We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cody Elles a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Cody thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
What feels like an eternity ago, I had been working as a concert promoter/producer for some time. I loved the challenges of getting multiple acts onstage in front of a willing audience. Everything from finding quick fixes for busted gear, to wrangling VIPs and making flyers.
Fast forward to the recent lockdowns, I’d been living with a soon-to-be ex, depressed and isolated. I felt like I wanted to get back to putting on a show. Music has always been my main passion, but I’d rather deal with one artist’s challenges at a time, instead of coping with the drama that bands bring. I’d been hosting a trivia night at Mrs. Robinsons for a while and, noticing that on Sundays, their upstairs lounge was dark, I started playing with the idea.
Cody, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I guess I can start with a bit of detail about the show itself. Sunday PunchLine has been running for about a year. We’re a hybrid booked show and open mic comedy night that takes place for free each Sunday Night in Toluca Lake at Mrs. Robinson’s Irish Pub. We get these incredible headliners that usually play bigger venues (stadiums in some cases) to come out and throw down, alongside working comics and newcomers alike. We’re not a free show because we’re some kind of radical anticapitalists (my partner David isn’t, at least), but because we’d like to not only provide a free space for our comics to work, but to invite guests that maybe don’t have $20 for tickets, $20 for parking and $30 for a two-drink minimum. Comedy is all about freedom, but shows are often far from free. We also do a specialty show on the last Sunday of each month called Jazz Standups where we invite an improv jazz group to play along with the show, not stopping unless asked to by the comics.
As for how we got started: I’d mentioned earlier that I started out in music. I’m a second generation musician and singer. Some of my earliest memories were “helping” my parents load into a venue for soundcheck as a kid. That stuck I guess, because as an adult I was gigging out, playing in various venues around LA. Somewhere along the way, I scored a job working for this show at the now-defunct Knitting Factory in Hollywood. We did 24 bands in a night over three stages, complete with our own backline, lighting and go-go dancers. It was a great time, though probably not my healthiest. While the promoter and I parted ways following a nonpayment for a big event, I learned a lot from my time there. I was running stages, fixing gear, bouncing instigators in the mosh pit and having to be Johnny on the Spot for all of our regular and special guest VIPs.
Having to do so many different tasks and all the side quests we’d end up on, due to the chaos of live events was a perfect fit for me and my unmedicated ADHD. In addition to learning the ins and outs of running a show, I learned a lot about how to manage expectations for multiple parties and how to save the day while going completely unnoticed. Seamlessly hot-swapping bass heads when one has smoke pouring out of it without the crowd knowing won’t earn you a tickertape parade, but it’ll get a nod from the band and the crew, and that was always more than enough for me.
These days, the challenges are simpler, a shot mic cable, interstitial music isn’t playing between acts, lineup changes for the open mic portion of the show are easy business, in comparison.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
A couple of years ago, I took on a side job hosting pub trivia at a couple of venues around town. One of them was Mrs. Robinson’s Irish Pub, where we now run our show. I’m a social host, so I always like to chat with our teams and one of the folks that was in regular attendance was David Cooke. He’d worked up until recently with Comedy Dynamics, who produce Standup specials. He had been helping produce a charity show at this fantastic comedy club in Santa Monica called the Crow (shoutout to the hilarious Nicole Blaine for running a great room). I’d mentioned that I thought the room we were hosting trivia, this upstairs lounge area, would be a great spot for a show. There had been a comedy night there before, but it didn’t work out. I pitched the idea to David, who had some fantastic ideas as well and then pitched the owners, which was its own pack of challenges.
With my willingness to do a lot of thankless tasks and his willingness to put up with me, it was a match made in heaven. We actually got the green light the same week that his daughter was born. We’re coming up on our first anniversary now, so Happy Birthday, Esme!
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
In the music business, you hear a lot of “it’s not personal, it’s business.” It’s usually something you hear right before someone causes someone else what will be for them, an intense and very personal setback. I’d believed this was true of all things way back when, and made a lot of calls that, while they were good for my old job’s bottom line, I just didn’t want to carry over into this project. I guess it just didn’t feel personal enough [laughs]. I take it extremely personally any time we have a slow night or a weird crowd.
It’s the 21st century; everything’s personal. Open your phone and tap whatever social media you spend your time on. All you see are people bringing their most personal thoughts and ideas out into public. When you put on a show, you’re taking accountability for the personal free time of everyone in that room. MAKE IT PERSONAL. Take a moment to take it all in. Say hi to the people who came to see you. Hug your friends and coworkers (with their enthusiastic consent, please) and make sure that it doesn’t feel like just your business, but your personal investment into their enjoyment.
Contact Info:
- Website: sundaypunchline.com
- Instagram: @sundaypunchline
Image Credits
Ellice Soliven Josh Frasier