Missing shows

[Gutter Monkey]

Wasn't there a mini Moosehead for some dancers or other??? Where's their show?

[Cherryish]

This seems a good place for it... but is it just me or are there a few acts missing from the online list of shows?

[Mythor]

Do you mean the official site?
If so, are the missing shows official comfest shows? I get the impression that there's the "official" shows approved by the ComFest organisers that have paid their moneys and such, and then there're the "other" shows that are just taking advantage of the higher profile of comedy shows during the festival to stage their own shows, riding the coat-tails, as it were?

Could be wrong.

[Cherryish]

Yeah, the offical site. One of the ones I can't see is Justin Hamilton... Unless I'm not looking hard enough or something... but I did search for it on the site, and it came up with nothing, so... I dunno.

I thought the comedy festival was meant to be "open to all"?
In that case, is there such a thing as "official" shows and "non-official" shows?
That attitude kinda takes the point that only the shows the festival pays for are worthwhile and the others are hangers on.
Nice.

[Mythor]

Originally Posted by Anonymous

I thought the comedy festival was meant to be "open to all"?
In that case, is there such a thing as "official" shows and "non-official" shows?
That attitude kinda takes the point that only the shows the festival pays for are worthwhile and the others are hangers on.
Nice.

I thought the comedy festival was open to all who paid the rego fee?
I don't know what the arrangements are regarding the comfest organisers paying any acts for anything, but was pretty sure there's a rego fee involved... I'm sure someone will correct that if wrong?

[sharleen]

theres a $450 rego fee for each show.

However there is a difference between paying your rego fee and being a 'festival-sponsored act'.

Many of the internationals who come here are paid to come directly by the festival office, and this causes rumbles amongst parts of the industry who see it as a 'conflict of interest', and in the past have expressed their belief they are marketing their shows above everyone else.

But the payment of the small rego fee (I say small, it *is* the grand scheme of putting on the show) is meant to be open to all, and ensures you a place at the festival. Therefore, there's no reason to be a fringe event from the festival, or 'riding on its coat tails'.

As for the missing shows - well, shows get cancelled (though I doubt Justins' is), some shows have last minute changes to the venue/time, etc.
GM and I know all this *very* well.

At the moment, there are 176 shows on the online guide. So I'd say either there are a fair few shows missing or registration of shows has decreased this year.

[Mythor]

Originally Posted by sharleen

Therefore, there's no reason to be a fringe event from the festival, or 'riding on its coat tails'.

Disagreement with the festival organisers? Missing the deadline, if there is one? Plain old forgetfulness?
There're reasons why they might not be registered, but perhaps not too many "good" ones..


Back on the topic - would the $450 include being listed on the website? That may help in working out whether any are "missing", "not up yet" or "won't appear on the site".

And 176 shows? Assuming each is only on one night during the "month", that's almost 6 shows a night?

[sharleen]

when I say 176 shows - thats 176 seperate acts putting on shows. Most shows would be featured 5 or 6 nights a week. You are literally competing with 176 other shows on any given night.

The $450 does include being listed on the website, as well as the guide, the daily diary in the Age... However, one would assume all acts doing a show would be listed if they arent cancelled.

In my case, I have a show that was paid for back in Dec, but because venue details changed at the last minute, the ad was pulled from the guide, therefore appearing that it doesnt exist. It is however now listed online because the show was confirmed after the guide printing date, and it is easy to update, remove, upload, etc .

In other words, there are ways of getting around some of the deadlines, and chances to be listed at late notice.
Not being part of the festival just means you have an even more uphill battle in terms of media... and thats on top of the issue that you have such a large number of acts to compete with for audiences.

To avoid opening a can of worms, I'll leave my discussion at that.

[Mythor]

Originally Posted by sharleen

when I say 176 shows - thats 176 seperate acts putting on shows. Most shows would be featured 5 or 6 nights a week. You are literally competing with 176 other shows on any given night.

I know, that's why I made the crazy face. It's an insane number of shows compacted into a month, and that's only the ones that are listed. If some really are MIA the number is going to get bigger!

[Gutter Monkey]

Originally Posted by Mythor

It's an insane number of shows compacted into a month, and that's only the ones that are listed. If some really are MIA the number is going to get bigger!

There's supposed to be approx. 200 shows. Haven't counted the listings in the guide yet but I'll get around to it soon ...