A comedy night is easy to run and
promote in a venue, and is beneficial in many ways:
- To get extra customers into your venue on the night of the
show, to increase food and drink sales
- To get new customers to find your venue, who will then use it
on other nights of the week
- To increase the amount of time people stay in your venue,
particularly early evening office drinkers
- To increase the profile of your venue by promotions through
local and national listings, the press and the internet.
|
|
| Why a Comedy Show? |
| Comedy appeals across the board,
and across age ranges - from students and young couples, to the older generations. It
entertains where other types of nights can leave someone feeling left out. The target
audience can be very diverse, where a Karoke, DJ or music night only targets one type of
person. The type of person attracted to a comedy show is generally somebody looking for a
good night out, and comedy does not attract the trouble-making element
found at entertainment nights with live bands, Karoke, football crowds and so on. |
| What are the Options? |
|
| A wide range of options are available, and we
can offer anything from a fully managed comedy event, to just working as a booker to book
acts for your venue, with you running the night yourself. |
| Laughing Horse Comedy can act as a booking
service for your night. We have direct contact to over 1000 comedians, alongside many acts
booked via their respective agents, ranging from top theatre acts to the best of the new
act circuit. |
| By using us as a booking service we
can take the hassle and worry out of booking comedians for your show, letting you
concentrate on promoting the night and getting people in to your venue to watch the show. |
|
|
| At the other end of the
scale, Laughing Horse Comedy can provide full management of your comedy shows, providing
acts, MC, music and stage management, also running the set-up and stage management of the
night, as well as providing other services such as a booking line, advertising and website
design, and publicity through listings services and websites, as well as our own website www.laughinghorse.co.uk. |
|
| What do I need to
have a comedy night? |
|
|
Comedy can be put on
in most venues, and is suitable for theatres, art centres, pubs and bars - ideally you
will need the following:
- An area that is set-aside for comedy - ideally a function room
in a pub or bar, or a whole bar devoted to comedy - there should be no public access for
people who are not there to watch the comedy show.
- A stage area (raised is nice, but not absolutely necessary),
where all the seating and tables can be positioned such that people are looking at the
stage.
- PA System that is capable of supporting one (or preferably
two) microphones, as well as the ability to play music. A Fixed mic is usually preferred
over radio mics.
- Microphone Stand.
- 'Theatrical' lighting, so that the stage can be lit during the
show while the rest of the room is darker - this can be achieved very cheaply if you do
not already have lighting.
- Places to advertise - ideally you will be able to put up
posters in your venue, and provide an area for advertising outside of the venue to attract
passing trade.
If you do not already have equipment, Laughing Horse Comedy
can advise you through the whole purchasing process to make sure you are getting the
correct items. If you are looking at a one-off event, we can also supply equipment to use
- For a regular show the whole set-up can usually be added to an existing sound system
already in place. The cost of equipment is usually very reasonable, and obviously, once
purchased you have that equipment available for other events at your venue. |
|
| How Much will it cost? |
|
| The show packages below are
only intended as a guide for prices of shows, any show can be tailored to a price
level and level of acts for your needs, or, indeed you can just book single comics. We can
also operate show's on a door-split or other basis - shows can be free where you are
looking to profit from the increased bar sales, or you charge on the door to recoup the
cost of the show that way. |
|
|
| Please contact us for further information. Shows are
more expensive out of London due to travel expenses for comics and increased fees; a very
high proportion of acts are London based and to maintain variety in a regular show, acts
outside of local acts would have to be used in non-London events. |
|
All
prices below are aimed at Sunday to Thursday Evening shows, a premium is payable for
Friday and Saturday nights due to increased acts fees, and will depend on the package and
location - please enquire when asking about a show. |
|
| REGULAR-SHOWONE |
| £200 - New Act Show |
| This show is only really suitable for the
central London area, where there is a proliferation of newer acts looking for spots. This
show will contain a good MC and 8 of the best new acts sourced from our open mic nights
and competitions, performing shorter sets, as well as a good act to headline the show. |
|
|
|
| REGULAR-SHOWTWO |
| £300 (Greater London) |
| £350 (Outside M25) |
| Our basic level of show, aimed at smaller
venues, with two support acts from the very best of new comedy talent in the country,
along side a professional act and an MC. Mostly suited to smaller to medium sized rooms in
bars and clubs. |
|
|
|
| REGULAR-SHOWTHREE |
| £450 – (Greater London) |
| £500 - (Outside M25) |
Our standard
type of show, featuring an MC, with 3 professional acts who are regulars on the London and
national comedy circuits - Ideal for small and medium sized venues, pubs, bars and smaller
studio-theatre and university shows. |
|
|
|
| REGULAR-SHOWFOUR |
| £550 – (Greater London) |
| £650 - (Outside M25) |
| The same set-up as REGULAR-SHOW-THREE, but
with stronger acts, who are more experienced in larger venues, Jongleurs, Comedy Store and
so on. Ideal for universities and colleges and large bars, studio theatres and the like. |
|
|
|
| REGULAR-SHOWFIVE |
| £1000 – (Greater London) |
| £1200 - (Outside M25) |
MC, with 4 top
professional acts who are of a very high calibre, and are used to playing the larger
venues around the country. Ideal for Universities looking for a special show (during
fresher's week for example), also theatres, arts centres and so on. |
|
|
|
| AND SO ON... |
| £1200 – £10000 and beyond... |
Well known names and acts
from the very top end of the national and international comedy circuit, famous names and
big names comedians off the television can all be booked for you venue. Act that will fill
the big theatres on the back of their own name, or acts from overseas can be very
expensive. For these types of shows we will offer you an individual quote on request, as
it is impossible to put a general price tag -
contact us for more information. |
|
| |
|
| Comedy Outside the UK |
| |
| Comedians can be
supplied for single shows or longer runs outside the UK, and we are currently supplying
acts for regular shows in the South of France and Spain. All of these packages are
obviously tailored the exact event, so please contact us to discuss what you are looking
for. |
| |
| What do I do now? |
|
| One thing to remember is
comedians do get booked up a long time in advance, so to get the best acts for your show
it is good to start the process as far in advance as possible. We are able to book shows
at very shot notices, and have provided acts in emergency in a few hours, but this is
obviously not ideal! |
|
|
| For more information,
or to discuss options please contact use by email (click here) or phone - 07796 171 190 |
|
| We are happy to visit your
venue to discuss options, and feel free to come along to any of our regular shows to see
what we do. |
| |
