What are our theaters doing wrong?

[u/Gg91gg91gg91]

How does Ben Schwartz and friends get an audience of 3,500+ people to pay $60+ to see a show, but my local Chicago improv theaters can’t get 30 people to spend $10 to see a show?

Clearly people enjoy the art form, why can’t we turn it into regular audiences at our theaters?

[u/SpeakeasyImprov]

Your theater doesn't have a well-known working actor who's been on Parks and Rec headlining its shows.

[u/ohbyerly → u/SpeakeasyImprov]

Not true, this post was written by Aziz Ansari

[u/divclassdev]

how many of your shows have sonic the hedgehog in them

[u/katherynthegreat → u/divclassdev]

The actor? None. The concept? Oh boy, it’s countless.

[u/keithfosterkid]

Short answer: nothing. Ben just got famous along the way. People aren't going to see improv. They're going to see BEN SCHWARTZ do improv.

[u/thecatiscold]

Comparing local shows to Schwartz shows is fruitless, I think. That crowd sees SC mainstage stuff at most. From my own experiences in Chicago's current comedy scene, though, there are a good amount of reasons why audiences are hard to draw.

On most nights, there are probably fifteen comedy shows going on in the city which dilutes the potential audience like crazy (and a lot are in vaguely similar parts of town). It's honestly probably even more if you're including stand up clubs, improv stages, DIY shows, etc and then you include all the other entertainment you can find in Chicago, diluting it even further. iO, SC, Annoyance, Bughouse, Home, LSI, and CIC all are competing for audiences (and the first three have multiple stages running simultaneously), it's TOUGH to draw a crowd amongst all that. I also think (and I am guilty of this at times) that a lot of performers here are on like four different teams/shows at once, making it so they don't have any real free time to go see other shows due to show/rehearsal obligations. Other performers made up the backbone of Chicago comedy audiences for a long time and I don't know if that's really the case anymore (it still happens, just with less consistency and numbers). 

Other people may have different experiences or advice. Get your show on all the ticketing/event apps (Pie, do312, etc), though, for sure. 

[u/majcher → u/thecatiscold]

There are 2.7 million people in Chicago. If your house isn't filling, you need to change something—it's nobody else's fault.

[u/thecatiscold → u/majcher]

Most shows I'm in sell pretty well, thanks buddy. Doesn't mean there aren't extenuating circumstances and market factors in play, and I have attended many a show that has promoted like crazy and not sold >50% of the house.

I would also tell you to change how rude/callous you are, as that's undeniably your own fault. You also don't live here, so why even chime in?

[u/iheartvelma]

There’s two different questions here.

Why are people willing to spend $60 to see a bunch of people they know from TV (and Dropout clips), who have had Netflix specials already? It’s a known quantity for audiences with a solid value proposition.

Why are people spending money on anything else instead of my show? Well, there’s a whole cluster of overlapping reasons.

- Many choices in a big market

• limited budgets
  
• This might sound simplistic but: No convenient parking (aside from SC which has a garage literally next door) - or it’s not next to transit.
  
• inconsistent marketing / PR work (EPKs, making contacts in media, having a website, headshots
  
• no samplers / online clips that aren’t potato quality
  
• Bad graphics / wall-of-text posters
  
• The theatres are not close to any other theaters, bars, or destinations.
  
• The shows don’t present value to regular audiences. They need a show hook & a drink special, a package of value that entices them.
  
• The hooks are formats like “Improvised [Pop Culture Thing]” - even if it’s using Harold scaffolding underneath, nobody needs to know but you.
  
• No liquor license makes it harder to package things into a “fun night out” option.

[u/Muser_name]

I went to my first Chicago improv show as a local the other day, and it was awful. Really really amateur stuff. I think the fact that we had to pay for tickets is a disservice to the good improv teams out there—if I didn’t know how good improvisers could be, and that was my first time, I would never have gone back.

[u/Feisty-Narwhal8400 → u/Muser_name]

People underestimate this. I did improv for years and I’d invite friends back when my team was getting off the ground and if the show went poorly, those friends never came back. Any improv lover in this thread should realize that when improv is good, it’s straight magic, and when it’s bad, it’s horrid. Also not everyone feels like going to a comedy show regularly. Chicago may be huge, and even though laughter is the best medicine, you have to be in a particular mindset to choose improv over say, a few drinks, staying in, etc. It requires focus and audience engagement, for which the average person might be tapped out after a long week

[u/uptopuphigh]

Faces that are familiar from TV & movies + the promotional power of livenation + a certain level of quality control/professionalism that most theaters can't have but appeal to folks who wouldn't normally go to a blackbox. A show like his appeals not just to comedy folks, but more traditional theater goers... it won't really help to compare a standard improv theater show to that, because they are fundamentally different beasts.

[u/MsBit_Commit]

People will drive from out of state to see celebrity improvisors, for one thing

[u/socool111]

It also isn’t just Ben Schwartz. Windy City Docial Club came back to IO and sold out 5 shows . TJ and Dave performed at a small theater venue and sold out for the entire weekend

[u/KingRandor]

Maybe you should try charging $60 for “Friends without Ben Schwartz”?

[u/DavyJonesRocker]

I think it comes down to quality control. I don’t flatter lightly… I’ve never seen Ben Schwartz have a bad show. Maybe a few bad scenes here and there, but the overall show is always a great way to spend the night.

When I have non-improv friends see shows with me, they kinda hate how Harold Night or ASSSSCAT is a dice-roll. But they always laugh their asses off when it’s Schwartz and Friends, Dinosaur, Baby Wants Candy, etc.

So be for real—are your shows as consistently good as Ben Schwartz’s? I doubt it because then you’d be the one selling out month-over-month.

[u/shakezulla6]

IDK homie, we're selling out shows pretty regularly. Maybe market saturation.

[u/geeered]

Taylor swift sells out stadiums, but the local covers bands has to plead their friends and family to come to the pub they're playing in.