Birmingham comedy clubs keep smiling through the recession
Glee Club owner and founder Mark Tughan said he believed live comedy was part of a small group of entertainment pleasures which people refused to relinquish even in times of economic difficulty.
“The public seem to ring-fence what they class as affordable treats,” he said. “Things like the cinema and West End theatre are all doing well in the recession and we fall into the same category as them. I think comedy is an antidote to the doom and gloom. Where there are arrogant bankers there are people who are willing to come out and slag them off and a lot of people like that.”
As well as large mainstream comedy clubs and popular independent venues there is also the grass roots venues – traditionally pubs and working men’s clubs where up and coming stand ups learn their craft.
Stand up and Glee Club compere Andy Robinson learned his trade in pubs across the West Midlands.
He said the picture was not so rosy at other clubs although he put failures down to other factors.
“Some clubs on the circuit have closed down,” he said. “It’s not just to do with the recession, I think it is also to do with the quality of the night, the cost to get in and the location.
“Comedy clubs and promoters are not all patting themselves on the back and lighting cigars although you could talk to some people within the industry who would say that it is working out well for them. Across the board I would not agree that comedy is doing really well.
“I think comedy is popular because it gives people the lift that they perhaps need when times are tough. They get a lot more laughter on a night out at a comedy club compared to what they would get at say a cinema. Psychologically in a recession people may want to laugh more.
“For me personally I have not noticed that I am any more or less busy. I have heard that some comics are getting less corporate gigs. They pick up ones that they would probably have given to other people for more money.”
Mr Tughan said he had certainly noticed a drop in corporate bookings – where a company books out the entire room – at the Glee Club since the start of the recession.
He said: “I suppose it has been a bit of a corporate recession for us. While we are set to make record profits this year there has been a definite drop in the number of bookings we’ve had for corporate events.
“Music was a key diversification for us, we knew a couple of years ago that we could be more than a one trick pony. We still want to stick comics on on Fridays and Saturdays, but we realised that there was a demand for something more.”
The Glee Club also serves up touring comics and comics previewing material ahead of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in its 440 seat capacity main room and Mr Tughan says a good e-marketing and tracking system which automatically sends an email to customers on its database whenever a new comic is booked has proved to be an excellent way of making revenue.
Mr de Leon says the re-branded Highlight venue on Broad Street will be adopting a similar strategy. “I can’t give away too much just yet, but we will certainly be offering much more on other nights of the week to try and bring in additional revenue.”
So the failing businesses plus high unemployment plus feeling of gloom equals let’s go to a comedy club equation seems to add up.
Laughter it would seem really is the best medicine for a poorly pay packet.
