Some ‘Infrequently Asked’ Questions

(Please note, this has been transcribed from a video I recorded which is why some of the writing is a bit rambly and conversational - if you’d prefer to watch/listen to it instead, you can find it here.)

Hello! I'm Aaron, the director of Insert Laughter Here. As director, I'm in charge of making the show really funny, and making sure the performers feel comfortable being really funny.

But I'm also the producer of the show. As producer, I'm responsible for booking shows and making sure the shows sell tickets. So I thought I'd do a little behind the scenes peek behind the curtain at what I do on a producer capacity.

We're getting ready for our fifth birthday show, our 22nd show and tickets are not sold very well, despite being free. So as producer, it's down to me to think about why they haven't sold and think about all the reasons that all the things we could do to help fix the problems or to get people to come along. What I've done is I've written down some worries, some things I think are stopping people from booking tickets for the show, in the form of questions. Hopefully it will help with how you feel about the show coming up.

Why do I have to register with Fixr? Will they steal my data, or will you?

Fixr is our new ticket provider. They are quite low cost for us, which is good as a small independent company. And they won't steal your data. They do register your data, but only for Fixr events. So if you only book for us with Fixr, then that's all you'll see. You can opt out of their marketing and they're generally quite a good company. They're better than ones we've used in the past, so I changed to them last year. Will we steal your data? No. There's a question on the page asking if you'd like to hear from us or not. You can choose to answer "no", that's fine. I don't have anything that I will do with your data, so, no, we won't steal your data.

Why have you chosen Suffolk Mind?

Suffolk Mind was chosen as the charity we're supporting because it means a lot to me. I've had a lot of mental health issues over the years and Suffolk Mind have been part of helping me find the support that I needed. And I know that a few of the others in our group, without naming any names or being specific, have also had mental health issues. So it made the most sense to me to choose Suffolk Mind.

Isn't improvised comedy really cringe?

I get this a lot, actually. I think there is a perception that it is cringe, but I just think it's really fun. I really enjoy the idea that we can make random things happen from nothing, only from audience suggestions. So I don't think it's cringe, but I understand why people do. But it is a lot of fun. And we have fun doing it, so that's why we do it. Its up to you whether it's cringe or not, but it is often hilarious, and I don't think that's cringe.

Why are you suddenly doing a charity show?

It's a good question. We have done charity shows before. We've been part of mixed-bill lineups for other charity events: one supporting the Hunter Club, one supporting a charity that meant a lot to someone who ran the Hunter Club at the time. We were at Dogface's Impro Marathon last week supporting the Norwich puppet theatre. This is the first time we've done a charity show on our own. And the reason for that is because it's our fifth birthday show, I wanted to make it free so as many people could come along and celebrate as possible. But I also wanted to potentially harness our "powers" if you like, to raise some money for charity; to sort of celebrate what we do by giving back to someone else. So that's why we're doing a charity show.

I'd like to do more of them, to be honest. The problem is: we don't make any money from it, obviously. We're going to give all the money to charity. There's quite a few costs which I have to pay myself as a producer - that also means that I pay for everything - so marketing on adverts, and the cost of hiring places and the "cost" of paying performers a split from the profits of any show. This one won't even have any income to split, so instead I've offered the performers a travel contribution payment if they want it. The bottom line is there's a large cost involved, so we won't make any money from this - not that I'm intending us to, again, fairly obviously. I'm lucky and grateful that I'm currently in a position to be able to plug a bit of money into thi show, so I wanted to do that in the spirit of giving something back. But yes, that's why we don't do many charity shows at the moment. If this one goes well, I'd love to do more of them. Or at least get involved with other charity events. We'll see. We'll see what happens.

Isn't the Hunter Club a music place?

It is generally quite well known for its music. They do a lot of work to support independent music and local music. They have a battle of the bands competition every year, which is fantastic. But they do also host a lot of comedy. We've performed there quite a lot in the last five years that we've been performing, they have stand up nights and they have open mic nights. You can also hire the space to do whatever you want. So yeah, the Hunter Club is a wonderful place. They are good people and we've always had a really good time there. So we decided to go back there for our birthday show.

