How to organise a comedy event

Calculate the budget

Ahh, finances. 

The word might take you back to school day maths lessons, a stuffy classroom where it felt like time had well and truly come to a halt. Plus, let’s face it: spreadsheets, calculators and sums don’t exactly scream exciting, do they? 

However, if you’re looking to organise a comedy event, you’ll need to get friendly with your calculator and the spreadsheet application. After all, financial planning will determine every aspect of your event, from venue hire to talent booking and beyond. 

To start with, make a list of the non-negotiables of your budget. This includes venue hire, equipment and performer fees. These are called fixed costs, meaning they won’t change based on the amount of tickets that you sell. 

Once you’ve calculated your fixed costs, transfer them to a spreadsheet and begin work on your variable costs. Variable costs are things that will change in price depending on how many people attend. 

You’ll also need to factor in the unexpected and look at where you can save. For more information on budgeting, take a look at the article below. 

Source a venue for your comedy event

Once you’ve set your budget for your comedy event, the next step is to secure your venue. 

Your budget will determine the type of venue you can pick. However, whichever venue you go for, you’ll need somewhere that is easy to access via public transport, car and on foot. 

We recommend scouting out a selection of venues and visiting each one. When you’re there, consider the acoustics, find out whether you’ll need to source equipment, compare each choice and pick which you think is best. 

If your area has a comedy club, that’s great. Contact them, pitch your idea and see if you can strike up a partnership. 

Book talent for your comedy event

Talent can make or break an event. 

Again, who you can book will depend on your budget and reputation in the local or national scene. 

When programming your event, you may want to follow a structure. For example, you could book a well-known comedian with some local acts from the area as support. 

Consider the target audience of your event and what type of comedy event you want to organise. There are many different genres of comedy and you’ll want to ensure that the acts you book mesh well together. A selection of wildly different styles could make your event feel mismatched, which can lead to a less-than-stellar experience for your attendees. 

List your comedy event

Congratulations, your comedy event is starting to take shape. 

You’ve set your budget, picked a list of talent who are sure to get the ticket sales flying and found an amazing venue for your night. Next, you need somewhere to list your event. 

This is where Skiddle comes in. 

The Promotion Centre, our flagship software, is free to use and equipped to list comedy events like yours. You can sign up and have your event out there in a matter of hours, as well as receive access to tools like Discount Codes, Reps and ticket sale data, all of which can help you sell more tickets and make your comedy event the best it can possibly be. 

Sounds interesting, right? Click here to sign up for a free Promotion Centre account. 

Get promoting

At this stage, your comedy event will start to take shape. Once you have the venue, your acts and a place to sell tickets, your next step is to promote and market the event. 

There are lots of ways you can do this. Social media, for example, provides many opportunities. You might want to run paid ads on Facebook and Instagram, showing the news of your comedy event to people who might be interested. 

You’ll need a strategy, too. When it comes to creating social media content, think about what you want from it. Engagement? Ticket sales? Site visits? Brand Awareness? Ideally, you’ll want all of these things, but we advise picking one or two and focusing on them in detail. This will make your communications much clearer. 

If the thought of social media breaks your brain a little, don’t worry. The Promotion Centre blog has an archive full of articles that help you understand social media promotion. Read them below and apply our tips to your comedy event.