Hi there,
This is Richard Coughlan, CEO of COMEDY iNC. WWW.COMEDYINC.CO.UK
In December 2007 I found that I was not in a healthy financial state of affairs in life. Well to be more accurate I was in a critical cash related situation that made my personal destitution as near as it could possibly be without actually being.
In June 2007 I quit my so called “real Job” as a member of the JD Wetherspoons full time Kitchen staff in order to advance my stand up comedy career and when I left JDW I made a strict vow to myself that I would never again in my life, under any circumstances no matter what…work for/at anyone/thing doing any job purely for the money and not for the love…I would only ever do jobs which I’d be happy to do for free if asked to…I believe that we only have this one life, and like everyone else I had one dream in my head, to be with my one and only true love in life, i’d never let a nobody hold me back from becoming somebody…
As the year of someone else’s Lord 2007 was slowly coming to an end…so too was that promise I made to myself…after just 6 months it looked as if my tenacious desire wasnt going to be enough anymore…I needed something new and fast…
There has never been a truer philosophy in life than the classic proverb;
Necessity is the mother of Invention….simply put;
“A need or problem encourages creative efforts to meet the need or solve the problem.” This saying appears in the dialogue Republic, by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato.
I was in need, i was being beaten and spanked by the mother of necessity and then as she kissed it all better suddenly it hit me like it was diamond bullet straight to the testicles…Build a Comedy empire in Kent that will last for a thousand years….and so i did.
Gillingham: The Beacon Court Tavern
This place has been the screaming baby that I have recently wanted to just pick up and shake as hard as I can. 9 gigs, 4 shows went ahead, 4 were cancelled due to lack of audience (under 12) and 1 was pulled because of the Euro 2008 Football Final… More worrying is that out of the 4 gigs that were scheduled to take place in June and July…only the show on the 15th June w/ Robin Ince actually went ahead…the 3 since then have all been pulled…not a very promising venue then? I don’t know yet, I believe it has great potential and can still become a good venue, it has everything going for it…except a regular, loyal and interested audience…which is the only ingrediant that matters really. The 4 shows that have gone ahead were all fantastic fun and enjoyed whole heartedly by everyone involved, no complaints, no walkouts, no negative feedback…nothing that suggests that I am/have been doing anything wrong…it’s a mystery. So after Comedy Inc has had its August break we will be giving the Gillingham venue just 3 more chances to prove to me, itself and to everyone else that it can be a great comedy room with a great atmosphere. There are however 2 changes being made; 1) We are moving the shows from Sunday nights to Tuesdays. 2) We are going to drop the fortnightly shows and go back to one gig a month on the following dates; Tuesday September 16th, Tuesday October 14th and Tuesday November 18th.
These will be exactly the same format as the first shows were. 4 acts, 2 intervals, 1 MC, £5 entry fee and no advanced bookings. If these 3 shows are a success, or at the very least they all go ahead and show promise, then Gillingham will carry on in 2009…if they are a flop and a failure…then The Beacon Court Tavern and COMEDY iNC will be going their seperate ways and we will start searching for another potential venue in Gillingham.
Faversham: The Arden Theatre…1 word: AWESOME…another: PERFECT…one more: #1
In the last 6 months at The Arden in Faversham COMEDY iNC has performed just 8 shows…and it has given me, the acts and the audience members some of the most wonderful nights of entertainment, the highest quality in comedy and memories that will last forever.
No surprise really that COMEDY iNC will definately be at The Arden in 2009, in fact I have already started booking acts for shows.
However, lets not forget the rest of 2008 is still to come. 5 shows left and each one has got a cracking line up.
August 22nd: Howard Read w/ Gareth Berliner & Mike Manera £10 a ticket
September 26th: Hattie Hayridge w/ Stephen Carlin & Gary Colman £11 a ticket
November 6th: Charity fundraiser for the Local Hospice. COMEDY iNC will be using this shows door takings and donating a guaranteed amount of £500 from it. The line-up features: Paul Sinha w/ Andi Osho & Imran Yusuf £12 a ticket
November 9th: A 1st time ever show for The Arden as it becomes part of a national UK tour by stand up comedian Trevor Lock. This show is being brought to The Arden as a joint venture between COMEDY iNC and Chris Mayo of the Comedy Bar Managment Company. This show also features a VERY SPECIAL MYSTERY GUEST SUPPORT ACT…£12 a ticket
December 19th: The “1st Ever-COMEDY iNC’s Top 4 acts of the year show” This will be a 4 act show with 1 interval and will feature 4 persoanlly selected acts who’ve stood out during this first year and deserve some special recognition. The 4 acts are selected from all 3 of COMEDY iNC’s venues…Line-up TBC. £11 a ticket.
We will then be off until Friday 13th Febuary which will be COMEDY iNC’s 1st Birthday party gig and it is going to be very very very special indeed.
Deptford: The Albany
This venue has been my Tim Henman…started off really great…and then all of sudden and for no reason whatsoever…lost it! 4 shows, 2 cancelled, 2 gone ahead. The 2 shows that went ahead were fantastic gigs which I was very happy with…then the wheels appeared to fall off out of the blue. Well nil desperandum mon amis; we shall not falter in the face of despair. Instead COMEDY iNC has worked even harder in order to increase the overall quality of the line up;
Saturday September 27th: Ava Vidal, Steve Day and Christian O’reilly all for just £10
October 25th & November 29th : Line ups TBC. £10 a ticket
and coming very soon COMEDY iNC proudly announces the opening of our 4th venue and the 3rd one to be in Kent…Gravesend is the home of the prestigious Woodville Halls and we have been very fortunate to acquire the use of their “Kent room” which is a 90 seater space and looks to have great promise as a stand up venue. Our first 2 shows will be taking place on Tuesday Oct 21st and Tuesday Nov 25th. Line up details are not fully confirmed as yet However the act budget for this gig is slightly more than the budget for the venue in Faversham + Gravesend is closer to London which is where every decent and indecent act lives…so these shows should be very high in quality.
The final bit of news is one I can’t confirm any real details about but I can tell you that COMEDY iNC has been approached by a very well known, 2 tiered, 400 seater theatre in Kent about taking on the responsibility of “booker” for thier regular comedy nights, we have sent them a proposal and negotiations have already begun…that is all I can say right now.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH IF YOU HAVE ATTENDED, PERFORMED AT, WORKED AT OR IN ANYWAY SHAPE OR FORM BEEN A PART OF ANY COMEDY iNC SHOW IN THE LAST 6 MONTHS…YOU’VE MADE ME A VERY HAPPY MAN AND YOU ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE FOR SAVING ME FROM THE UNTHINKABLE, THE UNBEARABLE AND THE UNFORGIVABLE ACT OF HAVING TO WALK INTO JD WETHERSPOONS AND SAY “CAN I HAVE MY JOB BACK PLEASE”…THANK YOU…I LOVE YOU XxXxX…
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