Total run time: 2 hours 44 minutes.

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About Alex Petty…

Alex Petty co-founded Laughing Horse in 1999. Originally a comedy club and gig promoter the Laughing Horse brand has moved into producing and running fringe festivals all over the globe.

Here are a list of the questions we covered…

Edinburgh (and other festivals)…

• What festivals are you at? [0 mins 45 sec]
• What are the biggest / smallest festivals you’re involved with? [1 mins 32 secs]
• Are you planning on doing any paid shows in Edinburgh? [2 mins 59 secs]
• Description of all the different Edinburgh Fringe model [3 mins 15 secs]
• What is the minimum spec for a free venue? [5 mins 25 secs]
• What is the selection / vetting process for performers and how do you assign venues? [7 mins 20 secs]
• What type of show do you like in Edinburgh? [9 mins 45 secs]

1. Adam Belbin
2.  Liam Williams

• What type of show is good to do in Edinburgh? {11 mins 10 secs} (11.55)
• What do you look for in marketing in Edinburgh? [14 mins 00 secs]
• Benefits of being in the Fringe Programme. [14 mins 43 secs]
• What do you think about flyering, how effective do you think it is and people hiring flyerers? [18 mins 22 secs]
• What do you think of posters and what would you recommend to do in posters? [20 mins 40 secs]
• What makes an eye-catching poster? [21 mins 50 secs]

1. Ian Fox Poster design
2. Austentatious
3. Huggers and Shaggers.

• Is Brighton Fringe good for Edinburgh previews? [25 mins 09 secs]
• If you could give one bit of advice to someone thinking of taking up a show in terms of applying for Edinburgh / PR / getting noticed etc what would it be? [27 mins 05 secs]
• Is there a Laughing Horse service to help performers write their show description? [28 mins 52 secs]

1. Julian Hall – The Rough Guide to British Cult Comedy book.
2. Julian Hall PR website. 

• What are your thoughts on Freestival? Do you see them as competition? [30 mins 40 secs]
• Why did you fall out with PBH? [33 mins 15 secs]

1. Edinburgh Fringe Room Photo Map Project

• Do you think you acted ethically in the way you set up the Laughing Horse Free Festival?[2 hours 7 mins 57 secs]
• How would I get you to come down and watch my show? [38 mins 36 secs]
• Any plans to expand into other festivals around the UK? [40 mins 27 secs]
• Do you go to other festivals for fun? [41 mins]
• How do I get a hold of you? [44 mins 37 secs]
• Why is the process for applying for Brighton so confusing? I don’t understand why I have to register with you and the Fringe. [45 mins 05 secs]
• Any advice for someone who wants to apply for the Oz festivals? What is the main difference between the UK and abroad festivals? [46 mins 44 secs]
• What do you think of smaller festivals that have started up (like Laugh Kingston) [50 mins]
• Do you see more “big names” going to the Free Fringe over the paid venues now? [1 hours 9 mins 14 secs]

Personal Stuff…

• Who are your favourite comedians? [51 mins 28 secs]

1. Daniel Kiston.
2. John Gordillo.

• What DVDs do you have in your comedy collection? [52 mins 12 secs]

1. Monty Python

• What books on comedy would you recommend or have you enjoyed reading? [53 mins 04 secs]

1. Phil Kay – The Wholly Viable
2. Malcolm Hardee – I Stole Freddie Mercury’s Birthday Cake.
3. Benny Hill – Funny, Peculiar
4. Jimmy Carr – The Naked Jape.
5. Tony Allen – Wana make something of it? (book on writing). (great book on joke structure and finding your voice)

• Which shows are your favourite that you’ve ever seen? [54 mins 48 secs]

1. Daniel Kitson.
2. Anvil Springsteen
3. Boothby Graffoe.
4. Chris Addison
5. Mark Thomas
6. Dave Gorman
7. Shelly Cooper

• What style of comedy, if any, do you feel is under represented among the current crop of comedians? [55 mins 50 secs]

