venues
It all begins with an idea.
Here’s the WHY of it all.
I did stand up for about 6 months in 2009 when I lived in LA. Maybe a dozen 5-10 minute sets before I left town at the end of a 5 year stint chasing an acting career. I had some success, but I never figured out how to sit at the big kids' table in that town so I packed it in.
13 years later, when I turned 50, I started writing again. A lot. There came a moment at the end of that first year when I could see how it could all fit together into one piece. But who the hell is gonna let me do 60 minutes when I couldn't even get most clubs to give me 5?
January of 2024 was when I signed up for the Hollywood Fringe Festival. I committed to nine shows in the smallest theater I could to give myself a deadline. By the time June rolled around, I had 60 minutes of something. Fringe went well, but it also went by so fast. Now what? There were still no comedy clubs interested in me doing any amount of time, let alone a headline set. Fuck 'em.
I started renting theaters. It was terrifying at first, because how the hell am I gonna convince anyone to come see a comedian they've never heard of? I started at home, Reno, NV. I sold out two shows at a small theater in town as well as a show at a wine bar in Tahoe City I'd done "regular" stand up shows at a few times. They went reasonably well and I was off to the races.
It's been a pattern of booking a handful of dates, then getting massive anxiety attacks over the never ending need to sell tickets and second guessing myself. Then those dates I had booked would happen. They usually went well. And then I'd start over again. I've been doing that since July of 2024 and now I have a small, but potentially powerful list of small theaters (and other venues) in mostly the Western US. I'm sharing it with other comics in hopes it will make the process a bit easier than it was for me.
It's been a huge learning process with a lot of trial and error. If I had it to do over again, I would do a lot of things differently and I hope to write about that stuff eventually.
I'm hopeful others will contribute their own info/intel/data from other venues around the country. Not comedy clubs, that's a whole different monster. I want the cool, small theater or performance space that you know of, that you've done a show in, that might be good for other comics as well.
Send me the info:
City and State
Venue Name
website (or email/social media link)
cost, if you know it
seating capacity
what was your experience like?
any notes/thought/suggestions?
how did you promote your show and what was the turnout
other?
Send me what you know and I'll add it to the list. Maybe I'll make it publicly changeable at some point, but for now, send any info (or changes) to me: info@aaronfoster.com
And please feel free to reach out with any questions about any of it as well. It's tough out there when you know you've got something good, but clubs won't call you back, festivals won't book you and on and on. Fuck 'em.