Why is it on a Wednesday?

That's a “me” thing. So when I was planning this show, we had the option of going for Saturday 29th June Or Wednesday 26th June. I chose the Wednesday because it's precisely five years since our first show. Our first show was Wednesday 26th June 2019. And the way the years have worked it's turned out to actually be another Wednesday night that the same date falls on. We sold out that very first show, mainly I think because a lot of people were morbidly curious to see if we would be successful or not. I know for a fact there are a few people who were disappointed that we were. But that's why I chose the Wednesday, because it's exactly five years since the first one, and my neurodivergence means that I quite like symmetry like that. So that's why I chose the Wednesday. I appreciate that it's middle of the week and that's a bit of a weird time to go out for a show. But hey, theatre runs all week. So have a lovely Wednesday night out. It'll be a great time.

Why are tickets free?

The tickets are free because, as I said before, I want to support charity, but also I want this show to be as accessible as possible. People can come in and just watch the show without having to pay anything. You can make a donation with your ticket upfront if you want to pay extra. If you want to pay for a ticket, that will all go to Suffolk Mind, but you can just book a free ticket and come along and watch a show and you don't have to donate anything. So that's why we did it as a free show.

Why should I have to book in advance?

Yeah, there's a trend at the minute where people don't book in advance for things. I work closely connected to quite a few theatres; it's definitely a trend since the pandemic that people don't like to book as far in advance. And I totally get it. It’s a risk to book on something where you don't know if the show is going to be any good or not. And you don't want to commit yourself to booking for that show. But booking in advance is really helpful. Whether it's a free show or a paid show, it tells the performers and the producers and all the creative teams in the theatres and the clubs and wherever you're booking for… that there's going to be an audience.

We've had to cancel shows in the past because we have got to the day before the show and there's only two tickets booked. We can't perform to two people. That would be super weird for what we do because we'd be asking for suggestions and those two people would be under pressure the whole time to come up with those suggestions. So we've had to cancel shows because of that. Paid shows as well. Where I've paid a lot of money for venues and stuff. So yeah, just book in advance, let us know you're coming? You can turn up on the day. But if we don't have enough in the crowd then we might not have a show for you to turn up for. I know for at least one of the cancelled performances, we had people at the club going, "Oh, where's the show? I thought it was going to be on?" Well, we didn't know you were going to be there, so we didn't expect to be performing to you.

So do book in advance as much as you can, especially for something like this, because it's free. Book a free ticket. If you change your mind in the, in the three days until the show, you can return your ticket for free. You won't be charged. Even if you have a paid ticket, you'll be refunded without charge. So book, please book and encourage your friends to book and encourage everyone to book. You should book early for things like you get the best, best deals doing that. I book for theatre months and months in advance because that's the best way to get decent prices in London these days. But also it's not difficult to just put a note in your calendar and say, “oh, I'm going to that event on that day.”

Why do you keep posting about the show?

Because Facebook and Instagram and most social media doesn't let our reach go very far (when we don’t pay for advertising/promotion) because they think we're not that interesting, we're a small company and because we're trying to promote selling tickets or in this case giving out free tickets, it deliberately restricts our reach.

So we have to post a lot to ensure our message gets seen by more and more people and try to get interesting enough that people will share or tag people in the post or help us pass it on because that helps the algorithm realise that we are interesting, and it then helps the message get wider and wider. For example, our posts on Facebook will be seen about 20-30 people at a time. Of those people, maybe one or two of them might want to book. It's a numbers game. We have to keep throwing things out there. It's like throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. We have to just post a lot. I realise it's annoying. My personal page turns into me sharing constantly posts about our shows in the weeks leading up because I'm panicking about how many people are booked and, you know, hoping that friends can help and support and like. And share and whatever. And it can get relentless. It's quite a lot for me to do as well. Like, it's quite draining. I'm director, producer, I also market and do everything for promotion.

So it's a lot. It can be really exhausting mentally, at times. But it has to be done because if I don't do it, no one knows about the show. No one turns up, no one books tickets. So apologies, but it's a necessary evil.

