STAND-UP ROCK STARS

Forget about Peak TV, we are living in the age of Peak Stand-Up. More than 30 years after modestly sized comedy clubs began to spring up all across the country as comedy’s popularity soared, the genre is in the midst of an unprecedented boom that legends such as Eddie Murphy and George Carlin could never have predicted.
“This business is money-and-ego-driven, and I’m not sure if it will become the norm, but everyone is always trying to out-do each other — have a more popular special, get more money, sell more tickets — comedy is incredibly competitive,” said Geof Wills, president of Live Nation (LN) Comedy, by way of explaining the comedic arms race we are currently experiencing.
And Wills should know, his roster of heavy hitting acts is among the biggest in the business. Recent and current tours under the LN banner include Ricky Gervais, Amy Schumer, Kevin Hart and Dave Chappelle, who sold out a 17-show run at Radio City Music Hall, New York City, that set a new standard for stand-up excellence.
Back in 2014, Chappelle returned from a quiet period with a 10-show run at Radio City that sold 60,000 tickets. This time around, with an even beefier roster of musical and comedic support acts — and with the help of two well-reviewed recent Netflix specials and some extra-special unannounced guests including Schumer and Rock — Chappelle is on track to sell well north of 90,000 tickets in what Wills said could be a new trend among big-name joke tellers.
One factor in the ability of stars such as Schumer and “Master of None” star Aziz Ansari moving to playing strictly large theaters and arenas is their ability to leverage their social media popularity, as well as movie roles in mainstream comedies and well-received TV series, into ticket sales.
“Amy was so white hot [when we booked her on the 2015 Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival] that they played amphitheaters, and it was because her show was popping and she was in Trainwreck,” said Wills of the ability to leverage Schumer’s multiple media properties into a boost at the box office.
Of course, not every comedian can book long stands at venues or graduate from clubs and small theaters to 3,000-5,000-seat theaters and 12,000-plus amphitheaters. But Wills said the bigger-is-better race shows no signs of slowing down, and he’s confident that the renewed appreciation for stand-up will help keep cash registers ringing for years to come.
“No one had really tried it before,” he said of the simple explanation for the long runs at rooms like Radio City or Hart’s sold-out show at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia in 2015 that did 53,000 paid with a “massive” production that went above and beyond the usual microphone and bar stool standard.
Artists such as Ansari and Margaret Cho have also hit a chord with comedy fans in a business that’s been refined, groomed and had its boundaries pushed, with promoters such as Wills and his peers able to pull off the kind of leveling up that you typically see in the grooming of rock bands.
ICM partner Steve Levine — whose roster includes everyone from legends like Martin Lawrence, Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno and The Rock to newer names including “Saturday Night Live’s” Mikey Day and “Barbershop” star Deray Davis — said it’s clear we’re in a comedy boom time. Perhaps it’s the mood of the nation, or the general health of the concert industry, but comedy fans want to get out. And they’re willing to spend their hard-earned cash to laugh.
What might be different is that instead of going to the local comedy club for a night of laughs starring whoever is playing, the appetite, and stakes, are much higher now, with many more artists able to fill bigger and bigger rooms than even in the 1980s salad days. “There’s a lot of star power out there, and there are so many outlets for comedians now,” he said, ticking off scripted TV, Netflix specials, social media posts, appearances at major rock festivals, books, late night TV spots, podcasts and viral videos as avenues that are exposing stars and potential stars to hundreds, thousands or potentially millions of new fans.
ICM, of course, coordinates the release of specials, films, podcast episodes and other appearances with a comedian’s stand-up schedule to maximize the publicity factor and take advantage of the biggest window of exposure possible. While the majority of up-and-coming and established acts want to rise to the biggest venue possible, some, like The Rock, actually prefer to play multiple nights in large theaters in order to keep a connection to their fans.
Theater shows can obviously never bring in the same grosses as an arena, but on a per show basis, Levine said arena production is “astronomically” higher than a theater play, which is why some acts would prefer to do five shows to an aggregate 20,000 fans than do one massive arena gig.
As an example, Levine pointed to a recent two-show run by an artist he preferred not to name in the same venue on consecutive nights where the heat generated by the first gig resulted in prices for the second night adjusting up due to demand. “That happens whether we like it or not,” he said. “Ticket prices were higher [the second night] once people saw the first show and there was a decision to rescale the house.”
