Festival's 80 per cent cuts suggest sales are slugish

Ticket prices for Comedy Central Live have been slashed by almost 80 per cent – amid fears the three-day festival could be a washout.

The crash sale comes just two weeks before the three-day festival kicks off in Southampton, featuring headliners Katherine Ryan, Jimmy Carr and Russell Howard.

Organisers originally told local licensing authorities that they expected 10,000 people a day to attend the site in Hoglands Park, but the price drop suggests sales have been sluggish.

Originally, entry to the event cost £22 a day, which includes a stage of emerging stand-up talent and the chance to watch live versions of the broadcaster’s shows live, including Your Face Or Mine, Drunk History and Roast Battle UK.

Then fans had to pay extra for the pro stand-up shows –  £13.20 for each of the three daytime stand-up shows at 1pm, 3.45pm and 6.30pm, plus £37 for the headline shows.  Tickets for full access to all the shows originally cost £90 a day.

Now all the pricing levels have been scrapped, with tickets to see everything priced £20 – a massive reduction of 78 per cent.

For comparison, it costs between £25 and £60 to see Ryan in her current solo West End run, so the new tickets represent a bargain, especially given that her supporting bill on Friday includes  Joel Dommett, Nish Kumar, Reginald D Hunter, Russell Kane, Rob Delaney, Lee Nelson and more.

A VIP entry, initially priced £150, has been slashed to £40 offering fast-track entry, guaranteed premium reserved seating in the main stage, access to the VIP area and bar and a goody bag.

Comedy Central have not responded to Chortle’s questions about how well tickets have been selling.

But for fans who already forked out more than £20 to attend the event, they told this website: 'Customers have been issued with refunds in line with current ticket pricing.'

The festival may also be hit by rail engineering work in the Southampton area over the weekend of October 6 and 7; with trains from London being replaced by buses for the last leg of the journey.

As well as the three stages, Comedy Central Live also features attractions based on the broadcaster’s shows such as  a South Park photo opportunity and a  Takeshi’s Castle-style inflatable obstacle course.

Howard headlines on Saturday and Carr on Sunday.

The new £20 tickets are available here.

Published: 21 Sep 2018