Commentary: Why I Am Doing the Biggest Show of My Life in Saint John, New Brunswick
Huddle publishes commentaries from groups and individuals on important business issues facing the Maritimes. These commentaries do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Huddle.
By James Mullinger
In January this year I was invited by Discover Saint John to deliver a speech in Ottawa to about a thousand events planners and conference organisers from across the country.
I had three minutes to pitch Saint John to them as the ideal destination to bring their conferences, events, business and ultimately, their money. Anyone who lives in Saint John will know that it’s not a hard sell. We have it all here. World-class bars and restaurants, amazing hotels, beautiful views, stunning scenery, the list is endless. As such, the trickiest part of the speech was keeping it down to three minutes.
As you will see here in this video of the speech, I failed to keep the time limit:
I think I did however convince many of them to bring their business here. Week long conferences here bring in a huge amount of revenue for the city. As someone who moved to Saint John to run their own business I find it easy to explain the attraction to people. The quality of life in Saint John could not be better and if you are good at what you do and willing to work hard, you will thrive here. Far more so than in other cities where I have worked including London, New York and Los Angeles. The playing field is more level here and, perhaps most importantly, we local businesses support each other.
I am a comedian and like most self-employed people I handle most aspects of the business myself. I am my own tour manager, PR, publicist, marketer, administrator, travel booker, etc. But we all need help at times getting things off the ground or some cross promotion. For example, my personal trainer Jason Crouse runs his own functional training studio on Rothesay Avenue. He is the best in the business. But he has also proven to be one of the best sellers of tickets to comedy shows that I have ever some across. It works for both of us. His loyal fan base trust him when he recommends a show to them and people who haven’t been his amazing studio before will visit to buy a ticket but then be tempted to join. All manner of different businesses can work together in a community like this and we can all thrive thanks to each other’s help.
Such is my faith in this community I have decided to take on the riskiest challenge of my career. I will be playing the biggest show of my life at Harbour Station (a stadium arena that traditionally only plays host to superstars and icons like Jerry Seinfeld, Leonard Cohen, Elton John, Aeromsith, James Taylor and Jeff Dunham) on the 28th of April. Why? Because when I came to live here, a lot of negative people said I wouldn’t be able to make a living as a comedian in Saint John. They were very wrong. Many said my career would flounder. It hasn’t. So now I want to take it to the next level and do something I could never have done in England: play an arena. I feel a room that size suits my manic and excitable style of stand up. I know people who play arenas in England. I was never going to be one of them. So to show that moving to a smaller city like Saint John can help your career if you are willing to work for it, I will sell out Harbour Station and hopefully encourage others within the city and outside the city to take the same risks.
Of course a show like this is hugely expensive to put on. Especially when I rarely do anything without guaranteeing a large sum to a charity (in this case, the Canadian Cancer Society). But thankfully local businesses are willing to help me realise my dream and create this colossal show for our city.
Super smart companies like Lexus Of Saint John and Saint John Toyota saw this as a great opportunity to collaborate very quickly and kindly offered to sponsor the event. After all, why advertise on a highway when people are at their most glum driving to work or doing the school run when you can have your brand and logo behind a person who is making five thousand people laugh hysterically. Sat in a theatre or arena laughing at a comedian, people are at their most happy, most joyful, celebrating all that is great with the world. That’s where you want your brand. This show (which also features Nikki Payne, Tomato/Tomato and Dr Ansar Hassan) will, I confidently believe, be the show of the year in Saint John (if you don’t include James
Taylor that is!) and my partnership with Lexus of Saint John and Saint John Toyota will always be the reason this show happened and the reason that the Canadian Cancer Society receive a large sum of money. Like I say, the perfect partnership between local businesses.
When Harbour Station sells out, it will be a source of great pride for me. Because people wouldn’t come if they didn’t like my comedy and I love that fact that the act I have spent ten years perfecting is now finding the sizeable audience I always hoped it would. But it will also be a victory for our city. Because literally hundreds of people are supporting me in this; dozens of businesses are doing what they can to spread the word, all of you are kindly sharing it on Facebook and Twitter. And I would do the same for you. This is why doing business in Saint John is so great. We are all in it together. And it’s why I hope I never have to live anywhere else.
James Mullinger was a renowned writer and stand up comedian in England who moved to New Brunswick in 2013. In his first year in Canada he was nominated for a Just For Laughs Best Comedy Show Award and a Canadian Comedy Award. A big budget British movie has been made about his life starring actors from Twilight, Notting Hill and Downton Abbey which hits cinemas this summer.