Pleas for government help as stay-at-home advice batters live comedy

The Live Comedy Association has called for immediate government support to prop up the sector, saying stay-at-home guidance was ‘pushing our industry to the edge’.

Comedy venues are reporting up to half their sales have been cancelled as scientists advise people to be careful about social contacts as cases of the Omicron variant surge.

Jessica Toomey, who runs The Frog And Bucket comedy club in Manchester, told Chortle that this weekend’s shows had been sold out for months – but half the bookings for tonight have cancelled, and about a quarter for Friday and Saturday.

And of official messages urging people to curb their social lives, she said: ‘We’ve done everything they wanted as a business and audiences have done everything they wanted in terms of vaccines so why ruin a second Christmas for all?’

Nick Mills, who runs the 21Soho and 2Northdown comedy clubs in London told the BBC his sales ‘have fallen off a cliff’ with about 40 per cent of people who already have tickets are not turning up.

Revealing that more than half of shows had been cancelled, he said: ‘It's squeaky bum time. It's a panic.

‘We thought we had come out of it and we thought everything was on track, and we don't know how many times it can restart. The amount of cost and effort that goes in and the mental exhaustion from it all… Salaries are due and rents are due and that won't change.’

Robin Ince today  announced that this weekend’s Nine Lessons And Carols For Curious People shows at Kings Place in London have been cancelled over Covid  fears, to be replaced by an online show on Saturday. He said: ‘As usual, the government has been no help at all. The entertainment industry has really suffered I think due to their perpetual failure to make decisions.’

Now Pax Lowey, chair of the Live Comedy Association, has sent an open letter to Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, pictured, saying: ‘We need you to act urgently to protect the UK live comedy industry from disaster as a result of soaring infections and government guidance to reduce social contacts.

‘Recent government messaging has seriously damaged audience confidence and, to echo our friends in the music industry, has introduced a "lockdown by stealth" where venues are allowed to operate but are facing huge losses due to audiences being advised to limit social contact.

‘Our whole sector is facing another winter of uncertainty: ticket holders are staying home and requesting refunds, performers are testing positive and cancelling work, and promoters and venues are experiencing staffing shortages due to illness and self-isolation. The Christmas period is typically the busiest season for live comedy and, like our colleagues in the wider arts, events, and hospitality sectors, the comedy industry can’t afford to lose another winter.

‘Combined with current government guidance, this wave of coronavirus is pushing our industry to the edge. Without immediate financial support, organisations will face permanent closure and individuals will leave our world-class industry forever. We are calling on the Government to act quickly and decisively to avert disaster and #SaveLiveComedy.’

England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty used a Downing Street press conference yesterday to urge people to scale back their Christmas plans in the faces of a huge spike in hospital admissions from Omicron.

He said Britons should be ‘prioritising those things that really matter’ and urged: ‘Don’t mix with people you don’t have to for either work or for family things that really matter to you.’

In Scotland – where hospitality businesses have suffered a reported £1billion hit’ because of cancelled Christmas parties – Nicola Sturgeon urged residents to 'stay at home much more than you normally would’ and Boris Johnson has urged people to ‘ exercise caution’.

The cumulative advice has contributed to the widespread cancellations. But as no venue closures have been officially mandated, there is  no government  financial support  for struggling hospitality businesses.

Reacting to yesterday’s Downing Street press conference, Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association, said: ‘Where on earth is the Chancellor of the Exchequer?

’[This] was the latest blow in a week of the Government’s public health messaging taking a sledge hammer to what is usually the busiest period of the year for night-time economy businesses.

‘With the Prime Minister appearing to lack the political will to impose actual restrictions, and instead seeking to induce a pseudo-lockdown through repeated sombre-sounding announcements, our sector is now facing the worst of both worlds – a drop in footfall and no government support to help us through.

‘It is quite staggering that despite the obvious implications of the government’s rhetoric we haven’t heard a squeak out of HM Treasury. The Chancellor needs to come out of hiding and outline how he will support nightlife businesses – who have already carried so much burden in the last two years – through the Omicron wave.

‘Surely he can see it will only be worse for the economy in the long run if these businesses are left to try to fend off failure on their own.’

Live, an umbrella group for the live music business, has also called for government support, telling Ministers that venues  ‘re 'haemorrhaging money at a rate that will lead to permanent closures’.

Chief executive Greg Parmley said: ‘The current lockdown by stealth is quickly pushing the live music sector to the edge.

‘We are now facing a crippling blow as individual venues scramble to cover the spiralling costs of Covid-related cancellations, which will inevitably result in permanent closures.

‘The Government must step up to the plate and provide a raft of financial assistance now, if it is to avoid much-loved live music venues and businesses closing up shop for good.’

Published: 16 Dec 2021