My hometown of Sarasota Florida is not far from the epicenter of the current real estate foreclosure disaster and one of the biggest unemployment rates in the USA. Plus, it is off season, never a good time in an economy dependant on tourism. In the midst of this bad news, it seems remarkable that McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre & Humor Institute continues to thrive. Co-owner (with his wife Pam) Les McCurdy was kind enough to share his business insights.  

First, full disclosure: I am biased as I write this. I love going to McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre. To me, McCurdy’s is up there with our Ritz Hotel, the Sarasota Opera, and the gorgeous Siesta Key Beach as institutions in Sarasota. I am grateful that Les and his wife attract famous comedians and headliners to his establishment in this slightly-off-the-beaten-track town, while providing a great time to his guests with good, mostly clean fun. 

According to Les, there are only two secrets to his success. Let me share those with you, and then add a few more that I heard when we spoke. 

First, Les explains, “We had a good business plan going it. It was thorough. It was thick. It’s a book. We played out every scenario. We spent three or four months developing this plan on paper. My wife won an award for that plan.” 

In addition to having a strong plan Les says, “You have to follow through with a consistent product and service. That’s really it. No matter how the economy is doing, the key is to be reliable. Here in town about 20 or 30 restaurants have gone out of business this year. When you look at the names on the list, a lot of them aren’t shocking. Some are new and didn’t have time to gain a foothold. Some were undercapitalized. And many were mediocre, with an inconsistent product and service.” 

He continues, “Those who are still doing well have been here for a long time. They are reliable. Right now people are saying, ‘My money is more precious to me. I am not going out as much to eat, for entertainment, or to buy new clothes. When I do spend money, I don’t want to do it frivolously. I want to get entertainment that I know is going to be top notch. I want good service, good food, and to know that I will be treated well because I always have been.’ That’s what we do. We focus on the customer, and our service, and our employees. We make sure everything is consistent and not just average. We always want things to be better.” 

Les can’t believe that other businesses can’t quite grasp this simple rule. “It is amazing to us with the competition so keen right now for that dollar that you can still walk into an establishment and get bad service and a bad product. How in the hell does that happen? You’d think everything would be top notch and crackerjack. It’s not!” 

Here are a few more rules that I learned while listening to Les: 

Find what you love to do. Les shares, “Stand up comedy was the thing I seemed to be the most gifted at. It came to me easier. It was incredibly fun. It fit my personality. So my focus was to make a living at it.” 

Live where you want to live. “I ran a comedy club in Chattanooga with my wife and two friends. We knew the area and there was no other club there, but we didn’t want to live there. We beat around the idea of moving to Los Angeles to go for the gold ring. We had friends and family there, but we didn’t want to live there. I toured the country, came to Sarasota, and wanted to end up here. My wife and I were talking about what we would do if, after 10 – 15 years of living in LA one of made it big. Pam said that the first thing she’d do is buy a house on Siesta Key in Sarasota. So we moved here.” 

Be willing to hustle for a long time, and be patient. “We first started out in the banquet hall of a Holiday Inn near the airport. It was me, Pam, a phone, and maybe we had $2,000. Then we cut a deal with the owner of the Holiday Inn. He staffed it and took the bar. We took the door. Meanwhile, I toured 20-25 weeks out of the year doing comedy and Pam worked different jobs. We started in 1988 and for 12 to 13 years we hustled by creating symbiotic relationships with bars and banquet rooms. We only opened our current location in 2001.” 

Take the leap when the time is right. “In 2001, we decided to go for broke and have our own place. We spent every dime we owned. We borrowed more money than we could pay back. But we felt comfortable after 12 years. We had a great reputation.” 

Be prepared for the worst, and have faith. “It took us four months to build out our theater. Then, three weeks after we opened, 9/11 happened and we thought we were dead in the water. This was no time for comedy. We could be going to war. Going out for some comedy seemed trite. But we got some nice crowds, and then we held a grand opening with David Brenner, who was doing a 9/11 tour. We sold out, and have been doing well ever since.” Note that in today’s tough economic times, McCurdy’s has become a kind of folk hero in town for offering free comedy tickets to families in need, and offering some great specials to get people out and laughing on weekdays. 

Know your aspirations, and stick to them. Les tells me that he is “as happy as a clam” now. He loves where he lives and what he does. He doesn’t aspire to build up a chain. “One’s enough,” he says. “It would be cool in the future to actually own a building that has more room and is bigger. Then we can have a theatre and classrooms. It would also be great if we could have our Humor Institute last beyond Pam and me and still be here when we die. That way when we are gone the area is set up to get more great performances and training in humor.”