UN/PROFESSIONALISM

Recently I had to cancel a weekend headlining at one of my favorite clubs because I received an offer to open for a national touring comedian at sold out theaters. While the club is one of my favorites, its a smaller room where my fans and friends like to see me. The theaters are sold out and the pay is significantly more than the club. More importantly, the theater shows place me in front of thousands of people who don’t know me. 

Nobody likes to cancel a show. I don’t have a manager or agent to help me navigate these tough decisions but I know last time I had a similar situation, I was afraid to cancel a weekend when offered a bigger opportunity so I didn't. I regretted it and missed out on other opportunities as a result. 

I have had to cancel a handful of times before with results that always went better than I expected. When the identical opportunity presented itself before and I was booked at a club, the owner was actually happy for me and excited for the opportunity I received. That owner pointed out how she was rooting for me and that if I gain followers, it will be that much easier to sell out when I return to that venue. Valid point.

In this situation, I knew the club owner would be upset with me, but I figured since it was over two months away, he would have ample opportunity to re-schedule and limited promotions had started by the club and me. I even offered up other weekends I was open to re-schedule. He was livid. Not only that, he called me unprofessional and told me basically he would never work with me again. I tried to point out how it was more than two months away; he would not listen. He clearly took it personally, even though I love his club and have supported it for years. As a former booker myself, I know how hard it is when someone cancels, but in this situation, it was not last minute and I would never fault an artist for taking a huge opportunity. I tried to explain like “What if I got a late night spot on the Tonight Show and had to cancel, would that be okay?” and he was not having any of it.

I know that I am professional and I handled the conversation calmly and with reason but the owner was so emotionally charged. I am lucky to have personal experience in the entertainment industry (my prior life as an Artist Manager and lawyer) to know I did nothing wrong but I know younger comedians don't have that. I thought about all the times I told my legal clients to wait 24 hours before responding to something to avoid letting your emotions navigate the conversation. In the end, I made the right decision and handled the difficult call the best I could. Hopefully, I can be back at the club but I won’t hold my breath.

Hope to see you in Denver, Dallas, Tulsa and Sarasota this month and at the Improv on October 3rd. #standup #careerchange #formerlawyer #artistmanagement