Birmingham comedy clubs keep smiling through the recession
Phil Vinter looks at how the laughter business has fared in Birmingham during the recession.
High unemployment and slow spending levels are proving tough for businesses in Birmingham – but comedy clubs are still laughing all the way to the bank.
The £8 million proceeds from live shows and record-breaking DVD sales for comedian Michael McIntyre last year showed the Monty Python ‘always look on the bright side of life’ theory was in evidence in the UK.
And while businesses are going bust and unemployment remains high, comedy clubs in the city are confounding the gloom of the financial world.
In Birmingham the recent story of mainstream stand up in the city is a tale of two comedy clubs.
In the Arcadian corner is the Glee Club. When it opened in 1994 it was the first comedy club outside London. Since then it has grown in size and popularity and now diehard comedy lovers regularly flock to it.
During the recession the club has diversified and it now serves up music and comedy on all nights of the week not just the traditional Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Despite the dire economic situation, owner Mark Tughan is forecasting record profits for his next year end in June and he is planning to open at least two more UK venues in the next few months.
In the Broad Street corner stands the city’s other major comedy club.
For the last decade it has been known to everyone as Jongleurs but after parent company Regent Inns went into administration at the end of last year it became one of 10 Jongleurs venues to be taken over by newly formed company Intertain – which included members of the old management board.
The venue name has now changed to Highlight, but the selling point remains the same as it did when Jongleurs opened in Birmingham in the early noughties – a raucous atmosphere for 20-somethings and in particular for those in stag and hen parties.
Despite the recent collapse of the Jongleurs brand, Matt de Leon, spokesman for newly-formed Intertain, said the Birmingham venue was the most successful in the group and continued to turn over a healthy profit during the recession.
“Despite the tough economy, all the clubs in the Jongleurs chain have remained pretty popular,” Mr de Leon said. “The problems arose from very unfavourable lease agreements at some of the venues and unfortunately that impacted on the whole business.”
There has been a significant increase in the amount of comedy being shown on the box over the last two years as well. In addition to new comedy panel shows and sitcoms, stand up comedy in the shape of Live at the Apollo has also made a prime time return to television screens.
Research by online retailer Amazon shows that at the height of the recession in November 2008 sales of its top 20 comedy DVDs were 41 per cent higher than for the same month the previous year.
Last month’s best-selling comedy DVD, a recording of Lee Evans’ live show at the O2 stadium in London, sold 56 per cent more copies than last November’s most popular comedy DVD – Ricky Gervais’ live show.
But while viewing figures for comedy on TV and sales of DVDs show a thirst for comedy that demand has not affected numbers still keen to go out and enjoy comedy for themselves.
