In the world of superstar comedians, we’re all arguing about who is taking really big paychecks to perform at the Riyadh Comedy Festival. In the U.S. touring circuit, questions of who is getting blood money are maybe a little less pressing than the matter of who isn’t paying at all. According to KY3, touring comics and customers are blacklisting Blue Room Comedy Club in Springfield, Missouri, after multiple allegations about not paying comedians and refusing to issue refunds.
“If you bought tickets to my Springfield, Missouri shows at the Blue Room Comedy Club, ask for a refund,” comedian Heather Shaw told her followers three days ago on Instagram. Shaw, who has 880,000 followers, was supposed to perform there this coming week, but said she wouldn’t be performing because they don’t pay. “They do the whole bait and switch. You show up. They don’t pay you or they give you a check that’s written in crayon and not real.”
“Don’t buy tickets to the shows. Don’t buy tickets to my shows. If you did buy tickets, I’m very sorry,” she continued. “I’ve heard it’s hard to get a refund. I’m so sorry. That can’t be legal to not issue refunds for a valid reason. The shows are canceled because they don’t pay the people that they hired to do work there. Let me know if you have any trouble getting a refund.”
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Matt McCusker, who is slated to perform at the Blue Room in December, posted to his Instagram story: “Saw some messages about the Blue Room in MO not refunding tickets,” he wrote. “I’m investigating the matter as we speak.”
He added that the situation was “pissing me off.”
The club owner, Christopher Richele, was given a chance to defend these allegations in another local news outlet, Ozarks First. “In the industry, if ticket sales do not warrant themselves, it’s common practice to reduce the deal,” Richele argued. “I’ve had comedians cancel on the way here to perform on a Friday and leave the next day when they’re supposed to do two nights kind of thing. I would agree to pay the full amount if I had known (comedians) would have created this momentum.”
This isn’t really as much of a rebuttal against the allegations made by Shaw as it is an… explanation? Richele basically admitted he was lowballing on rates he previously agreed to. To make matters worse, the official Blue Room Comedy Club Instagram account has turned off its comment section for recent posts, which is never an indication of innocence. On older posts, there are comments like “but did you pay them” about comedians who have already performed at the club.
In regards to the difficulty there’s been for securing refunds to canceled shows, Richele said it’s his fault because he’s not really the best at the admin side of his job. “All my fault for those patterns to happen, consistently with credit card processing,” Richele said, according to Ozarks First. “I’m the worst to respond to emails, the worst to pick up the phone, that’s something I’ve always trying to accomplish. It’s always best whenever customers walk in, I usually hand them cash or check the worst of always, like mailing them out.”
Man, this is simply not how you run a business. According to KY3, Richele has no plans to close, but also canceled a scheduled TV interview with the outlet.
For the touring comics who can’t get paid at U.S. clubs, try reaching out to the Saudis. They seem to have money to spare.
