Comedy Club

Overview
A comedy club is an entertainment venue hosting live performers engaged in stand-up comedy routines or sketches. Most comedy clubs have in-house performers or host traveling and well-known performers.

Financial
A comedy club has multiple revenue streams.

Food and Beverage. Serve fast food and drinks to the audience before and during performances. Some venues establish a "drink minimum" for patrons to ensure revenue generation, particulary for in-house performers.

Ticket Sales. Charge audience to attend the performance by selling tickets and passes. Usually reserved for more famous and travelling performers who may require revenue sharing.

Legal and Compliance
Fire Code. Public venues must comply with the local fire code regulations. This include registering for a permit, submitting floor plans and having a capacity limit as well as an emergeny plan in place such as sprinklers, alarms and smoke detectors. Check with the local government on building fire code.

Liquor License. A license is required to serve liquor to the public and usually regulated by the local government body.

Food License. A food serving license is required to serve food to the public at an establishment and must be subjected to unannounced food safety inspections.

Age Restriction. In some cases, children under the age of 18 cannot be exposed to indecent material or work in a place serving alcohol beverages. Check with your local government regulations.

Location and Facilities
Comedy clubs are usually situated in nightlife entertainment zones where tourist and party goers frequent. The space for a comedy club can range from the size of a storefront to a small theatre format.

The outside of the comedy club should have advertisement for upcoming shows and the food and drink menu. Upon entrance, there should be a greeter who can sell tickets for upcoming shows through a box office window. This is also where tickets are collected upon entrance. A waiting lobby and possibly a strip bar for patrons mingling outside or waiting for the show to start.

The facilities for a comedy club show can be arrange in one or more of the following format:

Tables with Seats. While this setup is good for parties and yield a higher guest bill, it makes viewing for some of the audience awkward and have to sit at an angle to view the center stage.

Strip Bar with Seats or Stools. This setup comprise of a long table with seats where people can sit and eat and drink and everybody is facing the center stage. While this is optimized for better viewing, the seating arrangement is less impersonal and not comfortable for long-running shows.

Foldable Chairs. This setup consist of using foldable chairs arranged in a certain order is low cost and design to maxmize the audience, it limits the ability to serve drinks and beverages as well as obstruct viewing of audience who are sitting further from the stage.

Equipment
Audio/Video System. Establish the sound system for the center stage as well as play background music. In some cases, have a setup for a guest DJ.

Light System. For the center stage providing room lights and a focus light on the performer.