stewart Lee; I think I detect a pattern. 

Stewart Lee at last night's Mostly Comedy (photo by Gemma Poole).

The reasons it can be difficult are (1) we’re in an adjoining space to a small-scale theatre, so usually have to wait for a show to finish next door before we open the house, leaving us a tight window to get everyone in without starting too late, and (2) we’re often sold to capacity and, because we can’t offer allocated seating, will have to chivvy punters around in a tight space, to squeeze them all in.

(Long sentence: I had very little sleep.)

Don’t get me wrong: these are great problems to have in their own way. Our current venue is the best and most suited to comedy that we’ve ever had. We knew the time and space restrictions (not in a Stephen Hawking / Sci-Fi sense) when we moved there. It's amazing that the club is so popular, yet often starts at 9:15pm on a school night. It’s exciting to have a packed house, and see them have a great evening – but the thought and energy put into getting everyone in, when we can’t afford lots of staff, is pretty draining.

Displaying my Uhuras at last night's Mostly Comedy (photo by Gemma Poole)

Last night was an exception. The fact the demand was so high made us up our game. Somehow, it wasn’t stressful. We had fourteen people queuing for returns and had to turn ten away, yet the staff dealt with it brilliantly.

Maybe we’ve finally learnt how to run a comedy night after seven years. Actually, I wouldn’t bank on it.

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