After being asked the same questions over and over again about
shows for shuls my Wharton education kicked in so I put together
a bit of basic information for prospective clients... in addition
to my on-line brochure which you can find here:
Booking Stand-up Comedians for Synagogues, Temples, Shuls and other houses of worship
That shouldn't be your first question. It's a good question,
heck it's a necessary question, but let it wait.
A show is typically around ninety minutes, and should include a
professional comedian as the emcee, plus two to three other pro
comics. The experience, caliber and fame of the comics will
determine the cost. Oh, plus the greed of the person
putting the show together. It's not uncommon for a
booking agency to make more money from a show than all the comics
combined. I don't do that. I'm paid to perform; I don't build any
other fees into my price.
I would suggest, though, not trying to find three or four comics
by yourself, as too many things can go wrong.
A comedy show is not a Chinese restaurant menu.
Which is why it's not a good idea to work with a booker who just
gives you a price list of comics and says "Go ahead and choose."
For one thing, that's just encouraging you to choose the least-
expensive (and least experienced, or even amateur, comics). He's
hoping you'll choose two or three of the cheapest comics and one national
headliner. It makes his job very profitable. But you get what you
pay for, and in this case you won't be paying for the full professional
show that you deserve.
A booker who gives you names and tells you to choose isn't only being
lazy, he's not being respectful of your needs. And just like you
wouldn't go to a Chinese restaurant with five friends and order six chicken
dishes, you shouldn't just randomly choose comics. If you don't know,
you might end up with four like-minded political comics in a row. Nothing
wrong with political comics or comics of any other style but you don't want
to sit through an entire show with the same point-of-view. Or the same energy.
Or the same persona. There are a lot of factors that go into making a great show.
And another thing-- is your booker coming to the shows? If he's not out doing
the shows, or at least attending them, he isn't keeping up with his comics.
Because people change. Or they may get stagnant. Either way-- you have to be there
to know what's going on. If your booker's in the show he's in tune with the market.
If he just says "Don't worry about it, I'll send you three good comics, it'll be fine..."
It might be fine.
I'm not a professional booker, I'm a comic; I get paid to perform. I don't build $750 to $1000
into the fee for a show; every cent you pay me goes to pay comedians for being comedians.
I won't view your synagogue as an annuity--
every year cash a check and send three random comics. I'm AT the shows, giving them the
personal attention they deserve. I'm there checking out the room, testing the sound... Often
I'm even providing transportation to the comics, so you won't get a call "Hi, um, I missed
my train, I'll be an hour late."
Okay, now let's talk price.
We can meet a range of budgets. Our experience has shown that unless you're
booking someone really famous, the fame of the comic isn't likely
to significantly increase ticket sales, not for a synagogue show.
If you pick the right person to put the show together
you'll have a great show and an even bigger audience next
year! But you have to have the right mix of comics.
Remember, it's our job to put on a great show. We've done this
before, so if we suggest a certain way to set up a room, or ask
for details on the sound system and the lighting, please
understand we have your best interests in mind. If we don't
sound good, we don't look good. Leave the details to us, but if
we're not asking the right questions, something's wrong.
By the way we're occasionally asked:
I recently spoke to an officer of one congregation who told me
about a comedy show they had a few years ago. They were told to
expect three comedians. Four showed up... the fourth was a
friend of one of the comics and was new. She told me he wasn't
funny.
So some things to beware of before choosing
comedians or someone to book a show for you:
1. Club credits. Newer comics will typically tout what clubs
they've played at. This is completely irrelevant, since almost
all comedy clubs have amateur or "New Talent" nights when just
about anybody can get on stage regardless of talent.
I book a professional showcase (The Ivy League of Comedy) and I get a lot of
newer comics asking to be on the show. Some of them brag that
they're "regulars" at various clubs. When in fact they're
"regulars" in the amateur shows, and apparently not even
experienced enough to realize that I'd know the difference (in
California they use the term "Paid Regular" to specify the
professional comics who get paid to work at a comedy club, but
that term isn't in use in NY, where people refer to being
"Passed" at a club as being part of their professional rotation).
2. If someone uses the term "up-and-coming" or "new talent" that
means amateur. It may be fine to have them as
part of the show, as some comics with only four or
five years experience can be decent, but you shouldn't be paying
much to have them perform for you. And in my opinion (and it's
an opinion your congregation will share) every show should have a
nationally-known headliner to close the show.
