Money no joke to comedy chairman

Clarification (3/19/2012, 9:40 a.m.): An earlier version of this article stated that the CUAB comedy committee predicts costs based on the assumption that all of the comedy festival’s events will sell out. The committee actually predicts costs with sales of 1,200 tickets for “Lewis Black and Friends.” The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for any confusion.

Vinny Tagliatela’s passion is comedy, but he doesn’t joke around with money.

In his second year as comedy chairman for the Carolina Union Activities Board, the senior business major said he feels he has a firm handle on navigating the committee’s finances.

“If you’re going to be spending this much money, you have to know exactly where it’s going.”
Last year, Tagliatela expanded the committee’s biggest operation — the CUAB Comedy Festival — from a three-day to a weeklong event. This year’s festival begins today.

Through maintaining alumni relationships and active marketing, Tagliatela has made the festival one of CUAB’s most well-attended and cost-effective events.

“Comedy is my passion, but business is what I’m good at,” he said. “The intersection between the two is something that people don’t often think is possible.”

CUAB began the academic year with a budget of $364,000, Zoey LeTendre, program adviser to CUAB, said in September.

October’s Homecoming concert — CUAB’s largest event this academic year featuring indie rock band The New Pornographers — was contracted to cost $40,000.

But only 703 of 4,500 tickets — about 16 percent — were sold, resulting in a net loss of about $30,000.

Last year’s comedy festival featured such big names as internationally renowned stand-up comedian Lewis Black, Jason Sudeikis of “Saturday Night Live” and John Lutz of “30 Rock.”
With high attendance, the festival’s net cost was close to $6,825.

Along with Black, this year’s festival will bring comedians of a similar caliber, such as stand-up comedian Kathleen Madigan and Jon Friedman, creator and producer of award-winning variety show “The Rejection Show.”

The gross cost of this year’s event is about $24,610. If the festival’s main show, “Lewis Black and Friends,” sells 1,200 tickets, the festival’s net cost will be close to $5,110.

Tom Low, CUAB president-elect and current forum committee chairman, said he’s been impressed with Tagliatela’s ability to cut costs.

“When we reviewed his proposal for the festival, we were all shocked at the relatively low amount of funding he requested,” he said.

One of the main reasons for the festival’s low cost, Tagliatela said, is the committee’s relationship with Lewis Black, a UNC alumnus.

“He loves coming back here, and he does it for free,” Tagliatela said. “So we use him as a resource.”

Black will headline “Lewis Black and Friends” on Friday. He will also host workshops throughout the week and judge Wednesday’s student stand-up competition.

Ben Long, the incoming comedy chairman for CUAB, said Black’s help has been essential to securing big names for the festival.

“There’s no way we’d get the same caliber of comedians without him,” he said.

Tagliatela said finding comedians to bring to campus using Black’s connections is much cheaper than going through a booking agency.

But this method has its drawbacks, he said.

“When you’re not going through an agency, you’ll sometimes have people drop at the last minute,” he said.

Such a glitch happened last week when “The Daily Show” correspondent and UNC alumnus Wyatt Cenac, who was slated to perform in “Lewis Black and Friends,” abruptly canceled.

“We just need to be prepared to deal with it when it happens,” Tagliatela said. Cenac will be replaced by Jon Friedman.

Long, an advertising major, said the comedy committee also maximizes ticket sales through active marketing.

“A lot of our events are things people would definitely like, but they may not necessarily know about them,” he said.

Tagliatela said the committee tries to push the in-person advertisement to get the word out about its events.

“We’re very against passive marketing,” he said. “Sure, you can just send out a Facebook event, but I think 90 percent of campus is going to ignore that.”

Tagliatela said CUAB’s other committees could benefit from the comedy committee’s active marketing strategy.

“I don’t think a lot of the other committees get out there in person,” he said. “But that’s something they can do to improve attendance for their events, because they’ve had some poorly attended events in the past.”

Low said he plans to devote more money to the organization’s marketing committee next year.

“I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the phrase ‘I would have gone if I had known’,” he said. “We need to fix that problem.”

CUAB receives one-third of student organizations fees – about $13 per student per year.

Tagliatela said that to make the best use these fees, the comedy committee is extremely careful with its financial planning.

“You have to have your costs and revenue streams laid out in a logical order,” he said. “That’s something they train you for in the business school.”

The committee was going to bring Harvard Sailing Team, a New York City sketch comedy group, for the festival — but realized the numbers didn’t make sense.

“We were going to spend $7,000 on a 150-person event,” he said. “That’s not a good use of student fees.”

Instead, the committee brought in “The Rejection Show,” paying about $4,000 for a 500-person event.

Tagliatela said that since he is passionate about his job, organizing the comedy festival doesn’t feel like work — even if he’s been up for 40 hours straight.

“Staying emotionally attached to it is so important,” he said.
“I don’t accept failure.”

Contact the Arts Editor at arts@dailytarheel.com.