In the pursuit of becoming a headlining comic, the most time-honored route is the road. For most stand-ups, that means flocking to the major markets around the country, booking the biggest clubs that will have them and trying to get noticed by jaded city-dwellers, who have thousands of options for entertainment on any given weekend.
It’s a life that Max and Caitlin Benson, the producers behind Can’t Even Comedy, could easily participate in if they wanted to be like everybody else. But for them it’s become much more fulfilling (and lucrative) to put on shows in places you don’t normally find comedy — pizza joints, hotel courtyards, pet shelters. It’s a special lane they carved for themselves and their stable of stand-ups from the L.A. comedy scene at regular shows like the one they do every month on the rooftop of Mama’s Shelter in Hollywood (including another installment this Thursday starting at 7 p.m. headlined by Tony Baker). But since packing up and moving to Austin last year, they’ve found a way to create cool shows on an unconventional tour route that transports L.A. comics to and from Texas, performing for small-town crowds full of people who aren’t used to being thought of when it comes to comedy.
When they first started coming to Austin, the couple were lucky to get 20 people to come out to a bar show on a weeknight. Roughly a year and several tours later, they’re able to sell 250 tickets at the same Texas venue.
“What we’re hoping is to create a non-traditional pathway that opens up another channel for comics to be able to follow our blueprint or create their own,” Max says. “But it’s important to realize that to be a successful comic, you don’t always have to go down Main Street.”
Every month, the married couple pack up a van with a handful of comedians and embark on a route that takes them through Tucson, then into Texas towns like Cedar Park, Dripping Springs and Fort Stockton. While it might not sound glamorous, the couple says these shows allow them to find venues like hotels and local bars that pay comics better and give them great accommodations and star treatment that they never receive in big cities.
“L.A. is a great scene because the bar is so high to learn how to be a comic,” Caitlin says. “But in order to become a successful comic, you have to tap into the rest of the country. We start small and we go anywhere we can go, we just slowly build our fan base and eventually you’ll have 150 people in each market.”
Caitlin and Maxwell Benson onstage at a rooftop show for Can’t Even Comedy.
(Danney Paul)
Like many comics who started migrating to Austin in mid-2021, Can’t Even were able to do shows there thanks to relaxed COVID protocols in Texas when they weren’t allowed in L.A. The Bensons saw an untapped market within a state that everyone in their field of entertainment seemed to be moving to, even before Joe Rogan opened his new club, the Comedy Mothership, in downtown Austin last month. After moving out of L.A. and getting acclimated to Texas, it became clear that there were ways to add to the state’s recent comedy boom that most comedians hadn’t considered.
That value of bringing people to outlying venues that may otherwise be dead on a Wednesday often translates into more equitable deals for the promoters when it comes to getting to use venue spaces for free. While L.A. comedy venues rarely bat an eye at most touring talent, in Texas suburbs the excitement for L.A. comics puts butts in seats for longer amounts of time, creating revenue that’s rightfully passed down to the producers and comedians working the stage, sometimes thousands of dollars per show. It’s typically not the case for most comics who are used to making around $20-$100 to do a 15-minute spot at a major club.
“We’re probably more looked after in the smaller towns than in the big markets,” Max says. “And we’re treated like celebrities when we go there. All the comics drink for free all night long, where in L.A. it’s hard to get a drink ticket for one person.”
At a recent Can’t Even show at the Hotel San Jose on South Congress in Austin, a solid crowd of a couple dozen 20- and 30-somethings were sitting at tables in the courtyard around sunset to watch a crop of comedians do a show. Hotel guests looked on from their balconies overlooking the small stage under glowing bistro lights.
As Can’t Even’s regular host, Caitlin does the opening set and brings up the comics she and Max take on the road with them, as well as any local Texas talent they can find that fits the bill. Oftentimes they’re are able get comped rooms when performing at hotels, which also cuts down on the overhead that comes with touring, not to mention better perks that you don’t normally get with a club gig.
As a touring L.A.-based comic who regularly plays the Comedy Store, the Improv and the Laugh Factory, Ron Taylor says traveling to Texas with Can’t Even in front of these unspoiled crowds always has a way of turning into something special.
“What stood out to me as far as the tour was just realizing how many little cities there are that would love more entertainment,” Taylor says. “I’m on the road most of the year but, even though I go to a bunch of different states, it’s always the famous city of the state. And we were doing like random towns throughout Texas and just seeing different walks of life and seeing how much they really appreciate live entertainment. Even the smaller crowds were super appreciative.”
Caitlin Benson performs at Can’t Even’s monthly showcase at Mama’s Shelter hotel rooftop in Hollywood.
(Courtesy of Can’t Even Comedy)
The farther away from major cities they go, the better the shows wind up being. Venturing up to north Austin in Cedar Park, the L.A. expats found themselves doing comedy in a bar next to a suburban sporting complex where parents are used to dropping their kids off at soccer practice but were treated to a comedy show, followed by a show in Dripping Springs at one of the few bars in town — a far cry from the nightlife of Austin, with more bars and clubs per capita than any city in the country.
“Usually people in the suburbs don’t want to come downtown to see comedy, so not only are those audiences there to have a good time, they’re appreciative of the fact that we’re coming to them versus them having to come to us,” Caitlin says.
In an era when comics have to search for different paths to making a living — whether it’s alternative methods of putting out specials, building a following through social media or finding new ways to sell merch — building a niche-driven tour circuit is an area where companies like Can’t Even find that they can make a nice living doing what they love, paving an offbeat path to success one small town at a time.
“We take comics from L.A. on the road with us and it totally changes their mind about middle America,” Caitlin says. “They’ll say, ‘Oh, people in these small towns like comedy?’ Yeah they do,” she says with a laugh. “And a lot of them will be fans of yours forever in these small towns. When it comes to creating your following, sure you can build ‘em 100 at a time — but you can also build ‘em one by one.”
