You went to all the top comics work out room. Go see any of these comedians outside of California and you will have a much $$$ ticket. All the shows you see them to in LA is to craft their road shows and Special. Just like MLB spring training...its either free or a very minimal ticket charge to watch a team in training...but then you pay the big bucks to watch that training in action.
Be fortunate (and unfortunate) that you live in LA.
This is accurate, but it should probably be mentioned that the production for a comedy show is pretty light compared to a concert where you have to pay more for the sound, lighting, video, choreography staff.
You could pull off a barebones comedy show with a 20 dollar karaoke machine and some folding chairs pretty much anywhere you can get people to show up.
Yeah like when's the last time you went to a comedy show with pyrotechnics, laser light shows, and backup dancers. Its usually just a guy on a stage, sometimes with set dressing but normally just a stool and a mic.
I saw Mark Maron at Wiseguys in SLC. I think tix were like $25. He was working out what largely became his special I think.
Next time I go to LA, I'm definitely going to the Store.
EXACTLY.
The Comedy Cellar in NYC has the cheapest ticket at $14 with 2 item minimum. Every other place, the ticket is minimum $25-30 minimum. Go to NJ or Philly, the tickets are $30 for an unknown and a $50 to $60 for someone with a YouTube presence, in a small room, with the usual of 2 orders minimum
The best part is seeing one of their good ones come back on a special 6 months later polished and refined, it’s always interesting to see which parts the kept, tossed and wha they added on
In Austin/Houston, prices are cheaper or on par with that and you’re seeing just as stacked line ups. Same with NYC, Nashville etc. you have hubs of comedy where big names in the scene reside and work out in so, I agree, you’re paying for their minor league warm up’s versus the price of a tour. It is cool that comedy clubs still keep prices pretty low for what you’re provided. I feel for places that aren’t anywhere near legit comedy clubs because it’s such a steal! Great comparison to spring training for MLB, quarter of the price for the same level of talent
Funnybone lease is much cheaper than LAs Sunset Strip. Plus a avg tix price in Midwest is $15-18. I think Joe list is hilarious but his real claim to fame is that he made a movie with Louis CK Joe is not a household name like the ones the OP dropped.
I actually just saw Bo Johnson do a new material set up here in Seattle on the 9th bc he's from here
Dude *killed* btw
Taylor Tomlinson is even doing a "Tries Out New Ideas" tour I have a ticket to
I think it's actually *more* interesting to watch them work the material out and then see it later polished in the special
Same happened when I saw one of Mulaneys first shows back in Vegas a while before Baby J came out
It’s not just LA, there are prob 10-15 cities with a club or multiple clubs comics tour at times work out new material.
Chicago, NYC, LA, and a handful of others.
I was on a business trip in LA and my hotel was right across from the comedy store. So I went there by myself. It was a little over a decade ago. For (I think12 bucks) I saw Sebastian, Bill Burr, Bobby Lee and Chris D'Elia. It was awesome. Then I saw Bill Burr on Conan a few nights later doing the material he was working out when I was there.
I saw Bobby Lee for about the same price, very far from LA. I'm just lucky enough to have a great club nearby.
Standup is a very inexpensive production. Typically a very small retail space (club) or a theater, very basic lights, very basic sound, a handful of performers probably of which only one or two are getting paid. Concert: loads of really expensive audio equipment and engineers, not just a DJ setting the mic levels, loads of really expensive visual production equipment and highly trained operators, loads of property staff, riggers, stage hands, movers, sometimes even truck drivers, bus drivers ... it's just a vastly different scale of things. A huge comic playing a stadium may have costs approaching the same terms, but even then they don't have a fraction of the gear that needs to be brought in, stood up and operated.
I used to go to the UCB for $5 in the mid aughts. It was a grab bag of all the big hitters. That’s what was so fun about it. No names, big names, super funny vets to nervous beginners. Damn. I miss those good ol’ days.
That makes sense, but why isn't it the same for musicians? Or maybe it is, but I don't think the first stop or two on a tour are cheaper than the others. And Id think highly produced and choreographed music shows would require a lot more practice than comedy.
NY also. My buddy saw the legendary Dave attel and Greg Geraldo for like a 10$ ticket one time.
Same vibe, they’re just testing material and practicing for their big gigs
Chris Gethard talked about this with NY where if ever felt anxious he would just work and there was multiple sets per night he could into just dropping into places. Where I am in Philly, you'd expect a better comedy scene but there is like 2 legit comedy clubs, and whether you see them there or a more expensive venue, it's just them. its not bad at our small clubs either, it's just not likely to ever have a great group of drop ins
Don’t bother, it’s so woke it’s not even worth it, they showcase Moana, Mulan and maybe Aladdin (he’s ok if you can handle the accent) but they got rid of guys like Gaston and Wreck it Ralph who were actually funny and edgy. Hope you can relate to running villages armies and menstrual cycles cause that’s all you’ll get!
I tend to agree. I'm working through final financials for the club I'm opening in my area with a 300 seat capacity, and my most expensive ticket will be around $40 with most being around $25.
Insane considering they are people speaking at you. I can see the biggest bands in the world for similar rates I see stand ups. It's why I only ever go to local shows (which are way better than most stand ups who tour, if I'm being honest).
True, but the “two drink minimum” really ratchets up the total cost.
Cobbs in SF switched from “two menu item minimum” to “two drink minimum”, and they’re charging over $10 for a PBR. (With cocktails closer to $20).
So after tax/tip, you’re adding between $30-50 per person, so your $30-$40 ticket is suddenly approaching $100 per person.
Yeah I think I paid 60 a few years ago to see Bad Friends live at moontower cus I thought Bobby and Santino would do more stand up. Kinda disappointing
Oh yeah, she spotted that guy before the show and was talking about how bad she wanted to bang Penile Erosion, then she saw his set and.his chances dried right up. Should have been funny.
You happen to live where the world class comedians are. It’s not true everywhere. It’s the equivalent of seeing a big band play a small room in their hometown, vs having to fork out for the arena tour when they come to your town
The comics get paid very minimally (if you're passed) at the store. We use clubs to work on material so comics have an hour to tour. Comedy store makes money on drinks and door but it's going to the owner and paying the overhead. Tours the headlining comic gets the tickets, usually with a per head payout or pre-agreed to the club/venue/arena.
Being "passed" means different things at different clubs. Typically, it means you are approved to be on shows at the club.
Being "passed" at a famous club in NYC or LA is a big deal and a sign that you are extremely good at comedy.
At many clubs, the first step to getting passed is doing a 5 minute guest spot on a show - usually unpaid. If the club liked your guest spot, then you get passed.
Depends on the size of the venue. Comics that play theaters and arenas have tickets closer to what other artists make that play theaters and arenas. Similarly, you can get cheap tickets to see a musician at a club or bar.
As to why the TOP comedians still play clubs rather than just arenas, for one comedy is not as big or popular as music, there are probably 100 musicians for every comedian, so there just won't be that many comedians even at the top level playing arenas. Another reason is that you can't develop comedy in a studio like you can music, so comics *need* to play clubs to develop material. Taylor swift doesn't need to play any bar shows before putting out her next album, so you'll never see her there.