1. Mark Thomas
2. Dave Gorman
3. Shelly Cooper.
4. Craig Shaynak ‘I am Google’.
5. ‘Wheel of accents’ show.

• Which comedians will you go out of your way to go and watch? [58 mins 23 secs]

1. Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho show

• How often do you go to watch comedy for fun? [1 hours  0 mins 48 secs]
• What’s your favourite venue(s) to go to outside of the LH venues? [1 hours 3 mins 56 secs]

1. The Comedy Pub.
2. The Stand.

• What is mainstream comedy (as in the most popular form) going to look like in 5 years? {01 hour 05 mins 31 secs} (1.6.16)

1. Gary Delaney.
2. Milton Jones.
3. Chris Lynam.
4. Malcolm Hardee.

Comedy Course…

• What was the reason for starting it? [1 hours  15 mins 10 secs]
• What would you say makes your course different to the others on offer?  [1 hour 15 mins 10 secs]
• How did you select the course tutors? Why Jay Sodagar? [1 hour 17 mins  27 secs]
• Do you think funny can’t be taught? [1 hour 18 mins 55 secs]

Comedy Competitions…

• How many courses do you run? [1 hour 18 mins 30 secs]
• In the initial rounds of New Act of the Year, how influential are the audience votes? Also, If a comic who clearly shows more potential/is a better stand up than a comic who has probably a load of mates in the audience, will the judges step in and make the ‘right’ decision? [1 hour 21 mins 34 secs]
• How do the wild cards work? [1 hour 23 mins 30 secs]
• How faulty is your system? [1 hour 25 mins 13 secs]
• Why is it 4mins at the heats and 6 minutes at the final? [1 hour 26 mins 23 secs]
• How would you define a “new act”? Is it going for less than 5 years? [1 hour 27 mins 25 secs]
• Can I be seen as a negative thing if you only see them in a new act competition? [1 hours 29 mins 50 secs]
• How do I use the Laughing Horse final to get more gigs? [1 hour 31 mins 43 secs]
• Do you enjoy being a judge? [1 hour 36 mins 49 secs]
• How does Laughing Horse pick their judges? [1 hour 38 mins  23 secs]
• Do you have any plans to create any new competitions? [1 hour 39 mins 02 secs]
• Do you think there are too many comedy competitions? [1 hour 39 mins 13 secs]

Bookings / Gigs…

• If you’ve emailed in for a spot and not heard back, is it worth emailing again or does that annoy you? [1 hour 40 mins 01 secs]
• if comics repeatedly ask you for gigs despite not getting replies do you view this as positive persistence or simply annoying? [1 hour 42 mins 50 secs]
• How do you turn a successful comedy event that happens every four-six weeks to a successful comedy event that happens on a weekly basis? How long does it take? Are there any steps, appropriate for Central London, that you would recommend? [1 hour 44 mins 13 secs]
• When you’re recommended an act, what’s the minimum web presence you’re looking for? [1 hour 45 mins 55 secs]

Laughing Horse Clubs…

• What is the best way of getting into the free circuit of Laughing Horse gigs? [1 hour 54 mins 10 secs]
• How long should you wait before applying for paid work with Laughing Horse? Or do you only offer it to people you know?
• Do you have any tips for people wanting to start their own club? [1 hour 56 mins 28 secs]
• How do you make money from free gigs? [1 hour 57 mins 18 secs]
• Realistically how often are you likely to book an act per year? [1 hour 58 mins 12 secs]
• What’s the difference between Laughing Horse and Comedy Point? [2 hours]
• How many gigs do Laughing Horse run? Are you more interested in the festivals that you are involved with rather than circuit gigs? [2 hours 00 mins 46 secs]
• How would you describe your role in promotion shows? [2 hours 01 mins 48 secs]

Management…

Nope. [2 hours 3 minutes 58 secs]

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If you liked this you might also like…

• A list of comedy promoters who have been on the podcast.

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EP 01 – Hils Jago (Founder of Amused Moose Comedy Clubs)		EP 03 – Julian Hall (comedy reviewer for The Independent newspaper / Fringe PR expert / Author)

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