Parking Lot Comedy Show

I produced a small comedy show in the backyard of my friend’s fraternity in Berkeley. I barely broke even, but I learned more about life and business than any class could teach me. 

The thought was this, I do standup comedy and I enjoy getting on stage. I’m finishing up grad school, why not produce a small show in my parking lot with my friends, how hard could it be? Dude it was the fucking hardest, because Murphy’s Law fucked me.

“Everything that can go wrong will go wrong” - Murphy

As a starting point, I needed my neighbor’s permission because the show would, after all, take place in a shared parking lot. I put on a collared shirt and knocked on all 5 doors, positioning my show as a fun graduation sendoff type comedy event. A few were enthusiastically supportive, and the rest, while less enthusiastic, handily agreed.

A few days later at the UC Berkeley open mic I announced that I’m doing a comedy show in my parking lot, and asked comics to fill out a google form if they were interested. The form got plenty of responses, I took a second to pat myself on the ground because in the moment the show was shaping up nicely.

I called my friend Jack who lives in Culver City and produces a similar show. We spoke for over an hour about the logistics of putting on a DIY comedy show; I vigorously jotted down notes and asked him questions about lighting, ticket sales, stage setup, ushering, and any other questions that popped into my head. That phone call led my to the next phase of show planning: marketing. I needed people to buy tickets and come to a random parking lot. As per Jack’s advice I printed out flashy flyers with a QR code and put them up all over Berkeley.

Next, I made a funny promo video with my friend Sanjay that somehow led to 15% of our ticket sales, a month in advance of the show. I unknowingly developed a sense of hubris surrounding the event, as ticket sales were climbing at steady rate. Producing a show is easy, I thought to myself, why was I ever worried about this? My confidence was reinforced when I booked Iain Langlands, a local hotshot, to headline the show.

1 day before the show, I leave my house to find a note taped to my door. 

Fuck. How did my landlord even find out?

I think about enforceability, can the landlord call the police and actually shut the show down? I tried to call him to try to reach some sort of amicable solution. He was a complete asshole and told me that someone within the complex was upset that I was selling tickets and thus called him and complained. Well there’s my answer, if a resident didn’t want the show happening then the police definitely have grounds to kick everyone out. I scramble to find a new location, I think restaurant, bar, even mom and dad’s place. It’s all super unlikely on such short notice. The location needs to be in Berkeley, and in all likeliness it’s gonna be a close friend who is doing me a favor. I call Jerimiah and Lucas, both close friends of mine, asking if I can do the show in their backyards. They are both understandably apprehensive, saying that they will ask their housemates and get back to me. I was hoping that Jerimiah’s house would work out, he lives in a frat and their backyard would be perfect for a comedy show. 

In conjunction I drive around Berkeley frantically asking restaurants and bars if I can do my show there. They all give me a similar spiel about how it’s too short of notice. Dejected, I seriously consider the possibility of canceling the show altogether.

 I hear a buzz in my pocket, it’s Jerimiah, he said we can do the show at his place. Fucking goat. 

The wave of relief is short lived because I realize that my lights aren’t gonna work at his house. I think on my feet and find a professional light rental place and head over minutes before they close. 

The lady at the counter is super nice, “You might know a guy that works for us, he is also in the comedy scene”. We walk to the back room and it’s my boy Andrew; I can’t tell you what a relief it was to see a familiar face. He calms me down, walks me through the lighting setup and I sign the rental papers. I can finally relax a little bit. 

The plan for the next morning was to pickup the rental chairs from the place I had called in Richmond a week prior. I wake up, call the place and receive no reply. Weird. I call again and get a text back in Spanish. It loosely translates to “nobody is in the warehouse right now, what do you need?”. Fuck. I had explicitly told this lady that I was gonna pick up 50 chairs from her on Saturday morning, I guess the language barrier was greater than I gauged over the phone. I frantically phoned multiple different places close to me, all of whom gave me a similar response. “Nobody is at the warehouse right now, it’s too short of notice”. Then I randomly call this place down the street from my house, they say they have 52 chairs remaining in their store. “I’ll be there!”, I exclaim. I show up, load the chairs up into my car, pay the guy, and finally relax a little. 

As I’m driving home it starts pouring. Fuck. Our show is outdoor and I don’t think I’ll be able to figure a tarp out in 4 hours. I check the forecast and the rain is expected to stop by the time the show starts. But the adrenaline and nerves are just pulsing through my body I can’t relax. I sit on my couch and look out the window at the clouds and just try to breath. It’s just a comedy show I tell myself. 

The rain eventually did stop. We set up the chairs, the lights, and the stage. We sold out all of our tickets. People started to show up, it was my friends first, then people I didn’t know later. The show went fine I think, I don’t even remember at this point. I was just so glad that it was happening and that people seemed to be having a good time.

I got super plastered with my friends right after as a reward. 

I learned a lot. We underestimate how hard simple things can be. I didn’t launch an app, or a business, I just produced a one-time comedy show. It was really hard. 

I pushed it through the finish line not because of my intelligence or skill, but rather because of luck and help from others. If the rain hadn’t stopped, or Jerimiah hadn’t let me use his Frat-Backyard I would have been toast. My dad kept me calm over the phone, and my friend Sanjay helped with anything I needed on a moment’s notice. 

All in all it’s really rewarding to do your own think. 

Also, Fuck Korman and Ng property management services, I hope your agency goes bankrupt.

-Raj