Should Comedians Perform On Unvetted Shows?
What would you say if someone randomly reached out and asked you to perform on their show?
As a comedian who has young kids I’m often the primary caregiver for, and who I want to spend as much time as I can with while they’re young, I don’t perform nearly as much as I used to. But wow, I definitely got some sets in over the years.
[Here’s a fun video of me setting a record by performing 16 times in one night in NYC.]
I say no a lot more than I used to (I used to never say no). Yet, from the work I’ve put in of nearly two decades of performing on several continents, I do have enough of a legacy that the gigs still come in without me having to put out much energy, and I still say yes more than no if I can make it work—if it’s not a terribly late show (my kids get up early for school and life), or if it pays so well I don’t want to say no, if it’s some special show, or if it is very convenient to where I live.
Most of the time, I know or know about the people who book me on shows. They are people who’ve been booking me for years, or they are friends, or they are friends of friends, or they present themselves professionally enough that I feel comfortable saying yes.
But now and then, these kind of odd ball performance opportunities arise from randos who reach out to book me. I admit, I often say yes to these opportunities too, because I like adventures. Saying yes in these cases has led to me performing in a closed subway station in Manhattan, in the Empire State Building’s hidden room, and even to getting food poisoning after eating bisque at a comedy show that paid me in sex toys, as well as many other weird and wonderful situations.
Recently, I got a phone call from someone who said they’d found me online and tracked me down. They had two upcoming shows at a campground and wanted to book me on them. This was reasonable to me, because the shows were to take place at a public business, and the pay for them was good. I said yes.
More recently, I was asked to host a show. The pay was OK, it was close to my house, and I was available. But for some reason, my cat whiskers went up. Why? Because the person reached out to me on social media and I had no idea where they found me. We had no friends in common, and I’d never met them. Even they weren’t sure where they’d found me. I looked up the show (which I do whenever I perform anywhere) and it looked legit enough. It’s taking place at a hotel (a lot of shows take place at hotels, especially in rural America) and the graphics for the show look professional. Anyone can get a professional graphic designer on Fiverr, so is that an indicator of anything? Who knows.
But I’m a gambling woman, and as I mention, I like an adventure, so I decided to take a chance. The show will go down next week, and I will let you know if my organs get harvested.
I began being more careful about what shows I perform on after a gig a couple years ago turned out to feature a comedian whose material was so off-putting, I felt uncomfortable being in the same room as him. All his jokes were about how gross and awful basically everyone except for him was. I imagine he was probably “just trying to be funny” or whatever, but my personal policy is, if a comedian doesn’t have the sense to carefully craft attempts at thoughtful, insightful, hilarious jokes that speak to the times and lift society up in some way, I don’t want to hear them, and I definitely don’t want to be on a show with them.
Are you particular about the shows you perform on? Do you say yes more than you say no? What is a deal breaker when it comes to being booked on shows? Is there such a thing? Tell me in the comments.
Today’s comedy inspo:
Curb Your Enthusiasm will end after 24 years
Fine Art: comedian Nate Marks plays sandwiches as musical instruments (I just love this guy)