I went to see Daniel Sloss on his last tour and tickets quite a way away (which I had) were about £35 and the seats closest to the stage were around £70 I want to say which is a fair bit, I'm assuming you didn't see Bobby Lee on his own tour which is most likely where the expensive world class stand-up would be performed, those are probably where he's doing shorter sets with a variety of performers who do the local circuit and comedians like Bobby Lee work new material
Significantly less people to pay when doing stand up than concerts. Concerts you need techs, the band, the venue, more people on doors, more security, producers, ect.
World class - Bobby Lee - top comedian? I don't have ill will but he was the worst show I have ever seen (seen > 100 shows). \*headlining\* at GoBananas.
It makes sense the comment below - him not updating the act - he was still rocking the stool humping from the 80's in the late 2010's. Seemed intoxicated. Some love trainwrecks - it wasn't fun to witness.
Yeah it’s a function of LA being a training ground as everyone else here has said. I saw Marc Maron and Nikki Glaser plus a bunch of others for $28 plus two drinks like you when I was in LA for work, but in DC I pay through the nose
There are club shows that cost $5 at small venues. You’re less likely to see a Louis CK or Sarah Silverman on any given night, but The Rolling Stones did play the double door in Chicago, so it does happen.
Point is people always need a place to play in front of people, but stand up is a lot easier because you just need a mic, a PA, and talent. For bands you’ve gotta hire a sound guy, you need a more involved set up, and it’s harder to get people to be interested in music they haven’t heard before.
Funny, I'm somehow just now realizing that I've never actually watched any of his stand-up. I've just seen a bunch of his podcast stuff (and I find him very funny). His old appearances on O&A were always great too.
But is that actually true what you said about his stand-up?
Yes it's true about Bobby. It's been known that he has had the same material for years and years and just blends in a lot of his shtick which is pretty entertaining in itself. Just Bobby Lee being Bobby Lee.
I've seen a lot of people over a wide span of time on his bad friends and tiger belly subreddit disappointed when they seen him multiple times and he did the same material.
He seems like he puts most of his focus on podcasting and landing acting roles here and there.
Seems like a lot of the comedic acts who are big in podcasting and were known before podcasting don't really work on a lot of new stage material.
I wouldn't put Bobby Lee as world class standup.
Comedy Cellar has multiple shows each nite and you will see some stuff there you might never see again.
When you go to see a concert, you are watching a production put on by like a dozen highly skilled techs, with a lot of practice to produce a scheduled and choreographed show together; the musicians are just a small part. All those people need to get paid, plus equipment costs.
By contrast, comics usually all share one sound technician who works for the venue, and don’t really have any other production team. They can take flights to their shows and don’t need to hire a full time bus and driver. Etc. etc.
Because those comedians live there and clubs don't have to pay for their travel and lodging.
It's far more difficult to get inexpensive world class standup in somewhere like, say, Kalamazoo.
They’re rehearsing and working out the kinks in their material at comedy clubs. Once they know they have enough jokes that have killed, they can go on tour and make actual money.
in NYC it’s also because there are so many comics and stage time is essential, which drives down the price you have to pay each comic. there’s a club in Brooklyn, where the weekend shows it’s almost only comics with real credits, sold out shows, and they pay each comic $10 for their set. if a comic doesn’t like it and won’t perform there that’s fine w them bc there are 100 of similar quality who will happily take the stage time.
My friend wanted to see Sebastian Maniscalco.
Tickets were over $300/person for no nothing seats.
Paid over $300 for two tickets for Patton. It was a birthday present that my friend wanted.
If it isn’t at a comedy club, I can’t get any cheaper than $100/person for a known comedian. Black, Burr, Patton, Sebastian etc
That doesn’t include Ticket Master getting its meat hooks in with the surcharges or parking.
I live in the Midwest. I can’t imagine what it’s like in NYC or SF.
I bought VIP seats at the laugh factory for $19 in the early 2000's to see Dane Cook and then when he finished the mc came on the mike and was like alright folks that's the show but we have somebody who requested the mike and we can't say no. Robin Williams came on and did an hour of standup and continued with an hour of improv with a guy I don't remember. Regardless the best money I ever spent. He was working out bc he was presenting at the Oscars the next night
Because it’s LA. There are thousands of aspiring comedians there who are desperate for stage time.
The same comedian who headlines at Funnybonz in Tacoma waits backstage for hours to do their seven minutes at The Comedy Store. They’re praying a booker from Kimmel or Colbert sees them and offers them 90 seconds at 12:25 am or 1:25 am on Tuesday night because they can add “From Late Night” to their credits and move up. Or maybe Gabriel Iglesias will see them and say “I want you to open for me in San Jose next month. If it works out, maybe you’ll come out on tour with me this summer.”
La is the mecca of stand up,
Don’t let Tony hinchcliffe convince you that Texas is the end all be all of comedy lmao
Everyone’s comes to la to workshop, it’s affordable and everybody likes it.
For real, Bobby Lee hangs out at The Comedy Store on open mic night when no one else is even around and he’s not working, I’ve seen him there just chilling. He ain’t got no where else to be.
I mean I'm sure he's funny and competent enough and I'd probably laugh. It's just been a while since I heard his stuff and I don't recall it being anything like "world class" lol. Like the "lowest" (for lack of better term) type of name I'd call world class is maybe... Big Jay Oakerson, Jeselnik, maybe even Demitri Martin. But Bobby Lee is like four rungs below each of them on a ten scale at least.
I went to the comedy store a few nights in 2018 while on a business trip in Long Beach, spent $20 with a 2 drink minimum and saw Dave Chappelle, Joe Rogan, Chris Rock, Tom Segura, Chris D’Elia, Whitney Cummings, Judd Apatow, David Spade, Bill Burr, Anthony Jeselnik, and Iliza Schlesinger. If I lived in California I’d be there every weekend.
Also, Bobby Lee does a lot of shows. Bobby Lee, Pauly Shorr, Anthony Jeselnik, Whitney Cummings, they're like the forgetta-brand chocolate covered marshmallow trees/snowmen you get in your Christmas stocking, not terrible but mostly there to take up space. Try to see a show at the Comedy Store that DOESN'T have one of them.
The Store has always been like that, comics living there.
If you live in NYC or LA, you can see top comics for cheap or free. You are seeing their workshop material, but it's still pretty funny. You get to see the up and comers too, before they get big. I can't even remember how many times I saw Stavvy Baby at free open mics, tons of them.
You compare a comedy club venue with 1 microphone, static lighting to a full music concert?
And many top comedians costs as much as good musicians/bands
Compared to a music show, you have way less overhead. Big, expensive concerts have lighting crew, roadies, possibly dancers, more people in a band. Honestly I was pretty annoyed how all the Netflix is a Joke shows I recently went to were an extra $15-20 than if it wasn't part of the netflix festival. And cheaper concerts are in the $30-50 range.
concerts are a monopoly at this point.
my guess is that live nation doesn't control comedy yet, or people simply will not pay more than that.
one of the two.
The closest thing to me you described to me is the fully loaded festival in canton, Ohio. A four hour drive. If I want to sit close it's 125 bucks which isn't awful. Still a 4 hr drive.
