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Episode 14 with Paul F. Tompkins!
Paul F Tompkins joins us this week to discuss everything from comedy
clubs that don't get it right, to the Democratic National Convention.
Also covered are thoughts on religion, and peoples comments on MySpace.
Oh and we go on a trip down memory lane to Todd and Paul's early days
of comedy in Philadelphia, this week on Comedy and Everything Else...
Good shows, delivered quickly:
Let's keep in touch: 
Comments
Brilliant! PFT is great. I
Brilliant! PFT is great. I love your podcast but that was the best CAEE so far.
posted by: Kris on Tue, 9/2 01:23 PM EDT
Best show so far. Keep it up. Please get Matt Besser on.
posted by: Ian on Tue, 9/2 11:22 PM EDT
That was a killer Podcast, and 2 hours of it. Awesome. As a comic myself, I love to hear you talk about the business of comedy. Paul F. Tompkins was a great guest. The other commenters were right, best show yet.
posted by: BiG"A" on Tue, 9/2 11:36 PM EDT
LOVED PAUL!!!I agree - get Matt Besser on...
A few comments...
Todd, the major flaw in your argument about movie theatres having their food concession outside and down the hall is that Comedy Clubs don’t make there money off “popcorn†- they make their money off alcohol. People need/want refills. You can’t expect them to buy 2 – 3 drinks at the start of the show and sit with them at their table.
First off, it is illegal to sell more than two drinks to a person at a time in most states and it is also illegal to have customer walk around with alcohol in there hands in most comedy rooms - even if it is just to their table. You can lose your liquor license for allowing that. Basically, if you can’t dance in a club, most time it is illegal to walk around with alcohol. Do you really think changing/ re-zoning a club and their liquor laws is easy.
There are also laws garnering food service and you can’t run a licensed room like a food court, bringing in prepared food in a food court style. It is illegal and there are reasons for that. There are food safety laws/issues to deal with.
Also, at a movie you buy what you want for the show and go inside. For a club show the menu is different. So, if they had to go outside and down the hallway, to buy alcohol, the crowd would be up and down hundreds of times…don’t you like that would be more distracting….Think things through…
You seem to have a simple solution for most things in life, but that doesn’t mean that simple solutions actually work…I don’t think you give intelligent people who run business the credit they deserve. They know the simple ideas that you mentioned are good ideas…but they also realize that they are impractical in the real world. It’s a world where club owner deserve to make a living just like the comics. The world doesn’t revolve around making a comic happy. You/we ( I’m a comic) are the hired entertainment. Paid workers. We are paid for our service/skill but it is still their house and if you don’t like the way certain people run “their “ business, don’t work for them..
posted by: Comic Critic on Fri, 9/5 06:21 PM EDT
hey Comic Critic,
Thanks for the heads up, Todd an I only have been doing comedy professionally every night of our lives all over the world in every situation imaginable for 20 years , so I appreciate you mentioning that the club has to sell drinks and food to make a profit, we did not realize that. Thanks for the heads up.
Could you get our point any more wrong?
You need to listen better. We are not talking about all comedy clubs, we are talking about the ones that do it wrong. Are you defending doing it wrong? Lots of clubs get it right, lots of them. Do you just like the ones that do it wrong better. Do you like a brightly lit comedy room?
I must refer you to page 2 of Steve Martins Book "Born Standing Up", it will clear up all the wrong ideas that are in your little head.
Hey Critic, how do you like not doing comedy?
posted by: JimmyJimmy on Wed, 11/19 03:47 PM EST