Ghanaian comedian Lekzy DeComic has opened up about giving out a significant number of complimentary tickets in order to fill seats at his comedy event.

He revealed that the decision to do so often stems from underwhelming ticket sales, especially when the event is being recorded for television or commercial use. In such instances, he explained, an empty auditorium would not make for good visuals.

“Yes, it has happened before. If you are shooting the event for television, or for other commercial reasons, you can’t shoot an event in a half-empty auditorium. You still have to fill up,” he told Kwame Dadzie on Joy FM’s Showbiz A-Z.

Referencing fellow comedian OB Amponsah’s show at the Bukom Boxing Arena, Lekzy recounted that a few days before the event, ticket sales were low, prompting them to give out free tickets to ensure the venue looked full.

“Two days to the event when we checked the ticket sales, it wasn’t encouraging, so we had to find a way to give some of the tickets out. People bought tickets but it wasn’t as much as we expected,” he revealed.

Lekzy also noted that media engagements consume a large share of the complimentary tickets. He said that granting interviews across multiple television and radio stations often results in dozens of ticket requests from production teams.

“If I am doing about 10 television stations and 10 radio stations interviews, if I go everywhere, production will call that they need tickets so just the interviews alone will take about 50 tickets. These are seats that probably I could have sold but if the station is also to quantify the airtime they are giving me, it will also cost more,” he said.

He further stated that aside from media partners, event organisers often need to give free tickets to friends, family and sponsors as well.

Lekzy made the comments while discussing why many event organisers claim they incur losses, even after announcing that their venues were filled to capacity.