The Big Wednesday Comedy Club in London is experimenting with offering a discount to those who are 'brave' enough to sit in the front. This is their solution to customers not wanting to be close to the comedians they have paid to come see. From June 25 they will offer a 50% discount for audience members booking front row seats in advance, making ticket prices £3.85.
The weekly club which has featured sets from award winning comedians like James Acaster, Joey Page, Celia Pacquola and Joel Dommett has, like a number if clubs, found the audience members who turn up last feel frustrated with having to be seated on the front row. To make those seats more attractive and to guarantee the intimacy between performer and audience, promoter Comedy Knights has taken the new step of pre-selling the danger zone at half the standard price.
Promoter Bobby Carroll from Comedy Knights says “Big Wednesday Comedy at the Charterhouse has been really busy since we have started in Spring this year. At a time when most weekly gigs are suffering for ticket sales we are full most weeks but we have noticed what a struggle it is to get people to sit near the stage... even if they are the only seats left. We decided to find a way to make sure customers know they will be sitting close to the performer and to make sure the act has a full room. The discount is merely a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down.”
This is an ongoing problem at some gigs: “People have a real aversion to sitting at the front, some really try to argue the point or demand refunds when they are the only seats left by the time they arrive. A few week back, one woman dragged her husband from the front row to try and sit in the soundbooth just as the show was about to begin. All the comedians saw it, making it hard for her not to be a target when she was asked to sit back in her seat. Luckily I think everyone was a bit compassionate to her poor husband who had been dragged around the gig like a rag doll. They had had enough attention before the show had even began, all over an irrational fear that the comic might talk to her."
Carroll went on to wonder why this has become such an issue: "I'm not sure where people have gotten this idea that sitting where the acts can see you is loaded with risk. Most performers I book want to do their best material, not get bogged down in dealing with audience members. Most stand up comedians are very nice people who just want to make the whole room laugh. I think a lot of people are scared the banter will get too personal. To be honest most good stand up comedians only really start engaging with the audience if someone is interrupting. If you have just come to laugh and enjoy the brilliant comedians you should have no fear sitting at the front."
Big Wednesday Comedy Club runs, would you believe it, every Wednesday. More information here.