3. Contests. There are thousands of comedy contests every year,
and almost all of them are meaningless.
1. Go See Them! Do they have regular shows you can come
to? Or will they make arrangements for you to see them on stage?
This is perhaps the best way to see whom to work with.
2. Watch Their Videos. This is a decent way to
see if you want to hire a comic if you can't get to a club (or a
neighboring shul) to see him/her perform. Does their material
seem original and clever to you? If you can, try to ignore the
audience reaction and just judge whether you like the comic's
material. We've all done shows in front of a hundred of our best
drunken friends who'll laugh at anything. And that's the one we
send out.
3. Are they professional? And by this I don't just mean
are they paid for their work, I mean do they act in a
professional manner? When you hire a comic you're not just
hiring funny (and appropriate for your audience)— you're
doing business with someone. Does that person respond to phone
calls and emails promptly? Answer your questions clearly and
completely? Have a professional website? (just don't choose a
comic because of a great website— you're hiring a
comic, not his web designer, and I say that as a comic with a
much-admired website) Does this comic make you feel like this
is someone you want to work with?
4. TV credits. It's better than nothing. Sure, we've all
seen some unfunny comics appearing on late-night television. But
at least a professional comedy booker thought they were funny
(and while you didn't, a lot of other people probably did). If
someone's appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno or on The
Late Show with David Letterman several times, that's a pretty
good endorsement. A Comedy Central Presents or HBO special is
also a strong statement.
One thing to realize, though, is that the people who book late-
night TV shows have objectives other than simply finding funny
comics. They're looking for young promising talent, people that
will be famous and fit into sit-coms. Somebody who started
performing at 40, or who's rather unattractive, or even someone
doing intellectual material, is much, much less likely to get
onto TV. But no less likely to make your congregation go wild
with laughter.
To contact me, call (914) It's Funny (914 487-3866) or email Shaun [at] TheIvyLeagueofComedy.com.
More information about me is on my website:
You can also find lots of information on how to hire comedians
for any type of comedy show in my printable on-line brochure:
Sincerely,
Copyright 2009 by Shaun Eli. All rights reserved.
We specialize in:
Reform Jewish fundraising, Conservative Jewish fundraising, Orthodox Jewish fundraising
and Reconstructionist Jewish fundraising all have this in common:
And feel free to contact us to ask about other Jewish fundraising ideas. Even singles events!
Call (914) It's Funny (914 487-3866) or email Shaun [at] TheIvyLeagueofComedy.com for details or if you have any questions.
You can afford a great show.
First I will speak to you for a few minutes to find out your needs.
If you serve food— a week later nobody's going to remember
the meal. They will remember having a great time
at the show. And you'll get the credit for that.
(I put on
exclusively clean shows but there are degrees of clean. NBC and
Comedy Central may bleep out the F-word but comics may still talk
about intercourse in somewhat graphic detail... to me, 'clean' is at least as
much about content as it is about vocabulary)
(The answer's usually Saturday
but don't forget about the possibility of an early Sunday evening show. And of course week nights and day times are available too and they're less expensive.)
(I provide the entertainment- the rest is up to you)
For example, what
would you do if one of the comics calls you at 6 o'clock on show
day to say he's sick? Let that be my problem— I have a lot
of comics' phone numbers, I know where they live and who has a
car. I also know who needs to be reminded the day before a show, and
which are the rare comics who'd think nothing of cancelling just because
they got a better offer for the same night (I won't work with people like this).
I work with a select group of hand-picked, professional comics.
Even just choosing the right comics, in the optimal sequence,
takes a bit of expertise.
Part of what you're paying the booker for is his expertise and knowledge
of his comics. And not for him to pass that task onto someone who doesn't
have that expertise.
It might not be.
My shows start on time-- anything else is disrespecting everyone who's there when they're
supposed to be.
"A member of our congregation wants to perform for a few minutes
in the show, is that okay?"
Nope.
We're putting on a show of professional comedians
performing for a paying audience. As pro comics we've each done
thousands of shows, and we've gotten better from each one.
I turn down ten comics for every one I book. And
the ones I turn down? They've got years of performing experience
too.
