Entertainment For Lively Minds
Fact : comedy doesn't work in arenas.
Having just seen the announcement, I know that the other half will soon be pointing me in the direction of the Eddie Izzard tour dates just announced for the end of the year. I'm not his biggest fan but would be willing to give it a go - except that my local date is at the MEN Arena, a soulless concrete shed that even the most charismatic rock band has trouble bringing to life.
The worst comedy evening of my life was sitting in a seat that was pretty much situated somewhere in the back row of that venue's car park watching an ant-sized Izzard perform a few years ago. A trip back more recently to see Bill Bailey (albeit a lot closer) proved the theory - comedy doesn't work in an arena, and nor can it be made to work simply by employing big screens.
Arena comedy misses the point of the whole live comedy experience for me, which is the connection between audience and comedian. There's going to be no interplay between the heckler in Block 999, Row Z, Car Park Tier and Mr Izzard because he's physically in a different time zone to the performer. Doesn't matter how funny they are - there's no connection, might as well just wait and buy the DVD.
So although I will humour the GLW in the morning and buy tickets, I'm sure I'm in for another evening of hopeless disappointment. Am I being too cynical?
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Interesting
I was just talking to someone about this. Comedy - stand up or otherwise - is very difficult in large venues, because audiences need social confidence to laugh out loud, and that's asking quite a lot if they feel they are sitting shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of total strangers. For this reason, I was informed just the other day that the best theatre for comedy in the country is the Theatre Royal, Bath; this is because the auditorium is designed in such a way that you are sitting, wherever you are, in a pocket of thirty or so people. The punters are much more at ease, laugh more, and everything just works better. Of course, everything cheers up after the interval drinks when no one's embarrassed about laughing.
Front row centre
Best place is in a small to medium size venue front row centre, although it takes some bottle to place yourself directly in the firing line of any comic who likes to pick on members of the audience. It is a test of mettle, and while I don't approve of active heckling it can provide a great sense of achievement if your response knocks the comic out of their stride.
A prize example I witnessed recently during a Rich Hall gig at Blackheath Halls.
RH (addressing guy front row centre): You! Wadda you do for a living?
Guy: I'm a journalist.
RH (screwing up face): Are you a critic?
Guy: Yeah.
RH: Who do you write for?
Guy: The Guardian.
RH: Oh fuck!
I noticed Hall kept his eyes off the front row for the rest of the gig. I also know that the audience member was lying through his teeth.
i presume
you're *actually* the comedy critic from the Guardian...
Smaller is better
I haven/t seen Eddie Izzard live for a good many years now. However the first time I saw him was at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1991 or 92 when we stumbled upon him by chance at a small church hall. He had just graduated from busking into a venue and played to about thirty of us. It was and remains one of the funniest and most relaxed evenings of stand up comedy that I have ever been to. It was also obvious right away that he was destined for great things.
I have never been to an arena sized comedy event and would not want to as so much of good stand up is about interaction and atmosphere neither of which are easy to achieve in such massive spaces.
Enormodromes... keep 'em.
Mrs.V and I went to see Eddie Izzard at the NIA in Birmingham a few years ago. Cramped, uncomfortable seating, and all the ambiance of a large aircraft hangar didn't bode well. Eddie I. was on top form - and yet it all felt oddly detached. Then I realised why: we weren't watching Eddie, we were watching his big-screen image. Yes, we were sitting hunched up, on hard plastic seats, watching Eddie Izzard on telly. Next time we saw him was also on telly - in our living room, on a nice comfy settee, watching a DVD which cost about a third of the price of one of the tickets for the NIA gig. I agree with the consensus above - comedy works best in small-to-medium venues.
The biggest venue I ever went to for comedy...
...was the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane - big enough for a big name, just about small enough to feel intimate
Jeff Dunham - ventriloquist
has just announced his first UK date at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo. That intimate enough for comedy? Sent this YouTube link - the clip has been viewed over 80m times!!!
Could have been worse
Drew front row centre tickets in the pre-sale this morning... so maybe I'll get a definitive answer as to whether it works if you can actually see the performer!
Bill Bailey, M.E.N. 2007
I saw Bill Bailey at the M.E.N. in 2007, great show. He had the stage sideways, cutting the venue in half, meaning those at the back weren't too far away, and we were lucky enough to get floor seats. Can't speak for sitting higher up though.
Peter Kay did the same
A couple of years earlier and it seemed to work well (again from the floor seats).
Still, if Peter Kay can't get laughs in the MEN, everyone else may as well give up now.