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augiemagic Regular user Overland Park, KS 162 Posts |
We see a lot of "something bad happened... but I did this and the client loved it! " stories on here, but is anyone (especially you seasoned vets) willing to share a story of when a client ended up particularly unhappy with your services? What caused the problem? What did you do to try and handle it? What did you learn for the future?
The worst I had was when a corporate client thought a couple of my jokes were a bit on the blue side. We talked it over, and he was generally happy with my services (but didn't book me again). I learned to talk over expectations and "how clean/dirty do you want it" with future clients. Of course, there are a few times guys have tried to fight me, but those were all busking, so... Different animal. |
augiemagic Regular user Overland Park, KS 162 Posts |
On a side note, asking clients how clean they want the show has had some... interesting results. A birthday show parent who saw me at a bar show wanted me to do my filthy rope routine for one of their friends at the birthday party.
Another client didn't want me to use the word "booger" but was okay with a "use a clean needle" joke. |
T. Durden Loyal user USA 294 Posts |
Interesting question, Augie.
Here's my viewpoint, as someone who has "been there, done it all" but now does only exclusively adult comedy-magic shows... The problem with trying to get a customer's preference on "how clean or dirty" is that clean and dirty is very subjective. What might be filthy to one person is perfectly harmless to another. After dealing with similar miscommunicated expectations for YEARRRRS, I stopped trying to be all things to all people, decided to be myself to the HILT, and now ONLY take bookings for all-adult audiences who want an "R" rated show. Ever since I started erring on the side of caution by making it explicitly clear that my show is for adults only, I have not had a single "that was too dirty" problem or complaint. By making it very clear on the public-show promo that the show will contain "dirty jokes" it keeps the Recreationally Offended away, and attracts the folks who want to come out, have a few drinks, and laugh their ***e$ off. I have licensed use of the "parental advisory" logo, which I use on EVERYTHING (posters, website, demo videos), and do everything I can to "weed out" the potential clients (or they weed themselves out) before they even make initial contact with me (i.e. on my booking page, I flat-out say that if they're looking for a "lame-@$$ squeaky-clean kid show" then they need to just turn around and go back to Google). I only want to work with clients and audiences who aren't going to be a pain in the neck, and I want to avoid problematic situations and unhappy customers at all costs. In my contract, the following is included... "The performance shall be targeted at adults and will contain adult humor, language, references, innuendo, or situations which are not appropriate for children. The performance shall be similar in tone to a film rated “R” or a television program rated “TV-MA.”" ...and in public show posters we use both the Parental Advisory sticker *AND* "must be 21+ to attend" (or 18, depending on the venue). Don't know if this rambling answers any of your questions at all, but that's how I personally handled it - by alienating a whole bunch of markets, and only focusing on the shows I want to do - naughty comedy-magic shows for adult audiences. A very successful stand-up comic once told me: "When you polarize, you monetize." |
augiemagic Regular user Overland Park, KS 162 Posts |
I like it. I would much rather do adults only shows, but can't seem to find the market in my area. Mostly it's just local bar and burlesque shows, which generally don't pay enough to make a living. Or at least, the ones I'm getting don't, and I can't seem to find the ones that would.
That isn't to say I don't enjoy performing family-friendly shows and kids shows, it's just not the top of the list of shows I personally enjoy. |
T. Durden Loyal user USA 294 Posts |
Yeah, I hear ya. If you just want to stay in one local area, it might be difficult to make a very targeted niche market such as that work successfully. I'm just up in Iowa, and I ran into the same roadblock.
So... I expanded a bit. In the past month alone, I've been to Texas, Indiana, Wyoming, Ohio, Oklahoma... blah blah blah. I like everything about my life, except traveling across the Dakotas... and KC traffic. |
patrick1515 Regular user 142 Posts |
It was an adult birthday show, I was told in advance that I should "spice things up". I like a lot of audience participation so I happened to ask this one gentleman What is your name? ...Were you good in school? ...Were you good in math? To which he responed "no". I ad-libbed, "Kinda screwed up the whole grading curve eh?" The person the line was directed towards happened to be Asian. The host came up to me afterwards telling me that it was inappropriate and a racial insult. The Asian guy came up to me a few moments after that uncomfortable conversation telling me that he had a great time. The damage had been done, "political correctness police" strike again.
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Decomposed Eternal Order High Desert 12059 Posts |
Quote:
On Feb 2, 2015, patrick1515 wrote: Yeah some are so difficult to please. I did some of my best shows and attempted to contact the host after the performance for a review and never heard from them.
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