Yahoo News Home fooling: Kiri Pritchard-McLean's virtual comedy club
The next time standup Kiri Pritchard-McLean goes on tour, she may well include a virtual gig among her UK dates. That’s a sign of how revelatory her online comedy shows have proven during the lockdown caused by the coronavirus crisis.
It started with her assembling a lineup for a streamed gig in March to raise money for food banks, which have had a significant increase in users since the outbreak. “We thought it would attract about 30 people but we got 3,000,” she says. Now, the virtual club – compered by Pritchard-McLean – has become a Saturday night fixture on the online comedy circuit.
YouTube thought we were a fake news channel
“My friend Jess and her brother Jake set up an online pub, the Covid Arms,” explains Pritchard-McLean. As venues were temporarily shut down and social distancing measures were introduced, they wanted a place to “have a drink and chat to people they were missing”. Before long, they fancied a bit of entertainment in their virtual pub and asked the comic if she would do a short set. Together they decided to make it a charity gig. Joining Pritchard-McLean on the lineup were Rosie Jones, Stephen Bailey and Rachel Fairburn. There were some technical issues at first, she explains, largely because of the word Covid. “YouTube thought we were a fake news channel as opposed to a load of people wanting to tell knob jokes.”
It costs a minimum of £2 to watch comedy at the Covid Arms. If you buy a £10 “front row” ticket, you can share your screen on Zoom and enjoy some banter with the standups. So far about £20,000 has been raised for food poverty charity the Trussell Trust. “We’re splitting the money between the Trussell Trust and the comedians, who are welcome to donate the money to food banks,” Pritchard-McLean explains, while highlighting that comics have had “months of their livelihoods wiped out” by venue closures. “Not many people can deal with that, least of all people in the gig economy. The government can’t really do anything until June. So we thought maybe this is a way of giving something back to the comedy circuit.”
Pritchard-McLean’s standup has long had an edge of activism to it, with her previous shows about vulnerable children, abusive relationships and sexism in her industry. She relishes both the compering and the curating of the Saturday gigs, whose lineups so far have mixed established TV names such as Nish Kumar and Tom Allen with “gems of the circuit” including Nina Gilligan. Giving those less well-known performers a spotlight has been “a beautiful thing” says Pritchard-McLean, who jokes that the show is also a great excuse to have a shower and put some sequins on once a week. For the next gig, on 11 April, Mark Watson and Aisling Bea share the bill with Jonathan Major and Gavin Osborn.
She already knew she loved her job, says Pritchard-McLean, but she hadn’t realised she would miss performing so much. The online experience may never recreate the atmosphere of a packed comedy club, where “the audience gives the show a rhythm”, but Pritchard-McLean has discovered many benefits to virtual gigs, especially in accessibility. Audiences might stay away from regular clubs because of social anxiety disorder or mobility issues, she says. “Maybe they’re having a bad day and can’t get out or they can’t afford to leave the house or they don’t feel safe. Online you get rid of those issues. Part of me thinks I should add a virtual date to tours.”
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If there are advantages for audiences, the same goes for comedians. Pritchard-McLean co-runs a night for new material in London called Suspiciously Cheap Comedy. Performers are paid to appear but the associated costs for anyone who lives outside the capital make it restrictive when she is booking acts. “I can’t really go, ‘Do you want to come down to London for £100?’ Because I know it’s going to cost them that in train fares so immediately it’s prohibitive.” If the show is online, all you need is an internet connection. “You can book whoever you like, not who you think can afford to come to London. You can have comedians from all over the country, all different backgrounds, they can all do the gig. It’s amazing.”
Tickets are on sale until 5pm on 11 April for the next edition of Comedy at the Covid Arms.