One of the trends Levine is seeing on stages is established artists like Chappelle bringing out surprise guests — including ICM client The Rock — during their shows, which drives audiences crazy and expands the amount of people who can enjoy the kind of unexpected star set you often have to go to a tiny club to catch. He’s also excited by the diversity in the types of shows ICM has been putting on the road, including a kind of TED-talk with jokes run by the “Vice” TV stars Desus & Mero, who draw anywhere from 500 to 2,000 for their shows.
Like Wills, Levine hits social media hard when it comes to marketing his shows, relying on the acts’ social followers to spread the word and get engaged. As for where ICM scouts for new talent, he said as a full-service agency they have agents out every night watching acts, but they also source information from authors who might never have thought of hitting the road to do their version of stand-up, reality show contestants or comedic actors — such as the cast from ABC’s “Modern Family” or boxer Mike Tyson — who are intrigued by playing in front of a live audience.
And forget what you think you know about the type of audience drawn to a comedy gig at a casino, said Tom Cantone, Senior Corporate VP of Sports and Entertainment at Mohegan Sun Properties, Uncasville, Conn. “Kevin Hart has sold out every time he’s played Mohegan Sun, to the point where we inducted him into our Arena Walk of Fame because of his consecutive sell-out shows,” said Cantone, of the star of stage and screen who made his only concert appearance last year at the Mohegan Sun Arena to celebrate the building’s 20th anniversary.
With shows from some of today’s hottest stars, including Sebastian Maniscalco — who is on the verge of a sell-out at the arena — Cantone said it is dangerous for comics to overprice their shows, which is why he sees many of the acts he works with consciously scaling their gigs to appeal to fans who might also be paying for dinner, a babysitter and transportation. That kind of forward-thinking plan helps many of the comedians who regularly play Mohegan keep their careers going for years, if not decades.
That’s not to say that those acts aren’t looking for places to make a few extra dollars, including what Cantone called a “cottage industry” over the past few years in paid meet-and-greets for fan club members and superfans. Mohegan is also unique in that it has a long-running partner in the 250-capacity Comix, a smaller independently owned nightclub where acts such as Schumer, Maniscalco, Iliza Shlesinger and Ralphie May have tried out their jokes before moving on to the big room.
Cantone has seen a rise in more topical humor over the past year, not necessarily political, but definitely keyed to the events of the day. That trend is also emerging on the WME roster, according to Stacey Mark, a partner in the agency giant’s comedy touring department.
“The next wave of comics all have a different message, one that’s much more about what’s going on in the world,” she said, pointing to someone like “The Daily Show” correspondent Hasan Minhaj, whose recent Netflix special, “Homecoming King,” mixed jokes with an emotional retelling of the bias he suffered as a teenage son of immigrant parents.
Mark’s roster is also littered with comedians whose IMDB pages feature a wide variety of credits, including “Billy on the Street” star Billy Eichner, who appears on the Hulu series “Difficult People,” an episode of Apple Music’s “Carpool Karaoke: The Series” and the upcoming season of “American Horror Story: Cult.” And while some acts are shooting for the biggest venues possible or the longest run of shows, she also has a number of clients who prefer the intimacy of a smaller theater for more nights than the big payday. “Everyone wants to play Radio City, but the union places cost a fortune,” she said. “Or you could play Gramercy Theater, N.Y.C., and do three or four shows and end up making the same amount.”
While the new generation of stars are quickly rising, one of WME’s biggest hits this year is a joint tour between old friends Steve Martin and Martin Short that has sold out 50 dates and shows no signs of slowing down.
One major factor in the higher profit margins on runs such as Chappelle’s at Radio City, is that they typically have a much smaller entourage and supporting cast than a rock or hip-hop act might. No dancers, no bass players, but, Wills said, still a first class production that has drawn huge crowds.
“There are economies of scale, and if you’re doing 20 dates you can maybe go to the production provider and get a $50,000 rig for $47,500, or maybe advertise nationally and get more bang than if you’re doing a one-off,” he said. But the one thing you won’t get, regardless of whether it’s a club, theater or arena, is a break from the performers on their asking price. “They’re doing one date and they get their guarantee, and if they’re doing 20, they get 20 times that.”