Saving on Comedy Tickets, No Joke
Laugh? I nearly bankrupted myself…
Comedy is big business these days, but just how big? Let’s take a look at some of the big hitters on the 2011 comedy calendar, and how much they’re charging for a dose of mirth…
If you like your laughs broad and British, Al Murray is back on the road with his pub landlord trope, straddling – but not always so carefully – the line between boorish satire and plain boorishness. Whether his audience are in on the joke is unclear, but, at 25 quid a ticket, Al probably couldn’t give a monkeys. Go see his character lay into the French all over the country.
For the more self-consciously middle-class, there’s Chris Addison. He may have the face of a defeathered chaffinch, pink with humiliation, but he’s a onetime Perrier nominee, and will be delighting fans of self-effacing middlebrow observation up and down the country. Starting at the Tabard theatre in London in November. For further listings best check the Guardian I’d imagine. Tickets range from 10 to 20 pounds.
John Cleese and Ken Dodd, Comedic Elders
That elder statesmen of comedy John Cleese is hauling his ‘Alimony Tour’ round the country, starting in May at the Cambridge Corn Exchange. The Godfather of Rage is a must-see for comedy students, if only to get a glimpse of the man behind Fawlty Towers and the man often believed – erroneously – to be the titular star of Monty Python. Cleese promises an evening of ‘well-honed anecdotes, psychoanalytical tit-bits, details of recent surgical procedures, and unprovoked attacks on former colleagues… especially Michael Palin’. Can’t wait! 30 pounds a ticket, which, if you were going to see fellow 60s/70s cultural icons the Stones, is roughly what you’d pay per member. Even Ron Wood isn’t that funny.
Ok, perhaps I should’ve been a little more parsimonious in dishing out accolades like “elder statesmen.” For Ken Dodd was dishing out lunacy on British Screens when John Cleese was just a twinkle in David Frost’s eye – and he’s on tour in 2011! Well, maybe “tour” is a strong word, but he’s doing a special show in June in Southport, and a couple of Christmas shows in Wolverhampton. At 21 quid a ticket, Ken is the most experienced comic you’ll see his year.
Stephen Merchant only cut his standup teeth recently, but he’s sufficiently primed (as are his audience) to embark on an autumn tour this year, taking in most major towns and cities across the UK. Around 25 pounds per ticket.
For information on the comedy acts listed above, and many more, visit aloud.com, where you’ll also be able to purchase comedy tickets.
