“Gerard McCulloch”:comic is bringing premium comedy to the inner city this month as he launches the brand new weekly comedy room Comedy@Eurotrash. Set in the Heart of Chinatown, the first night of Comedy@Eurotrash sees such high profile names as “Corinne Grant”:comic and “Tom Gleeson”:comic appearing along circuit regulars like “Adam Vincent”:comic and “Tommy Dassalo”:comic. I asked Gerard a few questions about this brave new venture.
What sets this room apart from other comedy rooms around Melbourne?
The single biggest answer is that I’m trying to attract new audiences to quality live comedy. Everything else springs from that. The biggest difference in style is that, for the most part, comedians will be performing polished routines – it’s not a night full of tryouts. When the punters hand over their cash, they’ll know they’re getting their money’s worth. The room might look a bit mainstream – it definitely won’t be as arty as some – but it won’t be at the expense of quality.
It seems to me that the Melbourne scene has almost split down the middle. On one side we have great tryout rooms where new and edgy stuff happens in front of audiences who get it, but those audiences are so forgiving that there’s almost no danger. And the rooms are so small that they can’t afford to pay much, if anything, so it’s hard to attract big names to bring in punters, and no comedian wants to do their best material for nothing, and besides, the regular fans know all your jokes anyway. On the other hand are the big corporate dinner-and-show rooms, where you want to do well to pay the rent, but they’re not the edgiest rooms to play. Comedy @ Eurotrash is an attempt to rebuild that bridge between the two.
The press release mentions the heyday of comedy rooms in the nineties with rooms many of us remember such as the Prince Pat and the Espy. Can you describe the quality those rooms that you feel is missing in today’s scene?
It was a certain ‘big show’ atmosphere. It wasn’t easy to get a spot at either room – I mean, they started Sunday afternoons at the Espy because there was such a backlog of people wanting to play on the Tuesday night. When you got a gig, there wasn’t a lot of ‘trying out material’. You HAD to perform well, because the punters trusted the promoters to put on a good room. And because of that, punters by and large turned up in droves. If you died, not only did you feel bad, but it could take forever to get on again. And yet, the audiences were still up for something edgy or risky, especially at the Pat. It was a great challenge to the comedian… how far can you push it before they turn on you? This atmosphere attracted big names to play just for the fun of playing there, and to watch them up close was to learn so much more than a comedy competition or stand-up course could teach you.
This is a CBD room in the middle of the week. Are you hoping for random inner city punters or are you hoping to attract a more comedy savvy crowd?
The ‘comedy-savvy’ crowd number maybe fifteen. You can’t run a whole scene on fifteen people. The ‘random inner city punters’ are people who aren’t aware that live comedy happens outside April. Thousands of Melbournians wouldn’t think to read Beat magazine or an online gig guide, yet turn on a Festival or put a stand-up comic on the TV and they love it. So I’m specifically marketing to them. The room’s right in the middle of Chinatown, perfect for an after-work dinner followed by drinks and a show. On top of that, I’ve been very grateful for the support shown by my comedian friends. Even though it’s Festival peak hour and many have heavy media commitments, they’re lending their names to the bill because they want the room to work, and they’re happy to play their role in bringing in ‘random’ punters. The thing for the ‘comedy-savvy’ punter to remember is that THIS kind of room is why comedians play the try-out rooms. This is where they get to bring the gold. I love the comedy-savvy punters, and I’m sure they’ll love the room… just don’t sneer at the suits because they’re laughing at something that you, I and three other people heard in some tryout room a year ago!
Comedy@Eurotrash, Wednesday 20th February. Corinne Grant, Tom Gleeson, Brad Oakes (MC), Adam Vincent, Tommy Dassalo and guests. For their $15, punters will enjoy three brackets of quality comedy, with happy hour prices until 9pm for extra value. The room kicks off at 8pm sharp, so commuters can rest assured they’ll be tucked up in bed by a sensible hour. EUROTRASH, Corrs Lane, Chinatown Comedy@Eurotrash will initially run for FOUR WEEKS ONLY. After that, stay tuned…
Thanks to Gerard McCulloch