Will I get picked on?

I get asked this at every single show that we do. We are not that sort of comedy show. We don't pick on people. The only time we will pick on people is if you are disrespectful to me or our performers, in which case I might have a go at you from the stage, in a sort of jokey way. But generally, we don't pick on people. You're not forced to make suggestions, you're not forced to get involved with the show. There are games that we play that you can get more directly involved with, but no one is forced to. So no, you will not get picked on, guaranteed, unless you're a dick, in which case we might call you out on that.

Isn't it all just a bit shit?

Great question, Aaron(!) - because in the back of my mind, I often have this sort of thought rolling round. I don't think so, is the answer to that. We’ve done 21 shows not including any cancelled performances. And they've been good. Everyone there has had a great time. Everyone there has laughed and enjoyed themselves. And crucially, no one has told me that they've had a bad time or that they didn't enjoy it. Like, I get that's a different thing to do, but you have to tell me if you didn't like the show, how can I improve it if I don't know? But it feels good to me, and it feels good to my team. I like to keep an open culture with them, they can talk to me about anything they need to about the shows. We've made some changes as a result of their feedback. None of them have told me it’s shit. I just genuinely don't think it’s shit.

But if it is, or if you think that it is, just tell me, let me know. And you know, I might be able to do something about it. It might be your opinion but at least I'll know.

Will I have to donate to charity?

This is definitely something I've wondered if that is what is putting people off booking… No, you won't have to donate to charity. It’s entirely optional. We would like to encourage you to make a donation. But you don't have to. It's not required. You can book in advance with a paid ticket and donate that way. But again, you don't have to. You could book for free. You can come along for free, you can watch for free. You don't have to donate anything for the whole show. We're not going to ‘do a Comic Relief’ and play you distressing videos in between all the comedy. It's just going to be a comedy show. It's going to be 2 hours of laughter, including the interval.

You don't have to donate, but hopefully you might feel like you had such a good time that you do want to donate. Some independent companies and fringe companies and things like that will do "Pay what you think" in a bucket. You just donate to the company based on how much you enjoyed the show, we'll be doing something like that - except for Suffolk Mind, not us.

But you don't have to. If you enjoyed the show, but you don't have any money or you don't want to give any money, absolutely fine. I'm not going to pressure you to make a donation. Look, I know how tough things are financially. I’ve been there. I am there. It's a difficult time at the moment with the world. Things are expensive. There's not much money. Bills are expensive as well. So if you haven't got money or you haven't got money to spare, absolutely fine. Come along. Enjoy a free comedy show. If you have got a bit of money to spare and you have a good time with us and you want to donate to a good cause, chuck some money in the bucket. Use the websites, whatever. Donate to Suffolk Mind. But there's no pressure.

Why Bury St. Edmunds?

Simply, Bury St Edmunds because we started there in 2019. I was working at Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds at the time, formed it with a friend of mine who also worked there. And we got some people together locally. Then the first show was in Bury St Edmunds a few months later in June - so I wanted to make sure our fifth birthday show was also in Bury St Edmunds. I had hoped to have it in the same place as the first one - Moyse’s Hall Museum - but our deal with them before was a split of the box office takings, this time there wouldn’t be any, and they asked for £400 up front. I’m all for supporting charity, but I don’t have £400 to spare, unfortunately. Maybe we’ll be back there in future, though!

END OF THE QUESTIONS.

Epilogue.

With how awful the world can be, laughter is a few moments of joy for people to share. And I really enjoy making people laugh. That's why I do what I do.

If you have a question about the show, or Insert Laughter Here in general, that wasn't answered here you can always get in contact with me. Use the email address at the bottom of the page, send me a message via the contact form, on Facebook, on X, on Instagram, with smoke signals, with a carrier pigeon… whatever works.

I like to think that I'm always very transparent and not hiding anything. So if you have a question or a concern, get in contact and I'll see what I can do to have a chat with you and see if we can fix it. Or at the very least, I’ll answer your question.

With best wishes,
Aaron
Director and Producer - Insert Laughter Here.

CLICK THE IMAGE TO BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW!