When stand-up comic, Chris Fox first started out in Greensboro, NC, comedy venues were hard to come find. Taking a lesson right out of the Comedians of Comedy handbook, Fox and his comedy pals started hosting their own comedy events in partnership with local punk bands.
“It’s a way of bringing people’s attention here that our comedy scene is just as diverse and experimental and radical as the music scene,” Fox says. “Some people don’t go into comedy clubs, so the idea is to bring the comedy to where people are with bands that they are already familiar with.”
The end result has been near capacity crowds at the Green Bean, a local coffee house. While other venues have not yet come around to the idea of booking comedy events, Fox is confident they will come around.
“If you are a venue or bar owner in town, anything you can do that raises your visibility and puts its name on a flyer that people can see — that’s a good thing,” Fox says. “So, I think it would be equally as lucrative as putting bands on.”
Chris Fox can be seen with Trent Bowles, Joe Weinhouse and music by the Three-Brained Robot and the Sugar High Gang on Saturday at the Green Bean in Greensboro, NC.
Would you ever try to start grass roots comedy scene? Know someone who has? Have opinions? Sound off in the comments section.
