The online comedy series, Red Bar Radio, which plays at Red Bar Comedy two nights a week at Ontourage night club, will host the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival’s TBS LOL Lounge June 18-19.
Since Mike David started Red Bar Radio in 2002 as a “goof on Chicago radio,” it’s grown into a serious undertaking and now boasts 44,000 listeners.
David hosts with comedian Dean Carlson and a rotating string of local comics. The comedy talk show is webcast live Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 3 to 5 p.m., with recordings posted after each episode. They began streaming video of the shows three years ago.
After hosting occasional comedy showcases at local clubs, broadcasting live standup shows, “we saw how successful these events were, and wanted to do more,” David says.
David and his business partner, Kyle Lane, approached River North night club Ontourage last year about launching the weekly Red Bar Comedy Show, a “Las Vegas style” standup series with a $10 cover. The show started running Saturdays in January.
“The club was set up almost perfectly for what we wanted,” Davis says. “When I first set foot into the room, I was reminded of being in some hip Vegas casino or club?[with] a ?flashy’ and swanky type of style and vibe to it.” They just added cocktail tables and adjusted the lighting to augment the desired atmosphere.
“We were selling out every show,” David says. “We knew we had something good going.”
They partnered with Ontourage and in May expanded to two shows every Friday and Saturday at 8 and 10 p.m. with a $10 cover.
The online and live shows complement each other, building on one another’s core audiences. David says the first live audiences were mostly Red Bar Radio fans, though the base has expanded since then.
“I truly don’t think we could have done it without have a large audience of supporters to help jumpstart us,” he says.
The radio show generates revenue through the sale of T-shirts, and subscriptions to its BARMY bonus content archive. David plans to add a 3-4 HD camera setup for studio broadcast, as well as install permanent cameras in the club to stream live shows.
