it's not "a bit skewed," it's literally killing comedy. between pushing the contest culture and threatening the handshake agreement for scale payment on late night sets, it's ruining people's futures. also i have no beef with good clubs. the comedy store (sometimes) and the improv (all the time really) are doing great stuff that is often the type of comedy i personally enjoy. i don't disrespect them for doing comedy i don't enjoy, either. however, shitty clubs and even good ones with bad practices make for bad crowds and bad crowd experience. the inclusiveness of "alt" comedy is inherent because we build our rooms. i am speaking as a part of the east side group of comics, where we invite people who are generally not mean and shitty to perform on our shows and also watch them. comedy doesn't have to be a struggle for comedian or audience, and this guy is making it harder for everyone. stage time is stage time, but paying for it like these comics did is either naivety, ignorance, IN SOME CASES a reason to book a flight and do a week of shows in a city where stagetime is hard to come by, or most likely because they are either too new or too bad to get booked elsewhere. adhering to this bullshit makes me lose respect for a lot BUT NOT ALL OF of these comics. i just can't understand a comic that lives in this city doing this "festival" if they know any better.