I explained that I have sympathy for new comics, because nobody
starts out funny enough to be a professional comedian and that
it's hard to get stage time in front of an audience, which is
what comics need in order to improve ("Stage time, Stage time,
Stage time" is the equivalent of real estate's "Location,
Location, Location"). But... I went on to explain that
that's what amateur showcases at comedy clubs are for. Their
temple's members should not have been subjected to a new comic if
they were paying for a professional comedy show.
Here's why:
Sometimes the winner is by audience vote. Which means the winner
is the person who brought the most friends to the show.
Some contests will ask the audience to vote for two people in
order to minimize this factor. But if the audience figures this
out they vote for their friend and the worst comic... the
worst comic ends up winning!
Some contests use what they call an applause meter, which is just
a VU (sound) meter, to measure the volume of applause. One
person yelling or whistling produces more sound than twenty
people clapping... so that's not exactly scientific either. And
even if it were, we're back to the 'who brought the most friends'
factor.
And even if the contest has judges? Are those judges
entertainment industry professionals? Or are they people who
might not know that somebody did five minutes of George Carlin's
material, or jokes that are so obvious that many, many amateurs
tell them but professionals know not to?
In my prior career in banking I won an international prize for
forecasting six economic variables a year in advance. Know what
that means? Nothing. I guessed. And won. What does that say
about the experts who used mathematical models for their
predictions?
And comedy's rather more subjective than economics...
So if all that's irrelevant, what can you use to decide whom
to work with? Here are a few suggestions:
We have frequent public shows and if none will fit your schedule we'll try
to make arrangements for you to see us perform elsewhere.
But at The Ivy League of Comedy we do one better, as we make a DVD available of
some of our comics' television performances. Just ask.
I've seen some comics' websites that had cut and pasted
sales material from another comic's website; just today I found
text at the bottom of one site claiming he's been a professional
booking agent for 20 years (and the guy only started in comedy
around three years ago). I copied the text into Google and saw
that it was taken verbatim from a booking agency's site. Should
we have much faith that this comedian's material is original or
that this comic is even honest? That's two Commandments broken
right there!
And don't be impressed by a website full of celebrity photos.
I can hire celebrity comics just like anybody else can. I've worked
with them too. It's like having your picture taken with the president; you stood
next to him once, you didn't become his trusted advisor. So don't let the photos
of Jerry Seinfeld or Jay Leno distract you; you can't afford them.
BUT— ask to see a video of the show, because
some will... gasp... lie, claiming to have been on a show (or
will have been in a comedy sketch, which is maybe a testament to
their acting skills but says nothing about their ability to WOW
an audience with stand-up). Any comic who's been on late-night
TV but doesn't make a recording of the appearance available to
you has something to hide or just doesn't care that much about
your business.
www.BrainChampagne.com.
Choosing Standup Comedians for Temples, Synagogues and other Houses of Worship
Shaun Eli
Comedian & Executive Director
The Ivy League of Comedy
The Ivy League of Comedy, with our hand-picked Jewish comedians and non-Jewish stand-up comics, is perfect for:
Reform temple or temples
Conservative temple or temples
Orthodox temple or temples
Reconstructionist temple or temples
Reform synagogue or synagogues
Conservative synagogue or synagogues
Orthodox synagogue or synagogues
Reconstructionist synagogue or synagogues
Reform shul or shuls
Conservative shul or shuls
Orthodox shul or shuls
Reconstructionist shul or shuls
Jewish fundraising for Reform Judaism, also known as Reform Jewish fund-raising
Jewish fundraising for Conservative Judaism, also known as Conservative Jewish fund-raising
Jewish fundraising for Orthodox Judaism, also known as Orthodox Jewish fund-raising
Jewish fundraising for Reconstructionist Judaism, also known as Reconstructionist Jewish fund-raising
Our Jewish comedy shows, with or without elements of Jewish comedy, make great
Jewish fundraisers, ideal ideas for:
Men's club programming, Sisterhood programming, Brotherhood programming,
Men's Club fundraising, Sisterhood fundraising, Brotherhood fundraising
Men's Club fund-raising, Sisterhood fund-raising, Brotherhood fund-raising
Yes, The Ivy League of Comedy founder Shaun Eli can help you plan your Jewish singles event too!
As an example, for information specifically catered to Orthodox Jewish singles event planning, click here:
www.BrainChampagne.com/comedy/JewishSingles.html