Metro Denver’s comedy-club scene is adding new players, but industry regulars say there’s an eager audience for the venues. So far, the clubs are keeping their seats filled, although their methods of doing so differ.
The new Improv at Northfield Stapleton opened in November, and a second Comedy Works is set to open in Greenwood Village in July. They add to a scene that so far has been dominated by Comedy Works downtown, owned by Wende Curtis.
Even with the new clubs, it seems market shares have not been hugely affected, according to comics, Curtis and Improv manager Stacey Hart. But how each club reaches potential visitors differs.
At the Improv Comedy Club and Dinner Theater in Northfield Stapleton, managers say they littered parts of the metro area with 1,500 cards a week inviting residents to check out the club with six or eight of their friends for free.
“The cards are so they can come out and check out the club and see how we do things,” Hart said. “We are in 17 other markets, and it’s what we do when we first open to get the word out.”
The majority of attendees on Fridays and Saturdays are paying customers, but on Sundays it could be close to half freebies, Hart said.
Curtis hardly gives out free tickets, and when she does it’s never more than 15 percent of the seats.
“You devalue your product that way, and then people don’t want to pay for it,” Curtis said. “It’s a bad strategy, period, amen.”
Comedian Kathleen Madigan credits Curtis for paving the way for other clubs to see Denver as a good comedy market.
“It makes it possible for anyone who looks at the success of her club to think they can be successful,” Madigan said. “Whether or not they can be successful is a whole other ball of wax.”
Madigan works only two cities twice a year: Denver and Detroit. Her relationship with Curtis is the reason she comes here.
“There is nothing magical in the water that makes Denver a great comedy town,” Madigan said. “It’s the fact that Wende specifically has worked so hard for 20 years to cultivate the comedy there.”
Comedian Henry Cho echoed that.
“Denver was always on the map, as far as stand-up comics were concerned, as a good place to go,” he said. “Is Denver large enough to sustain all these clubs? Of course Denver is big enough.”
Curtis agrees that interest in Denver is largely the result of training the audience to have high expectations.
“We’ve conditioned them for 27 years, given them good comedy,” said Curtis, who is opening the Landmark location this summer. “Smart comedy people are conditioned. We’ve fed them from the beginning with good, consistent comedy.”
Elizabeth Aguilera: 303-954-1372 or eaguilera@denverpost.com