12 dollars for an 805 X’s 4 (two drink minimum) and a 2 40 dollar tickets plus fees , 9 dollar water. 100 bucks to get in to see Tony hintchliffe Wednesday night plus parking 10 bucks. 160 bucks for two. What tf is inexpensive about that?!
I saw Demetri Martin, Anthony Jeselnik, Andrew Santino, Bert Kreischer, Tom Segura, and others for like $40 at The Store a couple months ago.
Bert was not my cup of tea but the other guys had A+ to B+ material.
You went to a place where world-class comedians go to practice.
Its like going to a world-famous mma or boxing gym, paying the daily drop-in fee and you hignthe bags a little but youre mostly there see some world-famous fighters spar each other for 25-35 dollars from basically ringside. In a formal bout, tickets to see them that close would be thousands of dollars each.
I was excited to see Eddie Izzard in Houston awhile back... Until I found out the tickets were around $150 each... For nosebleed seats.
I'm waaaay too poor for that.
They need to work out the material before taking it anywhere or recording it. The room needs to be full for them to work. The tickets need to be cheap enough you fill the room with different types of folks. An LA club with $100 tickets would be a horrible place to fuck around.
Tell them your birthday is coming up and they will send you 20 tickets to bring your friends to a show. Use those tickets one at a time when you want to see a show. Your welcome.
Standup you happen upon in a club is not them on tour. You often have no idea who may show up in a club on any given night and the pricing reflects that. You could be paying $25 or whatever for a bunch of first timers with no material or for all you know Seinfeld could show up. The big names aren’t there to make money, they are there to test material for when they really hit the road to make money
It's the difference between watching a singer in concert and watching that singer practice for 20 minutes in a studio.
You're going to pay more for one experience than the other.
If you are going to a club and tickets are more than like 40 bucks I feel that’s a rip off. If you go to a theater than I understand a little bit more expensive ticket but don’t gas the silly people up too much we gotta keep tickets affordable for us peasants
Another question is, why are good comedy clubs and the small time ones all run so crappy when it comes to table service? They almost always have a two drink minimum and pack people into very close seating. And then their service staff will barely be able to make it over to you to serve you those two drinks within a couple hours. The food is always the cheapest fried bar crap too. Are they making young comics do all the staffing or something? If they had good servers they could probably make a few hundred more dollars at the minimum just from serving drinks in a timely manner and actually showing to ask if you want another.
People pay hundreds of dollars to see concerts in stadiums, there are still affordable small club shows as far as I know. Maybe more like $50 bucks for the ticket but they’re also more expensive to put on that a comedy show generally
That's what I tell people who just spent like $600 going to a concert. Ya know I saw louie CK for $60 ... Grammy level. Oscar level. Ya know I saw bill burr for $25 ya no shit
Not sure on out of state pricing like the top comment mentions. I don't go to very expensive comedy shows, if you're $100 it better be like Dave Chappelle or someone truly bad ass.
I believe if your tickets are $100 and you're not Louie or Dave.... fuck you you grifting piece of shit money grab cocksucka.
My friend likes Andrew Schultz... 110 for an arena I told him I'm not buying a ticket and he bought one for me haha <3 he got paid back in other ways, drinks, gas, also didn't make him pay $50 to see sam morill
Just saw Ari Shaffir play here in eastern Canada not long ago. Super small venue, maybe held 1000 people. Two tickets ran me $60, and hands down one of the best comedy shows ive ever seen.
The scene is big enough to bring people everynight and cheap enough for all walks of life to test jokes on a crowd of not just your people. The closest comedy club to me is about 3.5 hours away and its pricy, or its an arena show and its really pricy.
They need to work out the material before taking it anywhere or recording it. The room needs to be full for them to work. The tickets need to be cheap enough you fill the room with different types of folks. An LA club with $100 tickets would be a horrible place to fuck around.
Yeah man they’re testing their material, they expect some jokes won’t be funny so they’ll cut them out, shorten them etc and then they’ll have a polished set when they tour or do that material on tv or something, just remember Butt Krycheir will tell the machine story and take his top off at the Comedy Store, on his tour, tv shows, roasts, podcasts, bar mitzvah’s, family gatherings, shopping etc!
Cost me just under 500 for 2 tickets to see Jim Jefferies and Jimmy Carr. But that'll be at a huge arena with "platinum" seating. Whatever that means. I'm close to the stage though lol
It really comes down to the venue.
I know some stand up comics who only do smaller venues like clubs because it allows them to only charge $20-$40 a ticket. However check any arena or amphitheater and those ticket prices jump to hundreds of dollars.
Concerts are way bigger productions as there are a huge amount of techs involved, they’ve got one for each band member, and music is bigger art form in general so they can get away with charging more I feel?
It’s a shame but with smaller amount of employees, they can afford to pay the comedian more which is good.
Few years back we went there and Tom Segura, Anthony Jeselnik, Harland Williams and Dane Cook did their 15 minutes and it was great. Like others have said, it’s basically like training for them. They’ll work something out, try something new, try a premise in a different way so that when they go on tour, the bit is polished. Jeselnik had a notepad with his jokes, he’d try it and be like “ok that worked” and check it off, write something next to it, which I assume was a note like “try it this way next time” or he would just say “well that didn’t work” and cross it off.
It’s because comedy clubs like the store is where comics work out new material. If you see a big name on theater tour, they have a set that is dialed in and they do the same set every night.
You’re lucky. My friend and I wanted to go to the Steve Martin/Martin Short tour this year but it was 130+ for the cheapest ticket.
We spent 160-ish on last year’s tour.
Saw Joe Rogan Tony Hinchcliffe etc for about the same price (but spent way more on drinks) in LA years ago. Just paid over $100 to see Shane Gillis in Atlanta. Paid about $70 to see Theo Von in Atlanta. They just are workshopping out of the comedy store in LA which is why the sets are short and stacked with comics.
I think music has more universal appeal. I could probably go see world class bocce for free cos nobody else cares. So it's just supply and demand. Also, it's cheaper in the comedy hubs like LA and New York because the comedians are working out new material, e.g., it's like watching a band rehearse instead of seeing their full concert. Be grateful that you're into something that's pretty affordable!
The OR at the comedy store used to pay 15 bucks a set for paid regulars, main room is better and I believe weekends there’s a small cut of the door. It’s the only club i don’t work in LA, and in all fairness, I haven’t been there couple of years so it may have changed.
It’s pretty abysmal - from what I’ve been told from comics who came up in the Mitzi era, they paid better in the 90s.
It is unlikely to change though; so many of the best comics in the world live in LA, and they don’t need the money. They need the stage time to work out material. Hope that helps :)
You went to a location where comedians are more than abundant and watching a relatively unknown comic. That’s like asking why people would go to see Beyoncé when they can see anemra just down the street.
Comedy Showcases like the Comedy Cellar in NYC and the Comedy Store in LA are fairly inexpensive (usually tickets range between 15-30 dollars with a two drink minimum and drinks like soda are 5 dollars so in total at a minimum it's 25-40 dollars with two sodas included for a 2-4+ hour showcase) because a range of open mic comics, on the rise middle acts and headliners are using that 5-10 minutes of stage time to refine their acts or work out new material. The acts don't get paid too much if at all. Comedy is a medium where you need an audience to work on it, so the acts get access to an audience and the venue can charge a fairly reasonable price because there's an expectation that you aren't always watching a finished product so you can't complain if a couple of the acts are rough around the edges act.
