What would yo do with a Stand Up Comedy Show?
 

I have complete acces to a Stand Up Comedy Show every thursday in a night Club.
I don´t know much about the comediants they bring, but they are suppossed to be some of the best in town, plus a few good ones imported from another places.

I know there´s a potential proyect there. I have a few Ideas of my own as to what to do.. but I would like to hear what would any of you will do with a situation like these, to see if I´m missing something obvious. (I seem to do that a lot).

A few pointers on the situation:

1. - The guy who runs the night Club is my client. (I designed and maintain a few web sites he has), so there´s enough trust between us.

2.- This is not a Million dollar operation or anything... so I can forget about trying to do a TV Show...

3.- Although most of the comediant are the bests in town... it doesn´t mean they are Mass Popular. (Actually I´ve only heard of just a few of them).

4.- I can only get one free drink every time I go. And they don´t let me have good scotch or anything fancy.

What do you think? Can I make some money of these situation?

Thanx..

This Community is testimony to the fact that it doesn't take a million dollars to shoot, edit, and distribute a project, so a TV show isn't out of the question, at least not for lack of capital. A couple of camcorders, a tie-in to the PA system, a friend to help you operate, and a computer to edit on, and you're in business.

This thread might find a good home in "Taking Care of Business" since it seems to me that the central issues will be getting permission for the participation of the comics involved in the show, negotiating a royalty for any profits the show generates, etc.

Some comics might be happy to receive the exposure of broadcast, even if it's only cable access; others could be loath to have their material recorded and given away for free.

You might see if you can get the cooperation of the comedians and edit together a "Best Of" from the "So and So" Bar. See if you can sell those. Do 1 a year or so. This would only work if the comedians agreed and you got them to sign a contract saying they would be paid nothing for appearing.

You might also think of doing some kind of documentary on a comedy bar or one of the comedians...maybe something like the Jerry Seinfeld doc "Comedian." Just some thoughts...good luck...

Ooops... I thought I posted this on TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS.. my wrong. Mr. Wranglers... can this be moved?

TV? There´s no cable access TV around here so that not a choice.. although there are a bunch of local TV channels around here that... mmmm well they have not very high quality standards... so that could be a place to go. BUt I´ll put this in the bottom of the list, I think I´d start smaller.

The "Best Of" sounds good. But somehow I doubt that the Club will be doing these for very long, and I don´t think they will want to pay for this... Still, I´ll throw that ball in to see what they think.

I was also thinking on talking to the Comedians to see if any of them might want some kind of Promo Video.... and even a whole video-website pack or something...

Any comedians out there? what do you think?
Any other thoughts?

I think we are all comedians in our own minds!

The comedians I have met doing bars and such have not really had the money to "promo" themselves, but hey, maybe you'll find one that is rich and eccentric and wants to start a website. Also, you might talk to the bar about putting a commercial together with comedian spots in the commercial.

As for the website thing...great idea, but maybe ask the bar about adding some of your video to their website you maintain.

>maybe something like the Jerry Seinfeld doc "Comedian

Have you actually seen that movie? It was horrible, simultaneously boring and annoying . I'm
a patient movie watcher. I've only walked out of two movies in my life. Seinfeld was the second.

<<<-- Originally posted by J. Clayton Stansberry :......
.......
As for the website thing...great idea, but maybe ask the bar about adding some of your video to their website you maintain. -->>>

Yeah... I´ve thought so.. since my next web project is redesign the Night Club´s Web site. I have allready talked that with the "Boss"... but I find very hard to explain him why doing the videos will increase about 50% the cost of his site, and I´m giving away too many free hours allready.

(Ok.. maybe now would be a good time to move this to "Taking care of business")

I have a good friend here in So Cal that does 1 or 2 shoots a month at different comedy clubs. It started with a shoot of about 8 comedians at a local college comedy night. We shot the whole series of stand-ups and put together a montage of the best of their material.
Now he gets about $600 a pop to do a demo for every comedian he shoots. Puts together a nice dvd package for them to help promote themselves.
Might be something you could do there.

That was one of my ideas but I wasn´t sure if someone would buy that.
Yesterday I went to the show and talked to one of the comedians and he said that "maybe"... so I´ll go there next thursday and do a DEMO to knock them out...

Any suggestions as how to impress the comediants?
Do´s and Don´ts?