Speeches by Hinds.

“Venues are operating businesses. Do you expect employment and prices to be affected? Might some venues close? If there is the same amount of money but all the prices have gone up, the money does not go as far. What will the effects be?”

“A couple of you, Geoff in particular, mentioned possible Government support, incentives and cost reliefs that the sector might be looking for. Do we know of any other countries that do that? Any success stories?”

“Is Juste Pour Rire still going?”

“Going back to the live comedy sector as distinct—and you are here to talk about the live comedy sector—I am also interested to know who you would see yourself as most like. Are you most like a sitcom actor, most like a band playing in a pub or most like someone delivering a serious monologue in a theatre? Who do you ha…”

“I wanted to come back to something you were saying about your long list of comics who you could send into a school or hospital and have no worries about them. It strikes me that the brilliant thing about stand-up is you do not know what you are walking into. Also, the terrible thing about stand-up is you do not know wh…”

“The mix does not work if you bring your mum or your child. Do you know what I mean?”

“I was trying not to put words into our panel’s mouths but one question might be, yes, do you have some sort of—”

“There you go. She said it.”

“You are right. People do that.”

“In this debate about opt-in, opt-out on AI and copyright, it could apply differently in different sectors. When you hear the opt-in, opt-out, it sounds like people have a view about whether their material should be used or they can stop it being used. Actually, in some senses, in music, for example, it does not sound l…”

“Comedy is about a lot more than economics, and we will come on to talk about social impact and health benefits, but I will stick with the economics for now. Geoff, I think you mentioned a figure of a £1 billion contribution to the UK economy each year. Sharon, do you recognise that number? I am sure that you are not go…”

“Thinking about its composition, we were talking about the ticket sales and ticket pricing part of it. There are also drink sales, which I guess is quite a big part, as well as food sales in some venues. What other revenue line items are there?”

“Are comedy courses quite a big business?”

“Is much money being made from YouTube ads, Creator Fund on TikTok and whatnot?”

“Jessica, you were talking about some of the current cost increases. You are in the position of being a profitable business, able to reduce profit—I know that sounds like an odd thing and, of course, other hospitality businesses will be facing some of the same issues, the same sort of nighttime economy in Manchester. At…”

“Venues are operating businesses. Do you expect employment and prices to be affected? Might some venues close? If there is the same amount of money but all the prices have gone up, the money does not go as far. What will the effects be?”

“A couple of you, Geoff in particular, mentioned possible Government support, incentives and cost reliefs that the sector might be looking for. Do we know of any other countries that do that? Any success stories?”

“Is Juste Pour Rire still going?”

“Going back to the live comedy sector as distinct—and you are here to talk about the live comedy sector—I am also interested to know who you would see yourself as most like. Are you most like a sitcom actor, most like a band playing in a pub or most like someone delivering a serious monologue in a theatre? Who do you ha…”

“I wanted to come back to something you were saying about your long list of comics who you could send into a school or hospital and have no worries about them. It strikes me that the brilliant thing about stand-up is you do not know what you are walking into. Also, the terrible thing about stand-up is you do not know wh…”