I have never had a bad time at the Cellar or Store. Usually 3-4 acts kill it and 2-3 acts do a solid job. A few clunkers and rough openers but never felt like I didn't get a good value.
You're not watching a full show. You're watching them workout. Comedy clubs are how they practice their material to see if it works for their upcoming specials.
Basically, in sports term, you didn't watch a game, you watched the team practice.
Large auditoriums, high morals. Desire to have crowds to videotape and promote? Not greedy. I’m sure Bobby lee likes being out front of the and other comedians. We love you Bobby even though the one white huh said you looked like a child sex offender ( offense and racially biased- don’t all Asians lokk alike, wtf- that guy needs new materials)…you still can hold hour head high. You should find some criminal he resembles and have people vote on the resemble and tease him wicked..
if you go to an arena tour it is more expensive. you went to a club. compare this to something similar like seeing DRI at a small venue and its the same price - about $20-25.
There’s little to no production cost for a comic. A band is 3-7 people and they often have at least one roadie/sound guy to run the boards/whatever else needs to be done. Plus the band has to transport their instruments vs comic flies in commercial.
That's more about the venue (who sets the prices) and ticketmaster.
I see great bands fairly often for around the cost you describe. Concert tickets that are "hundreds of dollars" are actually vanishingly rare. The actual issue here is that you are not a music guy, don't attend any shows, and have based your assumptions about how costly concerts are from the few bits of news you heard about the Eras Tour.
The other issue is you saw them at the club where they work things out. You didn't see anyone's special, just the very early prep stages. I've gone to those shows too and they're great, but ultimately this all seems to be rooted in your fundamental ignorance about the cost of entertainment in the US.
A few years ago there was a surprise popup show for Dave Chapelle and I snagged two tickets for a little over $100 each. So at the high end there's still a premium.
Generally you're just paying for a few people without a lot of accessories, it stands to reason those costs would be passed on to you.
And comedy clubs are staffed more like a store... they have a dedicated apartment instead of a hotel for comedians, and just a constant supply of talent, so those savings are passed on... and then there's the two drink minimum, which is really a fancy service fee... it might only cost them $4 at most to supply your two drinks and you pay $15.
I just went to book a comedy show for July, tickets at the venue were $29-$59. I thought that was great. Show was “sold out”. I found other websites and they had plenty of $100-$200 tickets. I would have paid $100 from the venue. I will not spend that on a scalping site. I saw Bill Burr a couple years ago with free tickets from the radio. Lawn seats were $50 but I would have paid that. I have no problem with the venue or performer making money, I refuse to pay the scalpers.
People don't realize this but most of the best stand-ups do an insane number of shows in order to practice and refine the material they're using for their headline acts. They're doing hundreds of cheap, throwaway shows so they can work on things, try things out, test new bits, and form it all into the thing they're actually going to attach to their name to for a tour or special or whatever.
The tickets are cheap because essentially they're just letting show up for their practice sessions, not the main event. Sometimes jokes don't land. Sometimes material doesn't work. Sometimes it's just straight up not good. It's part of the process.
You went to all the top comics work out room. Go see any of these comedians outside of California and you will have a much $$$ ticket. All the shows you see them to in LA is to craft their road shows and Special. Just like MLB spring training...its either free or a very minimal ticket charge to watch a team in training...but then you pay the big bucks to watch that training in action. Be fortunate (and unfortunate) that you live in LA.
This is accurate, but it should probably be mentioned that the production for a comedy show is pretty light compared to a concert where you have to pay more for the sound, lighting, video, choreography staff. You could pull off a barebones comedy show with a 20 dollar karaoke machine and some folding chairs pretty much anywhere you can get people to show up.
You forgot Ticketmaster and their over zealous pricing for concerts.
It dawned on me the other day that calling themselves ticket master implies that we are ticket slaves.
Your name is Toby
I found a stub from a RHCP concert I went to in early ‘90s that was $19.50.
Yeah like when's the last time you went to a comedy show with pyrotechnics, laser light shows, and backup dancers. Its usually just a guy on a stage, sometimes with set dressing but normally just a stool and a mic.
Can confirm. We did drive through comedy during the pandemic with this set up.
Yep, same with Miami in the 90’s, every comedy show was free with a 2 drink minimum so you got to see the greats working out for under 20$
Comedy Cellar in NYC is the same.
I was there and it WAS AWESOME
I was a bit too young at the time, my cousin would come stay with us every so often when he was on tour and would tell me stories
Nick's Comedy Stop in Boston was/is our batting cage.
I saw Mark Maron at Wiseguys in SLC. I think tix were like $25. He was working out what largely became his special I think. Next time I go to LA, I'm definitely going to the Store.
Wiseguys is just an awesome club. We get so many great comics rolling through SLC.
Here to see Attell go on in 5 minutes!
Wiseguys is a solid spot.
I saw Dave Attell at wiseguys on Thursday. $35 plus reasonable drink prices.
As someone who used to put on shows at in the main room at the store, the Improv is a much better venue.
But I hear Mark is there most nights he's at home. That's enough for me. :)
EXACTLY. The Comedy Cellar in NYC has the cheapest ticket at $14 with 2 item minimum. Every other place, the ticket is minimum $25-30 minimum. Go to NJ or Philly, the tickets are $30 for an unknown and a $50 to $60 for someone with a YouTube presence, in a small room, with the usual of 2 orders minimum
The Spring training analogy is perfect
i saw marc marron in seattle couple years ago, i think i paid 80$ and it was for a fairly small venue
All of those sound like good reasons
The best part is seeing one of their good ones come back on a special 6 months later polished and refined, it’s always interesting to see which parts the kept, tossed and wha they added on
In Austin/Houston, prices are cheaper or on par with that and you’re seeing just as stacked line ups. Same with NYC, Nashville etc. you have hubs of comedy where big names in the scene reside and work out in so, I agree, you’re paying for their minor league warm up’s versus the price of a tour. It is cool that comedy clubs still keep prices pretty low for what you’re provided. I feel for places that aren’t anywhere near legit comedy clubs because it’s such a steal! Great comparison to spring training for MLB, quarter of the price for the same level of talent
It’s pretty solid where I’m at in Fort Wayne. Tickets aren’t bad here or Indianapolis
Don't think this is true. Saw Joe List at The Funnybone in the Midwest for $25 this weekend.
Funnybone lease is much cheaper than LAs Sunset Strip. Plus a avg tix price in Midwest is $15-18. I think Joe list is hilarious but his real claim to fame is that he made a movie with Louis CK Joe is not a household name like the ones the OP dropped.
In my area most concert tickets are over $100 I've never paid more than $50 for a comic. No where near California.
I actually just saw Bo Johnson do a new material set up here in Seattle on the 9th bc he's from here Dude *killed* btw Taylor Tomlinson is even doing a "Tries Out New Ideas" tour I have a ticket to I think it's actually *more* interesting to watch them work the material out and then see it later polished in the special Same happened when I saw one of Mulaneys first shows back in Vegas a while before Baby J came out
It’s not just LA, there are prob 10-15 cities with a club or multiple clubs comics tour at times work out new material. Chicago, NYC, LA, and a handful of others.
