Going Nowhere

Alonzo Bodden arrived in Miami last March just in time for his cruise ship gig there to be canceled. He landed back home in Los Angeles just as the governor ordered clubs to be closed indefinitely. Within a few weeks, Bodden was onstage again at an empty Laugh Factory, broadcasting his set to an online audience for the first time.

"We came down to the club, got onstage and did the show with no audience," he tells Q104.3 New York's QN'A. "It was very weird. The only thing that helped was that I was used to that stage, so I could pretend in my mind that people were there. But of course there’s no timing or anything else."

Live comedy doesn't work in a vacuum; it needs real live laughter, for both the performers and the audience. Fortunately, for Bodden and many other comics, they didn't have to pretend to hear laughs for much longer.

About a month after the widespread shutdowns, comedians Ben Gleib and Steve Hofstetter launched the world's first virtual comedy club, Nowhere Comedy Club. Audiences were admitted to shows via a virtual ticket and encouraged to keep their device's video and audio on, so performers could see and hear their laughter.

It wasn't perfect but from Nowhere's first 'Social Distancing Social Club' show, Gleib could see that with some refinement the idea could work.

“We raised a ton of money at the beginning of the pandemic in the early months to give grants to comedians who were struggling," Gleib said. "We gave over 30 $1,000 grants to comedians who were struggling, plus everyone who performed on the show would get to keep all their tips as well.”

As the pandemic dragged on, the Nowhere Comedy Club proved its staying power. Gleib and Hofstetter diversified their programming to include live podcast recordings, TV watch parties, game nights, improv shows and more traditionally run stand-up shows, anchored by the likes of Mike Birbiglia, Bodden, Bill Burr, Godfrey, Natasha Leggero, Greg Proops, the club's co-founders and many others.

They even created a physical location for Nowhere — a studio where willing comics can perform on an actual stage in front of 30 feet of video screens where the audience is 'seated.' It's as close to an in-person comedy performance any digital venue has achieved, Gleib says.

Challenging as they can be, virtual shows offer a unique space to connect with an audience. Gleib finds that crowd work is more on-the-mark when you can see inside someone's house. The popularity of Nowhere also revealed the appetite for live comedy in parts of the world comedians don't typically visit or among people who are unable to go far from home for any number of reasons.

Nowhere has been able to reach people everywhere. But that doesn't mean it's for everyone.

"On the creative end, it’s not even close," Bodden said of virtual shows. "The Zoom thing is not creative at all. It’s creative in the sense of doing it, but there is nothing like being in a room full of people doing new material.”

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Debbie Sexxton