Want to be laughing this summer, but no spare money to see some local talent? No worries,
Laughing Stock have got you covered.
The recession has hit us all hard. The little bit of money you have leftover for fun is becoming less and less with each passing month. But our desire to have fun, to go out there and experience culture does not thin like our wallets. Not to worry – there’s a way you can see hot new comedy without breaking the bank.
It comes in the form of comedians wishing to try out new stuff. Big name comedians don’t simply walk on the stage at the Apollo with a bunch of material no-one has ever heard before, because if the material crashes and burns, then it does so in front of several thousand people and a professional film crew who catch every second.
You might say ‘but comedians write new material and take that on tour, so it is new!’. We’ll you’d be right, in a sense. It may be new to you, but I guarantee someone, somewhere will have heard it. You see, comedians need to try out new material to gauge the audience reaction to it. Consider it like a big interactive focus group; the comedian tries out material and logs the reaction he or she gets from it.
And that’s where the genius of it all comes in. The comedians don’t register for willing participants to be part of their comedy focus groups; they simply play smaller clubs, and do it for next to nothing. So very often, you can see a big name comedian for ridiculously cheap, or a fairly unknown comedian for free. And the best thing about it all, is you can pretty much guarantee you won’t have heard any of the stuff they perform before. Win – win right?
So how do you find these mysterious cheap performances? Well it depends what kind of comedy you are after. If you’re happy with any local comedian trying to make you laugh, then just look up your local comedy club and ask if there’s any new material being performed soon. It will almost certainly be at a discounted price compared to regular shows. If you have a slightly more discerning taste, then be sure to check out your favourite comedians website or PR representatives for tour dates. Every comedian needs to try out new stuff, and while it’s unlikely to be free, it’s also unlikely to cost you more than a tenner either. So, what’s the catch?
‘But won’t it be rubbish?’ I hear you cry. Well, maybe. All new material is untested and therefore there’s no guarantee it’ll leave you in stitches. But it’s very unlikely to be too painful, and if anything, it’ll give you a chance to give the comedian a good heckling, right?