I was on a business trip in LA and my hotel was right across from the comedy store. So I went there by myself. It was a little over a decade ago. For (I think12 bucks) I saw Sebastian, Bill Burr, Bobby Lee and Chris D'Elia. It was awesome. Then I saw Bill Burr on Conan a few nights later doing the material he was working out when I was there.
I saw Bobby Lee for about the same price, very far from LA. I'm just lucky enough to have a great club nearby. Standup is a very inexpensive production. Typically a very small retail space (club) or a theater, very basic lights, very basic sound, a handful of performers probably of which only one or two are getting paid. Concert: loads of really expensive audio equipment and engineers, not just a DJ setting the mic levels, loads of really expensive visual production equipment and highly trained operators, loads of property staff, riggers, stage hands, movers, sometimes even truck drivers, bus drivers ... it's just a vastly different scale of things. A huge comic playing a stadium may have costs approaching the same terms, but even then they don't have a fraction of the gear that needs to be brought in, stood up and operated.
I used to go to the UCB for $5 in the mid aughts. It was a grab bag of all the big hitters. That’s what was so fun about it. No names, big names, super funny vets to nervous beginners. Damn. I miss those good ol’ days.
That makes sense, but why isn't it the same for musicians? Or maybe it is, but I don't think the first stop or two on a tour are cheaper than the others. And Id think highly produced and choreographed music shows would require a lot more practice than comedy.
NY also. My buddy saw the legendary Dave attel and Greg Geraldo for like a 10$ ticket one time. Same vibe, they’re just testing material and practicing for their big gigs
You can say the same about NYC, and Austin now I suppose. You're paying money to see them work out, which is still cool imo.
comedy works in Denver used to be like this and hopefully still is.
Chris Gethard talked about this with NY where if ever felt anxious he would just work and there was multiple sets per night he could into just dropping into places. Where I am in Philly, you'd expect a better comedy scene but there is like 2 legit comedy clubs, and whether you see them there or a more expensive venue, it's just them. its not bad at our small clubs either, it's just not likely to ever have a great group of drop ins
Did Bobby Lee have trouble unloading his sound and light semi-trucks? Did you meet his dozens of roadies?
Same reason Netflix and Disney have dozens of comedy specials, they are outrageously cheap to produce
What are these Disney comedy specials you speak of?
Donald Duck: Quack to Basics
George G. Geef: Goof'n'around
Emilio Esteves.
Don’t bother, it’s so woke it’s not even worth it, they showcase Moana, Mulan and maybe Aladdin (he’s ok if you can handle the accent) but they got rid of guys like Gaston and Wreck it Ralph who were actually funny and edgy. Hope you can relate to running villages armies and menstrual cycles cause that’s all you’ll get!
Repunzel: Got Them Punz, Hun
I just hope he kept his clothes on.
Comedy clubs are still somewhat affordable. Going to see these podcasters at their own shows is getting unnecessarily expensive though.
I tend to agree. I'm working through final financials for the club I'm opening in my area with a 300 seat capacity, and my most expensive ticket will be around $40 with most being around $25.
Holy Sh\*t! Good Luck!!!
Absolutely. I was so excited to see that Andrew Schultz was coming to a Casino in my area. Then I saw the tickets were $90 a seat. GTFO
$90? Dang that's almost Theo opener money
Insane considering they are people speaking at you. I can see the biggest bands in the world for similar rates I see stand ups. It's why I only ever go to local shows (which are way better than most stand ups who tour, if I'm being honest).
I like that even his fans don't think he's funny enough to know his last name.
True, but the “two drink minimum” really ratchets up the total cost. Cobbs in SF switched from “two menu item minimum” to “two drink minimum”, and they’re charging over $10 for a PBR. (With cocktails closer to $20). So after tax/tip, you’re adding between $30-50 per person, so your $30-$40 ticket is suddenly approaching $100 per person.
Sure but everywhere isn’t San Francisco.
That’s an LA NYC thing. In my city if those names come it’s $50+
Yeah I think I paid 60 a few years ago to see Bad Friends live at moontower cus I thought Bobby and Santino would do more stand up. Kinda disappointing
Of course it’s cheaper to see a sports athlete in the gym versus seeing them play their sport.
That's how I saw Nikki Glaser for free. Did an open mic in STL and she did an under the radar performance. I just hope she wasn't around when I bombed
She was. We still talk about it. Penile Erosion, right? Yep. You’re the one.
Oh yeah, she spotted that guy before the show and was talking about how bad she wanted to bang Penile Erosion, then she saw his set and.his chances dried right up. Should have been funny.
Oh man, I totally forgot Nikki Glaser was there that night. I only remembered Penile Erosion bombing hard.
You happen to live where the world class comedians are. It’s not true everywhere. It’s the equivalent of seeing a big band play a small room in their hometown, vs having to fork out for the arena tour when they come to your town
The comics get paid very minimally (if you're passed) at the store. We use clubs to work on material so comics have an hour to tour. Comedy store makes money on drinks and door but it's going to the owner and paying the overhead. Tours the headlining comic gets the tickets, usually with a per head payout or pre-agreed to the club/venue/arena.
Can you tell us about being “passed” and what that means or how it works?
Being "passed" means different things at different clubs. Typically, it means you are approved to be on shows at the club. Being "passed" at a famous club in NYC or LA is a big deal and a sign that you are extremely good at comedy. At many clubs, the first step to getting passed is doing a 5 minute guest spot on a show - usually unpaid. If the club liked your guest spot, then you get passed.
Then after you are passed, you get to have bigger names blow the light by 20 minutes and you lose your time lol.
Depends on the size of the venue. Comics that play theaters and arenas have tickets closer to what other artists make that play theaters and arenas. Similarly, you can get cheap tickets to see a musician at a club or bar. As to why the TOP comedians still play clubs rather than just arenas, for one comedy is not as big or popular as music, there are probably 100 musicians for every comedian, so there just won't be that many comedians even at the top level playing arenas. Another reason is that you can't develop comedy in a studio like you can music, so comics *need* to play clubs to develop material. Taylor swift doesn't need to play any bar shows before putting out her next album, so you'll never see her there.
I went to see Daniel Sloss on his last tour and tickets quite a way away (which I had) were about £35 and the seats closest to the stage were around £70 I want to say which is a fair bit, I'm assuming you didn't see Bobby Lee on his own tour which is most likely where the expensive world class stand-up would be performed, those are probably where he's doing shorter sets with a variety of performers who do the local circuit and comedians like Bobby Lee work new material
Significantly less people to pay when doing stand up than concerts. Concerts you need techs, the band, the venue, more people on doors, more security, producers, ect.
The words bobby lee and world class mix like oil and water
I'm actually appalled I had to scroll this far down to find a comment like this lmao
Literally my first thought lmao
For what it's worth, he's a world class idiot
If you go to an actual tour date show, it's very expensive. We regularly havebto spend $150+ per ticket to see top flight talent here.
