Adlib supplies CODA Audio VCA system for Jimmy Carr’s ‘Laughs Funny’ U.K. arena tour …
“Mixing on the CODA Audio system has been consistent, day-to-day, venue-to-venue, with Jimmy’s team commenting very positively on the intelligibility and gain-before-feedback achieved across the tour. The system sounded open and natural so listening was effortless.”
📸 credit Steve Sroka - Adlib.
Jimmy Carr is one of the biggest-selling comedy acts in the world, consistently performing to sell-out crowds around the globe. Famous for his dark humour and razor sharp one-liners, the multiple comedy award winner is also a household name in UK television. After selling more than a million tickets on his international ‘Terribly Funny 2.0’ tour in 2023, Carr recently returned to the stage with ‘Laughs Funny’, a follow-up which began in the USA and continued throughout the UK and Europe.
Liverpool-based events production specialists Adlib was engaged to supply audio for the UK leg of ‘Laughs Funny’, a series of ten arena dates where Carr performed two shows per day. Having regularly provided production for many of the leading lights of British comedy, including Russell Howard, Joe Lycett, Jack Whitehall, and most recently, Romesh Ranganathan, Adlib once again deployed a CODA Audio AiRAY system to provide the combination of power, accuracy of coverage, intelligibility and small form factor, essential for large scale arena comedy shows.
Adlib supplied a CODA Audio system based on the company’s flagship AiRAY line array, with Billy Bryson of Adlib as system technician for the run:
“We combined AiRAY with CiRAY for this show, which allowed for flexibility when designing for each venue whilst also fitting into a compact footprint. The system’s phase linearity and coherent wavefront (thanks to the DDP mid-high driver) resulted in clean, intelligible speech in every seat in the venue.”
The show was in the round, with the stage located in the middle of the arenas – a total of eight hangs comprising CODA Audio AiRAY and CiRAY were flown at the four ‘corners’ of the rig, utilising a mixture of 90° and 120° couplers to balance long-throw SPL and near-field coverage. To save on long cable runs these were powered by flown CODA Audio LINUS14 amplifiers – six on each corner. Four CODA Audio HOPS 10-Pro loudspeakers were flown on Doughty Modular Drop Arms between each set of hangs, serving as centre fills, with cabling integrated within the lighting and video system which Adlib also supplied. A single LINUS14 powered these, which was located on the end of the communal cable bridge truss, serving all departments. The system was completed by twelve CODA Audio HOPS8 loudspeakers positioned along the edges of the stage, to aid with natural imaging for those closest to Jimmy Carr.
Front of House Engineer for the shows, Sam Cooknell comments:
“Mixing on the CODA Audio system has been consistent, day-to-day, venue-to-venue, with Jimmy’s team commenting very positively on the intelligibility and gain-before-feedback achieved across the tour. The system sounded open and natural so listening was effortless.”
David Webster, CODA Audio Global Head of Sales and Marketing, adds:
“Jimmy Carr is without doubt one of the UK’s finest comedians, so it’s fantastic to see Adlib deploying a CODA Audio system to take care of yet another high-profile comedy arena tour. The clarity and flexibility of the VCA family of loudspeakers makes them ideal for events such as these, where every word needs to be heard in every seat in the house.”
