One of my favourite way to spend an evening is to go to a stand-up comedy club. I’m particularly lucky because one of the best comedy clubs in London (the Banana Cabaret) is held in the pub at the end of my road.
I’ve been a regular at the club for ten years, but in the last two years I’ve really got out of the habit of going. I had a friend staying on Saturday night so we decided to go along. This was a huge mistake. It was one of the worst nights out that I’ve had for a long time.
The doors opened at 6:30pm. Even though the show didn’t start until 9pm we were worried about getting a seat so we were there when the doors opened. We easily found a table on the balcony and actually we would have still got a seat if we had arrived an hour later.
Although we could see the ground floor filling up, the balcony remained fairly empty until about 9pm. At that point a large number of rather drunk people arrived. There weren’t enough seats left so many of them stood around. Some of them stood a bit closer to our table than the rules of personal space would normally deem acceptable.
Then the first act came on. He quickly discovered that the front row was made up of people on a stag party (I suppose the inflatable sheep was a bit of a clue) and that they were far too drunk to appreciate what we was doing. At about the same time, the people around us started talking to each other. Some of them were explaining the jokes to each other, some of them were discussing what drinks they were going to order and the most annoying ones were answering their mobile phones to make arrangements about what they were doing later in the evening.
This continued thoughout the first two acts. It was becoming difficult to follow what the comics were saying as there were always half a dozen other conversations going on around you. After the second act there was a short break. At that point we decided that we were wasting our time and we went home.
The reason why the Banana used to be sure a great club (both for the audience and, I”m reliably informed, the acts) was that it was a club where the audience was full of comedy fans. The atmosphere was always great. People who wanted to see great comedy would come along, see some top quality acts, have a few drinks and go home.
That’s not how it happens any more. The Bedford (the pub where the club is hosted) changed hands a few years ago and the new owners are determined to pump every penny out of their customers. They now have a late license and a disco oafter the comedy. This means that the audience is no longer full of comedy fans. It’s people who just want to get pissed and have a good time. If they hear a couple of good jokes, then that’s fine, but they really just see the comedy club as a warm-up for the late night drinking and dancing that follows it.
And of course it’s a viscious circle. Once the audience starts to go downhill, the comedy fans will stop coming. And the audience gets worse. Comics have told me that the Banana was once their favourite club to play, but that now it’s a bit of a chore.
I’m supposed to be going back again next Saturday for a friends birthday. I have to say that currently I’m rather dreading it.