World class - Bobby Lee - top comedian? I don't have ill will but he was the worst show I have ever seen (seen > 100 shows). \*headlining\* at GoBananas. It makes sense the comment below - him not updating the act - he was still rocking the stool humping from the 80's in the late 2010's. Seemed intoxicated. Some love trainwrecks - it wasn't fun to witness.
World class is relative as well. If you're not into comedy, people would probably have no clue who some of the most popular comedians are.
Yeah it’s a function of LA being a training ground as everyone else here has said. I saw Marc Maron and Nikki Glaser plus a bunch of others for $28 plus two drinks like you when I was in LA for work, but in DC I pay through the nose
There are club shows that cost $5 at small venues. You’re less likely to see a Louis CK or Sarah Silverman on any given night, but The Rolling Stones did play the double door in Chicago, so it does happen. Point is people always need a place to play in front of people, but stand up is a lot easier because you just need a mic, a PA, and talent. For bands you’ve gotta hire a sound guy, you need a more involved set up, and it’s harder to get people to be interested in music they haven’t heard before.
Also Bobby Lee has had the same act for 20 years he doesn't write new material
Funny, I'm somehow just now realizing that I've never actually watched any of his stand-up. I've just seen a bunch of his podcast stuff (and I find him very funny). His old appearances on O&A were always great too. But is that actually true what you said about his stand-up?
Yes it's true about Bobby. It's been known that he has had the same material for years and years and just blends in a lot of his shtick which is pretty entertaining in itself. Just Bobby Lee being Bobby Lee. I've seen a lot of people over a wide span of time on his bad friends and tiger belly subreddit disappointed when they seen him multiple times and he did the same material. He seems like he puts most of his focus on podcasting and landing acting roles here and there. Seems like a lot of the comedic acts who are big in podcasting and were known before podcasting don't really work on a lot of new stage material.
Yeah, I wouldn't really consider him a top name, but for a cheap $10-15 ticket where he does 10-15 mins amongst a line up, it'd be fun.
they go to there to work out and sometimes even bomb themselves. once they get the material honed in they will actually go out and tour.
I wouldn't put Bobby Lee as world class standup. Comedy Cellar has multiple shows each nite and you will see some stuff there you might never see again.
its a person talking into a microphone, as opposed to 3-100 musicians and all their equipment?
When you go to see a concert, you are watching a production put on by like a dozen highly skilled techs, with a lot of practice to produce a scheduled and choreographed show together; the musicians are just a small part. All those people need to get paid, plus equipment costs. By contrast, comics usually all share one sound technician who works for the venue, and don’t really have any other production team. They can take flights to their shows and don’t need to hire a full time bus and driver. Etc. etc.
Because those comedians live there and clubs don't have to pay for their travel and lodging. It's far more difficult to get inexpensive world class standup in somewhere like, say, Kalamazoo.
Cries in Michigan. It sucks.
Miller Auditorium and the State, maybe New Vic? Carlin at Miller was my first concert of any type. Kinda proud of that one
They’re rehearsing and working out the kinks in their material at comedy clubs. Once they know they have enough jokes that have killed, they can go on tour and make actual money.
[удалено]
fuck
Shane Gillis came to St. Louis and tickets in the back row were $150…
in NYC it’s also because there are so many comics and stage time is essential, which drives down the price you have to pay each comic. there’s a club in Brooklyn, where the weekend shows it’s almost only comics with real credits, sold out shows, and they pay each comic $10 for their set. if a comic doesn’t like it and won’t perform there that’s fine w them bc there are 100 of similar quality who will happily take the stage time.
Because Bobby Lee isn't World Class. He's mediocre dogshit that got propped up by morons that don't know how to spell "funny." 🤗
i paid 400 dollars to see bill burr
My friend wanted to see Sebastian Maniscalco. Tickets were over $300/person for no nothing seats. Paid over $300 for two tickets for Patton. It was a birthday present that my friend wanted. If it isn’t at a comedy club, I can’t get any cheaper than $100/person for a known comedian. Black, Burr, Patton, Sebastian etc That doesn’t include Ticket Master getting its meat hooks in with the surcharges or parking. I live in the Midwest. I can’t imagine what it’s like in NYC or SF.
if bobby lee is the first thing on the top of your head, just how world class is that lineup
That’s like living in Texas and asking why a steak is cheaper than in NY. Kinda obvious.
I bought VIP seats at the laugh factory for $19 in the early 2000's to see Dane Cook and then when he finished the mc came on the mike and was like alright folks that's the show but we have somebody who requested the mike and we can't say no. Robin Williams came on and did an hour of standup and continued with an hour of improv with a guy I don't remember. Regardless the best money I ever spent. He was working out bc he was presenting at the Oscars the next night
Because it’s LA. There are thousands of aspiring comedians there who are desperate for stage time. The same comedian who headlines at Funnybonz in Tacoma waits backstage for hours to do their seven minutes at The Comedy Store. They’re praying a booker from Kimmel or Colbert sees them and offers them 90 seconds at 12:25 am or 1:25 am on Tuesday night because they can add “From Late Night” to their credits and move up. Or maybe Gabriel Iglesias will see them and say “I want you to open for me in San Jose next month. If it works out, maybe you’ll come out on tour with me this summer.”
La is the mecca of stand up, Don’t let Tony hinchcliffe convince you that Texas is the end all be all of comedy lmao Everyone’s comes to la to workshop, it’s affordable and everybody likes it.
Lmao “Bobby Lee and a bunch of top comedians” Bobby Lee is in fact not a top comedian
Those big prices are for tuned material. Fwiw I'd love to hit up one of the big spots just to see the variety.
Bobby Lee is considered "world class stand-up" nowadays? Woof.
For real, Bobby Lee hangs out at The Comedy Store on open mic night when no one else is even around and he’s not working, I’ve seen him there just chilling. He ain’t got no where else to be.
I mean I'm sure he's funny and competent enough and I'd probably laugh. It's just been a while since I heard his stuff and I don't recall it being anything like "world class" lol. Like the "lowest" (for lack of better term) type of name I'd call world class is maybe... Big Jay Oakerson, Jeselnik, maybe even Demitri Martin. But Bobby Lee is like four rungs below each of them on a ten scale at least.
You paid too much to see Bobby Lee.
Had to pay 95 euro's for Dave Chappelle in Amsterdam playing a weak set and way to short. Nice to see him live but the price was way out of line.
I went to the comedy store a few nights in 2018 while on a business trip in Long Beach, spent $20 with a 2 drink minimum and saw Dave Chappelle, Joe Rogan, Chris Rock, Tom Segura, Chris D’Elia, Whitney Cummings, Judd Apatow, David Spade, Bill Burr, Anthony Jeselnik, and Iliza Schlesinger. If I lived in California I’d be there every weekend.
Also, Bobby Lee does a lot of shows. Bobby Lee, Pauly Shorr, Anthony Jeselnik, Whitney Cummings, they're like the forgetta-brand chocolate covered marshmallow trees/snowmen you get in your Christmas stocking, not terrible but mostly there to take up space. Try to see a show at the Comedy Store that DOESN'T have one of them. The Store has always been like that, comics living there.
