How to Promote Your Stand-Up, Sketch, Improv, or Other Comedy Show | Marketing Comedy

Last week, we talked about “the hook” and how having one can help your show get the attention of both media outlets and the general public. My takeaway point was the simpler and more appealing your hook, the easier it is to market your show.

With that in mind, this week I want examine the world of improv – specifically The Harold: the signature piece taught and performed by most improv theaters across the country, including the iO and the Upright Citizens Brigade.

So What The Hell is “The Harold”?

Developed by Del Close and Charna Halpern at Chicago’s Improv Olympic, The Harold, in it’s most basic, structured form, is defined by Wikipedia as:

“Three acts (or “beats”), each with three scenes and a group segment. With each beat, the three scenes return. By the end of the piece, the three scenes have converged.”

That’s a little complicated – as any Harold team member who has tried to explain to their parents what they do will tell you. With the Harold, you kinda have to see it in order to understand it. And even then, sometimes it still makes no sense.

To me, that’s a big problem from a marketing point of view. There’s no native hook there – nothing to hang your hat on advertising-wise. I suppose you could stress the unpredictable nature of the show, but given the fact that 7 out of 10 Harolds at any given Harold Night don’t deviate from the original “training wheels” form, that seems both unnecessary and misleading.

Contrasting Forms

I’ve been on a Harold team (iOWest’s Trophy Wife) for six years now and I’ll admit – I still have no clue as to how to market The Harold. We’ve tried to remove all barriers to entry – we stream our shows live online, and podcast/archive them afterwards – all to give newcomers an instant reference point to the form. Yet lately, we seem to have hit a glass ceiling in terms of our audience. And while there’s obviously many other contributing factors, I wonder if the oblique nature of The Harold itself isn’t one of the main limiters.

For contrast, I look to other shows like Opening Night: The Improvised Musical!. Opening Night consistently draws big audiences (as well it should, as it’s an excellent show), and while our audience is mostly fellow improvisers (and friends we’ve begged), a large chunk of their audience is the general public. I think a big part of that is due to the hook inherent to their form. “An improvised musical” is much more appealing easier to understand than “a free-form, three-act playlet.” Especially for my parents.

So if there’s no good hook within The Harold itself, how do we market it? Obviously we have to look elsewhere. For Trophy Wife, we focus on the personality of the group. But I want to hear what you guys do as well. Once again, I have no real answers for this particular topic. I just want to start a conversation.

Are you on a Harold Team? How do you market it? Use the comments below to offer your strategy. Together we can crack this nut.