Stung again

Here's the reason why I don't write about new rooms in the Straight: they rarely last.

The Bee's Knees Comedy Arrangement is kaput. The buzz has fizzled out. Just like that. What did they have, a couple shows? Brutal.

I had high hopes for it because of the awesome room (at the Cellar Jazz Club), the quality of acts, and because they were adding a musical element. But it was not to be. One thing about the Cellar, if you're there it's because that's where you were going when you set out. There's virtually no walk-by traffic. That makes doing the legwork to get bums in seats all the more important. Did they? I have no idea. Sometimes you do all the right things and people still don't show up.

Does the media have a role in giving a boost? I'm not sure about that. The media generally reports on things that are already thriving. They're reporting, not cheerleading. If there's no crowd, there's nothing to report. So it's up to the club and/or bookers to get the word out as best they can. It's a lot of work.

The media will make an exception if there's something really unique about the show, or a big, established name is attached.

One excuse I heard was that they couldn't compete with the hockey playoffs. I'm not in business, but I hear this a lot from business owners. As a non-hockey fan, I don't buy it. I know lots of other people in this city who couldn't give a rat's ass about hockey. Why not market to them? A show for hockey wives or people otherwise sick of all the hockey talk. Or, conversely, a hockey-themed show for all those hockeypucks out there. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

I dunno, but something. You can't just put on a show, open up the doors, tell a few people, then hope word of mouth does the trick.

I can't tell you the number of comics who've approached me telling me of all their grandiose schemes about new rooms, only to have those rooms die a miserable death a few weeks later. Unfortunately, there's no evidence a single article in a paper will turn such a show into a sure-fire hit.

Just as well. The new season of The Bachelor starts in a couple weeks on Monday nights. Vancouver's own Jillian, the new Bachelorette, is the real bee's knees.

Bee's Knees Comedy Arrangement video

Monday night is my basketball night. For another few weeks, anyway. So I missed most of the big opening night of the Bee's Knees Comedy Arrangement at the Cellar jazz club. I got there as headliner Jamie Hutchinson hit the stage. There was a decent-sized crowd and the room, as I keep telling you, is really great. And Jamie was en fuego. Made me wish I had been there all night.

But now, through the magic of video, it's like I was. Each week on their website, they're going to show excerpts from the previous week. I love this idea. Hopefully, though, it won't keep people away, figuring they can just watch on-line. I'm sure the idea is to whet their comedic appetites, if you will, so they'll make it down to Broadway and Alma one Monday night. To that end, maybe they need to give smaller tastes of the acts, and edit them all together for some one-stop viewing. But I'm glad I was able to catch most of what I missed. Here are the first two on their page, all really funny.

City-TV superstar Charlie Demers:


Kelly "In my day" Dixon:

To watch all the other acts (minus Hutchinson, for some reason, and Dave Shumka for another reason), check out their video page. You'll see A.J. McKenzie, Paul Breau, musical act Janet Panic, Barry Greenfeld, and host Tim Rykert.