Stand-up success
She had already started to build up demand at Christmas, putting on shows in other venues during the season. ‘The question was whether we could get enough comedians to sustain a second club. Yes, we could in December, but could we do it full-time?’
Her approach was ‘build it and they will come.’ ‘We are a nation of comedians. England has the best sense of humour ever. Comedy is in the blood. As we opened more venues, more acts came out of the woodwork.
‘We had to devise a system to help them perform to the best of their ability and let them practise. That was the mechanic that we had to put in place. How else could we know that they were going to be good enough?’
Laughing all the way to the bank
From the start, the pub under Jongleurs in Clapham, the Cornet, had liked Kempinska’s mix of stand-up, dance and drinks. Takings at the bar shot up and the relationship grew to the point where the owners of the lease, Regent Inns, agreed to fund the building of new venues. Eventually, a joint venture called Across the Miles was formed in which Jongleurs held a majority stake of 51 per cent.
‘They put up the venues, we would put on the acts,’ explains Kempinska. ‘It was still a financial stretch for us, though Regent helped with loans.’ There are now 17 Jongleurs in the UK, selling a total of 600,000 tickets a year and taking £15 million at the door. Only Manchester made a slow start. ‘It wasn’t because Lancastrians don’t have a sense of humour,’ clarifies Kempinska. ‘The venue was just in the wrong place.’
By 2000, the business was worth £30 million and Regent made an offer to buy the stake held by Kempinska and Davy. Was it a tough decision to let go and pocket the £8 million on offer?
‘Not at all,’ says Kempinska. ‘The thought that anyone would want to buy an entertainment business like this was unexpected. If someone is interested, then you have got to seriously think about taking up the offer. You have no idea whether you have reached the crest or not.’
Avoid the pain
Kempinska now mainly looks after the brand and makes sure audiences fully enjoy their experience of coming to a Jongleurs show. Back in the experimental 80s, comedy could be raw, she says, but now each show has to be slick. ‘You can’t roll it out unless you make it formulaic. Otherwise you are suddenly running a venue which is going off on tangents and upsetting people.’
There is no other business where negative feedback is so instant and so crushing. ‘There’s nothing worse than putting on a comedian and watching the show fall flat. It happens less than one per cent of the time, but you want to avoid the pain at all costs. So yes, we are ruthless in the way we present who appears. But no, we are not ruthless in how we treat our performers. As professionals, you don’t have to be.’
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