Comedy survivors

Comedy venues are rapidly becoming extinct, but Tom Sobel, president of TSM Artists, the parent company of Comedy Caravan, has the key to success: promotion, promotion, promotion.\n"Promotion fills seats and empty seats don't laugh," Sobel says. \nSobel says his greatest accomplishment is that his company still exists. In the last five years, 200 of the nation's 500 comedy clubs have closed their doors. In Bloomington, both Bear's Place and the IMU host Comedy Caravan events on a regular basis. Bear's Place will celebrate its 20th birthday with Comedy Caravan this January.\n"Our contract at Bear's Place has not been changed since Jan. 12, 1983," Sobel says,"even though there's been several management changes. More than 200,000 people have attended comedy shows there. Our biggest goal is to celebrate 25 years at Bear's and keep the same contract and success." \nSobel got his start in entertainment management during the '70s. Due to the cost of travel and equipment he decided to enter the comedy business. \n"The road and disco turned the music industry upside down," he says,"so it made absolute sense to manage three comedians who only need a small PA system to perform. Comedy can draw a lot more people on the weeknights when the best bands couldn't draw hardly anyone."\nTSM functions across the globe, booking acts in which more than 3 million people have attended.\n"We get calls anywhere from a palace hotel in Turkey to a cruise ship on the Nile," Sobel says. "Whether our clients want an act for a Christian, lesbian or a black history show, we have what they need."\nComedy Carvan's list of famous alumni is extensive. It includes such names as Sinbad, Tim Allen, Paul Reiser and Jerry Seinfeld. Roseanne Barr's picture hangs on the crowded walls of Bear's Place. In her biography, Roseanne recounts how she was booed off the stage at Bear's Place in her early days and what she learned from that experience.\nBrad Wilhelm, the M.C. at Bear's Place, says Bear's works with TSM exclusively because the company's representatives care about the clubs, shows and acts they work with.\n"It's laughter," Wilhelm says. "Even when it's bad, it's good. People come here for the main purpose to laugh, and that's a good thing." \nWilhelm recounts the story of Ron Shock, a comedian who started in the early '80s but quit to take care of his girlfriend, who had been in a car accident. When he returned to comedy, his third show was at Bear's Place.\n"The crowd gave him a standing ovation, and they were literally standing on their seats," Wilhelm says."It was trancendant and a beautiful thing to be a part of."\nWilhelm says Bear's Place attracts even professional comedians.\n"Every night, someone says to me, that's the best thing they have ever seen." \nAnother comic to come out of Comedy Caravan is IU alumnus Paul Gilmartin, host of TBS's "Dinner and a Movie." He got his big break at a Comedy Caravan stand-up competition at IU.\n"We hire the winner and, even though Paul came in second place, I thought his talent was so good that I signed him on my roster also," Sobel says.\nSobel says he keeps in close contact with all of TSM's 3,000 comedians and knows how they conduct themselves on and offstage. \n"Their background is very important in booking a wide variety of shows," he says. "That way if I get a call from a banking company or IBM for a convention, I can book an act that will fit their audience."\nOn Nov. 1, the Union Board will be presenting a live comedy show featuring Comedy Caravan's Kevin Burke. Burke is an IU alumnus who was an RA at Read. He has been on MTV, Comedy Central, "Good Morning America" and "Oprah."\n"Kevin looks forward to coming back home," says Kelli Keindorfer, director of comedy show for the Union Board.\nBurke got his start in comedy in 1985 as a member of the famed "Clown Alley" of Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus. He recently won $10,000 on on the TV show, "America's Funniest People." His act is billed as high-energy, physical comedy. His skits involve his observations on being a new dad, his very unique plans for his first day as president of the United States, and his bizarre interpretive dance to the theme song from "Gilligan's Island."\nKeindorfer says Union Board works with TSM because the company's shows are "dirt cheap" and representatives always want feedback.\n"The Union Board puts on free shows so students can attend without having to buy a ticket," Sobel says. "We make sure to fit the right comedians together every show. That's why we scheduled Friday's IMU event with a comedian who has physical comedy and one who's act is verbal. We don't want the comedians stepping on each other's toes."\nSobel says TSM's biggest prospect right now is 18-year-old Dominick Irekes from Memphis, Tenn. Irekes is currently a freshman at New York Univeristy's film school and performs at some of the bigger comedy clubs in New York.\n"Dominick never leaves a show without another agent wanting to work for him," Sobel says."He's performed at Bear's Place a couple of times and even though he's not old enough to get in the club regularly, he is definitely a professional."\nFor those who want to try their hand at comedy, Sobel suggests going to Comedy Caravan in Louisville, Ky., for open mic every Tuesday night.\n"Maybe someday your picture will be on the wall at Bear's," he says.