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| Eric Feldman Comedy Director seecomedy@umd.edu |
Your likely experience of the show:
September 14: You find out that Aziz Ansari is coming to UMD. You get really, really excited and tell all of your friends.
September 16: You wait at your computer for the clock to turn to midnight. Tickets go on sale and you finally get those floor seats that you’ve been dreaming of.
October 13: You show up at around 6 p.m. to get in line for doors to open. Eventually you find your way into Cole and find some open seats, take our survey, and wait for the show to start. Finally, the lights dim, the show is introduced, and then you laugh hysterically to Max Silvestri and Aziz Ansari for two hours. At around 9:45 p.m. you leave to go study for that organic chemistry test the next day and/or go out to Cornerstone, or your favorite bar of choice.
Our experience of the show:
February: I begin to think about potential performers for the show. In mid-February, I attend a conference in St. Louis, in which I meet with many agents (including Aziz Ansari’s agent). Aziz’s agent claims “Aziz would kill it at Maryland.” It sounded fairly biased but I keep it in mind anyway.
March: We send out a survey on Facebook and get hundreds of responses. Aziz Ansari and Seth Meyers top the survey, so it is decided that I will be pursuing one of them.
April: Seth Meyers is not available on the day reserved for the Homecoming Comedy Show; therefore, Aziz has become my target. I begin learning about his price and availability from his agent. It turns out that he is within our range. I then propose the event, with Aziz headlining, to the SEE Executive Board and it is approved. After receiving approval, I send a “bid” to Aziz’s agent, which is an offer to have him perform on a certain day for a certain price. They have a week to respond.
After about a week we still have no response. We discover from the agent that his price is more than they originally had told us, due to his TV and movie career possibilities. We begin to panic a bit, as we currently do not have the extra money and we do not know where we are going to find it.
May: Somehow, miraculously (through several co-sponsorship transformations), we obtain the money necessary to obtain Aziz and I then re-propose the event to the SEE Executive Board. The event needed to be re-proposed because of change in price. The event is once again approved, so I once again send out a new bid to Aziz’s agency. The bid is sent out on Thursday, May 26, and just like last time, they have a week to respond.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday all pass by with no response from Aziz’s agency. On Thursday morning, the day of the deadline, we get a message from his agent saying, “I am doing all I can do get this done today. Hold tight.” I am a nervous wreck all day during my internship. I leave work at around 3:30 p.m. and still have not heard back from them. Finally, at 4:18 p.m., less than an hour before the deadline, the agent notifies me that they are able to accept the bid and the show will happen. I begin to yell out in joy and get some strange looks from people.
June/July/August: Over the summer, we work out contracts, eventually getting them signed and completed in late July after a lot of back and forth. The show is now official. I also work with the SEE Promotions Team to determine our marketing strategy for this event and work with the SEE Tech Director and Production Team to work out production requirements.
September: We plan to release the Homecoming Comedy Show on the first day of the First Look Fair, at 10 a.m. We prepare by printing 2,000 handbills.
Once the clock reaches 10 a.m., we all go crazy, yelling Aziz’s name throughout the entire Mall and handing out handbills. The 2,000 handbills, which were supposed to last both days of the fair, have all been handed out within the first three hours of the fair. Needless to say people are excited.
We plan to release tickets that Friday at midnight. In the first day of sales, over 3,000 tickets have been sold; we are shocked. These are the highest first-day numbers that SEE had ever seen for an event.
October: We continue to track ticket sales. Hundreds are selling each day. DC101 promotes the show the week before, which helps us sell more non-student tickets.
We also hold a production meeting with the Police, the Fire Marshal, staff from Cole Field House and SEE’s Production Team to determine stage set-up, the maximum capacity of the event, evacuation plans, entry plans and more. The show is now becoming a reality.
October 13, Day of Show:
7:00 a.m. – We arrive at Cole to begin setting up the stage, sound and lights for the show.
3:00 p.m. – The stage, sound and lights are complete.
5:00 p.m. – Before doors open, the SEE Security Team is trained and prepares for the show. Also, we have our weekly SEE Executive Board meeting backstage.
6:20 p.m. – Doors open and the 8,200 empty seats begin to fill.
7:00 p.m. – Aziz Ansari arrives along with his tour manager. I am occupied with this, while the Production Team is occupied with the tornado warning, which was a bit of an unexpected challenge.
7:50 p.m. – Max Silvsestri arrives. I then find out that I, rather than Aziz, will be introducing the opener, so I meet with Max to plan what to say.
8:07 p.m. – The lights dim, I go on stage to introduce the show, and then welcome Max Silvestri.
8:12 p.m. – I’m running around backstage to address minor details to prepare for Aziz while Max performs.
8:45 p.m. – The moment everyone has been waiting for. Aziz Ansari takes the stage, performing for about an hour. While everyone else is getting satisfaction from the comedian, I am looking the other way, pleased to see 8,200 plus people having a great time because of SEE’s hard work.
9:45 p.m. – Aziz ends his set and comes off stage. The audience empties, and we go backstage to hold our meet and greet with Aziz. We then begin taking down the stage, sound and lights.
1:30 a.m. – We finish breaking down the stage and lighting, and Cole once again looks like a soccer field.
1:45 a.m. – Sleep.
