The pairing of Lipshtick comics and the Venetian is a social thing

By John Katsilometes

Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014 | 1:02 p.m.

It’s funny how social media can help fill a showroom with comediennes. Ed Huckfeldt, director of entertainment marketing at the Venetian whose very surname reminds of laughing, has found the funny on Twitter and YouTube.

This is crucial, as Huckfeldt is charged with booking comediennes in the Lipshtick series at Venetian’s Sands Showroom. The all-female series has just announced what it calls Season 2 at the home of Human Nature’s Motown show.

Up next is Whitney Cummings at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Cummings is the co-creator of CBS’ “2 Broke Girls.” Cummings was recruited to announce the launch of Lipshtick in May and appeared in the series in August.

Cummings is an easy call for Lipshtick given her TV popularity and standup experience. But filling the 740-seat Sands Showroom each weekend with comics who are at once funny and marketable takes some work.

In his boundless search for apt comics, Huckfeldt applied the usual tracking methods: Following the comics’ theater and club appearances across the country, their performances on network or cable TV and even their specials on Netflix, if applicable.

But Huckfeldt allows, “I was never on Twitter until we launched Lipshtick. I joined just to follow all the female comedians.”

Huckfeldt was studying what type of content the comics were posting, how much Twitter and Instagram support they were giving their dates, whether they were appearing in large venues or comedy clubs, and how engaged their fans were in their activity.

“Our digital team was constantly pulling the metrics of how engaged their bases are and how often they are being searched with their names and ‘Las Vegas,’ ” Huckfeldt said. “It has led to us booking acts we would not have considered.”

One such tandem arrives this spring on March 21. Making their first Strip appearance are the folk-music and comedy team Garfunkel & Oates, and that nod to the less-acclaimed members of famous music duos gives an idea of these performers’ tenor.

“We learned about them from YouTube and from their Twitter feed. We know they have a much younger demographic than we do, but we’re finding that their following is really, really growing,” Huckfeldt said. “They do a shtick where one uses a guitar and one uses a ukulele, a smaller instrument, and they are very unique, very different.”

More important: “They’re doing very well, selling out across the country,” Huckfeldt said. “And we really were a little nervous to commit to them the first season because we wanted to stay with consistent comics who are known. But we are confident they will do well for us.”

Having lost longtime Sands Showroom headliner Rita Rudner to Harrah’s in the fall, the Venetian is leaning on other proven draws such as Cummings (back again March 13-14 and May 22-23), Roseanne Barr (Feb. 28, April 11, June 6), Loni Love (Feb. 14), Caroline Rhea with Elayne Boosler (March 28), Lisa Lampanelli (Feb. 7, April 4, June 13), Jennifer Coolidge (Feb. 21, April 18) and Iliza Shlesinger with Carly Aquilino (May 2).

“We’ve really learned a lot by having the legends and the people who have been around forever, and then coming in and putting some of the up-and-coming comedians coming in between with dual bills,” Huckfeldt said.

“People like Fortune Feimster and Iliza Shlesinger, Caroline Rhea, you know, we found has a huge audience based on her TV days from ‘Sabrina the Teenage Witch’ and ‘The Biggest Loser,’ along with her own talk show, are comics we have a lot of confidence in.”

Las Vegas is peppered with star comics headlining every weekend, from Jerry Seinfeld at the Colosseum to the powerful lineup at the Mirage’s Aces of Comedy. There are a dozen comedy clubs in the city, ranging from 100 to 400 seats, catering to comedians of all ilk. Being competitive requires being creative, but as Huckfeldt reminds, if you can’t deliver laughs, you might as well use that space for bingo.

“You want people to see a great set, have a great experience and start talking about Lipshtick,” he said. “You want them to laugh and tell their friends. It’s all about word of mouth, especially in this town because it is so competitive. There are a lot of male-heavy rosters on the weekends, and we’ve done a lot of research to make sure that we are delivering someone who can make people laugh.”

The other requirement for Lipshtick? Well, that’s obvious.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.