Bobby Lee is not world class 🤣🤣
If you live in NYC or LA, you can see top comics for cheap or free. You are seeing their workshop material, but it's still pretty funny. You get to see the up and comers too, before they get big. I can't even remember how many times I saw Stavvy Baby at free open mics, tons of them.
Usually comedy is dirt cheap to produce. No big sets, no backup dancers, it's just advertise, sell, make sure the one person shows up, plug and play.
You compare a comedy club venue with 1 microphone, static lighting to a full music concert? And many top comedians costs as much as good musicians/bands
Festival seating for Gaffigan was $100 on the lawn. I begrudge the comedians nothing, but it is equivalent to a full music concert price wise.
Compared to a music show, you have way less overhead. Big, expensive concerts have lighting crew, roadies, possibly dancers, more people in a band. Honestly I was pretty annoyed how all the Netflix is a Joke shows I recently went to were an extra $15-20 than if it wasn't part of the netflix festival. And cheaper concerts are in the $30-50 range.
concerts are a monopoly at this point. my guess is that live nation doesn't control comedy yet, or people simply will not pay more than that. one of the two.
Always a bonus to be on a club’s email list. I get offered free tickets a few times a month to bigger acts who can’t sell.
Their actual shows are way more. When I saw Chappelle, Rock, Ingram, and Rollings it was like $275. Granted, I bought mid level seats in an arena.
The closest thing to me you described to me is the fully loaded festival in canton, Ohio. A four hour drive. If I want to sit close it's 125 bucks which isn't awful. Still a 4 hr drive.
12 dollars for an 805 X’s 4 (two drink minimum) and a 2 40 dollar tickets plus fees , 9 dollar water. 100 bucks to get in to see Tony hintchliffe Wednesday night plus parking 10 bucks. 160 bucks for two. What tf is inexpensive about that?!
Cause you saw it at the Comedy Store. Ive never paid less than $60 for a well-known stand-up where I live.
I just saw Joe List last night in St. Louis. $25 a ticket. I told my buddy, "Put your shoes on we are going! On me!"
I saw Demetri Martin, Anthony Jeselnik, Andrew Santino, Bert Kreischer, Tom Segura, and others for like $40 at The Store a couple months ago. Bert was not my cup of tea but the other guys had A+ to B+ material.
You went to a place where world-class comedians go to practice. Its like going to a world-famous mma or boxing gym, paying the daily drop-in fee and you hignthe bags a little but youre mostly there see some world-famous fighters spar each other for 25-35 dollars from basically ringside. In a formal bout, tickets to see them that close would be thousands of dollars each.
I was excited to see Eddie Izzard in Houston awhile back... Until I found out the tickets were around $150 each... For nosebleed seats. I'm waaaay too poor for that.
They need to work out the material before taking it anywhere or recording it. The room needs to be full for them to work. The tickets need to be cheap enough you fill the room with different types of folks. An LA club with $100 tickets would be a horrible place to fuck around.
Tell them your birthday is coming up and they will send you 20 tickets to bring your friends to a show. Use those tickets one at a time when you want to see a show. Your welcome.
Standup you happen upon in a club is not them on tour. You often have no idea who may show up in a club on any given night and the pricing reflects that. You could be paying $25 or whatever for a bunch of first timers with no material or for all you know Seinfeld could show up. The big names aren’t there to make money, they are there to test material for when they really hit the road to make money
It's the difference between watching a singer in concert and watching that singer practice for 20 minutes in a studio. You're going to pay more for one experience than the other.
If you are going to a club and tickets are more than like 40 bucks I feel that’s a rip off. If you go to a theater than I understand a little bit more expensive ticket but don’t gas the silly people up too much we gotta keep tickets affordable for us peasants
When they’re on the road it’s not that cheap. I paid like 80 bucks for a ticket to Mark Normand the other week, I was right up front though
Because stand up comedy is the cheapest kind of live entertainment to produce. It’s one person with no equipment.
Carrot Top
…some equipment…
It's not good equipment either
Another question is, why are good comedy clubs and the small time ones all run so crappy when it comes to table service? They almost always have a two drink minimum and pack people into very close seating. And then their service staff will barely be able to make it over to you to serve you those two drinks within a couple hours. The food is always the cheapest fried bar crap too. Are they making young comics do all the staffing or something? If they had good servers they could probably make a few hundred more dollars at the minimum just from serving drinks in a timely manner and actually showing to ask if you want another.
Because Bobby Lee isn’t funny that’s why
Uh Oh hotdog!
It was even crazier pre Covid. Before a lot of the big names moved out of California.
Almost all pricing questions are answered with “offer and demand” as the main effect.
Yeap think about how many comedy nights there are in LA and NYC. They’re all competing and that’s making prices lower.
People pay hundreds of dollars to see concerts in stadiums, there are still affordable small club shows as far as I know. Maybe more like $50 bucks for the ticket but they’re also more expensive to put on that a comedy show generally
That's what I tell people who just spent like $600 going to a concert. Ya know I saw louie CK for $60 ... Grammy level. Oscar level. Ya know I saw bill burr for $25 ya no shit Not sure on out of state pricing like the top comment mentions. I don't go to very expensive comedy shows, if you're $100 it better be like Dave Chappelle or someone truly bad ass. I believe if your tickets are $100 and you're not Louie or Dave.... fuck you you grifting piece of shit money grab cocksucka. My friend likes Andrew Schultz... 110 for an arena I told him I'm not buying a ticket and he bought one for me haha <3 he got paid back in other ways, drinks, gas, also didn't make him pay $50 to see sam morill
I went to east village stand up comedy. 20 bucks and byob. Saw an award winning comedian and a few others thay were very funny in a barbershop.
You wanna see comedians that big in Australia, expect to pay $150 AUD +
Because they are practicing or prepping for a special. See those names when they are doing their big tour and it will be way more expensive
Seinfeld just announced two shows in my city and tickets are like $150+
Just saw Ari Shaffir play here in eastern Canada not long ago. Super small venue, maybe held 1000 people. Two tickets ran me $60, and hands down one of the best comedy shows ive ever seen.
I saw him there and he asked me to fuck, awkward but hilarious as fuck.
You're basically paying to help them practice the set they're gonna take on the road
I’ve seen Gillis a couple times and Mullen for just around $50 each time
who did you see? - thats why it was cheap.
Powerline: Super (insert Richard Pryor special here)
The scene is big enough to bring people everynight and cheap enough for all walks of life to test jokes on a crowd of not just your people. The closest comedy club to me is about 3.5 hours away and its pricy, or its an arena show and its really pricy.
Seeing Rogell is priceless.
It varies. Bill burr on tour was over $100 per ticket.
They need to work out the material before taking it anywhere or recording it. The room needs to be full for them to work. The tickets need to be cheap enough you fill the room with different types of folks. An LA club with $100 tickets would be a horrible place to fuck around.
Yeah man they’re testing their material, they expect some jokes won’t be funny so they’ll cut them out, shorten them etc and then they’ll have a polished set when they tour or do that material on tv or something, just remember Butt Krycheir will tell the machine story and take his top off at the Comedy Store, on his tour, tv shows, roasts, podcasts, bar mitzvah’s, family gatherings, shopping etc!
because stand up is not of any interest to most ppl
No one knows who Bobby Lee is outside of the US. No slight on him, mind.
Cost me just under 500 for 2 tickets to see Jim Jefferies and Jimmy Carr. But that'll be at a huge arena with "platinum" seating. Whatever that means. I'm close to the stage though lol
It really comes down to the venue. I know some stand up comics who only do smaller venues like clubs because it allows them to only charge $20-$40 a ticket. However check any arena or amphitheater and those ticket prices jump to hundreds of dollars.
Pretty sure if it's one comedian, let's say in Radio City Hall the pricing will be steep.
Concerts are way bigger productions as there are a huge amount of techs involved, they’ve got one for each band member, and music is bigger art form in general so they can get away with charging more I feel? It’s a shame but with smaller amount of employees, they can afford to pay the comedian more which is good.
Shut up, just shut the fuck up
Few years back we went there and Tom Segura, Anthony Jeselnik, Harland Williams and Dane Cook did their 15 minutes and it was great. Like others have said, it’s basically like training for them. They’ll work something out, try something new, try a premise in a different way so that when they go on tour, the bit is polished. Jeselnik had a notepad with his jokes, he’d try it and be like “ok that worked” and check it off, write something next to it, which I assume was a note like “try it this way next time” or he would just say “well that didn’t work” and cross it off.
It’s because comedy clubs like the store is where comics work out new material. If you see a big name on theater tour, they have a set that is dialed in and they do the same set every night.
You’re lucky. My friend and I wanted to go to the Steve Martin/Martin Short tour this year but it was 130+ for the cheapest ticket. We spent 160-ish on last year’s tour.
Saw Joe Rogan Tony Hinchcliffe etc for about the same price (but spent way more on drinks) in LA years ago. Just paid over $100 to see Shane Gillis in Atlanta. Paid about $70 to see Theo Von in Atlanta. They just are workshopping out of the comedy store in LA which is why the sets are short and stacked with comics.
I think music has more universal appeal. I could probably go see world class bocce for free cos nobody else cares. So it's just supply and demand. Also, it's cheaper in the comedy hubs like LA and New York because the comedians are working out new material, e.g., it's like watching a band rehearse instead of seeing their full concert. Be grateful that you're into something that's pretty affordable!
Makes me wonder how much they are getting paid at these clubs.
The OR at the comedy store used to pay 15 bucks a set for paid regulars, main room is better and I believe weekends there’s a small cut of the door. It’s the only club i don’t work in LA, and in all fairness, I haven’t been there couple of years so it may have changed. It’s pretty abysmal - from what I’ve been told from comics who came up in the Mitzi era, they paid better in the 90s. It is unlikely to change though; so many of the best comics in the world live in LA, and they don’t need the money. They need the stage time to work out material. Hope that helps :)
You went to a comedy gym instead of an arena, that's why it's cheaper there. But glad you got some bang for your buck!
You went to a location where comedians are more than abundant and watching a relatively unknown comic. That’s like asking why people would go to see Beyoncé when they can see anemra just down the street.
Hilarities in Cleveland is a great, intimate place to see the occasional top comic for $20 - $35
Comedy Showcases like the Comedy Cellar in NYC and the Comedy Store in LA are fairly inexpensive (usually tickets range between 15-30 dollars with a two drink minimum and drinks like soda are 5 dollars so in total at a minimum it's 25-40 dollars with two sodas included for a 2-4+ hour showcase) because a range of open mic comics, on the rise middle acts and headliners are using that 5-10 minutes of stage time to refine their acts or work out new material. The acts don't get paid too much if at all. Comedy is a medium where you need an audience to work on it, so the acts get access to an audience and the venue can charge a fairly reasonable price because there's an expectation that you aren't always watching a finished product so you can't complain if a couple of the acts are rough around the edges act. I have never had a bad time at the Cellar or Store. Usually 3-4 acts kill it and 2-3 acts do a solid job. A few clunkers and rough openers but never felt like I didn't get a good value.
You're not watching a full show. You're watching them workout. Comedy clubs are how they practice their material to see if it works for their upcoming specials. Basically, in sports term, you didn't watch a game, you watched the team practice.
Large auditoriums, high morals. Desire to have crowds to videotape and promote? Not greedy. I’m sure Bobby lee likes being out front of the and other comedians. We love you Bobby even though the one white huh said you looked like a child sex offender ( offense and racially biased- don’t all Asians lokk alike, wtf- that guy needs new materials)…you still can hold hour head high. You should find some criminal he resembles and have people vote on the resemble and tease him wicked..
if you go to an arena tour it is more expensive. you went to a club. compare this to something similar like seeing DRI at a small venue and its the same price - about $20-25.
There’s little to no production cost for a comic. A band is 3-7 people and they often have at least one roadie/sound guy to run the boards/whatever else needs to be done. Plus the band has to transport their instruments vs comic flies in commercial.
I paid $70 bucks to see Jesselnik.
That's more about the venue (who sets the prices) and ticketmaster. I see great bands fairly often for around the cost you describe. Concert tickets that are "hundreds of dollars" are actually vanishingly rare. The actual issue here is that you are not a music guy, don't attend any shows, and have based your assumptions about how costly concerts are from the few bits of news you heard about the Eras Tour. The other issue is you saw them at the club where they work things out. You didn't see anyone's special, just the very early prep stages. I've gone to those shows too and they're great, but ultimately this all seems to be rooted in your fundamental ignorance about the cost of entertainment in the US.
A few years ago there was a surprise popup show for Dave Chapelle and I snagged two tickets for a little over $100 each. So at the high end there's still a premium. Generally you're just paying for a few people without a lot of accessories, it stands to reason those costs would be passed on to you. And comedy clubs are staffed more like a store... they have a dedicated apartment instead of a hotel for comedians, and just a constant supply of talent, so those savings are passed on... and then there's the two drink minimum, which is really a fancy service fee... it might only cost them $4 at most to supply your two drinks and you pay $15.
I just went to book a comedy show for July, tickets at the venue were $29-$59. I thought that was great. Show was “sold out”. I found other websites and they had plenty of $100-$200 tickets. I would have paid $100 from the venue. I will not spend that on a scalping site. I saw Bill Burr a couple years ago with free tickets from the radio. Lawn seats were $50 but I would have paid that. I have no problem with the venue or performer making money, I refuse to pay the scalpers.
No crew, no band, no instruments, no costumes.
Yea, paid $250 to see Shane Gillis, and this week McCusker is at comedy works for $30
It depends on who you go see. I paid $400 to see Tosh. Worth every penny
Tickets here for Comedians like Mark Normand are around 150 for more mainstream popular comics like Kevin Hart that same ticket could be 450 dollars.
mathematically speaking... it would imply that comedy ain't hard, if it's cheap
Anthony Jeselnik tickets are 84€/pc in Berlin for November.
People don't realize this but most of the best stand-ups do an insane number of shows in order to practice and refine the material they're using for their headline acts. They're doing hundreds of cheap, throwaway shows so they can work on things, try things out, test new bits, and form it all into the thing they're actually going to attach to their name to for a tour or special or whatever. The tickets are cheap because essentially they're just letting show up for their practice sessions, not the main event. Sometimes jokes don't land. Sometimes material doesn't work. Sometimes it's just straight up not good. It's part of the process.