The least funny sentence in comedy: “Send us a COI (Certificate of Insurance) naming us as additional insured by Friday.”
More and more venues, festivals, and corporate bookers will not let you on stage without proof of general liability insurance, commonly one million per occurrence. The corporate gig that pays five times club money is exactly the one that demands the paperwork 48 hours out.
The good news: performer policies exist, they are not expensive relative to one corporate booking, and once you have one, a certificate of insurance takes minutes to issue. The comics who lose these gigs aren’t uninsurable. They are unprepared.
If you’re recording a special or launching a podcast with a distributor, meet E&O (Errors and Omissions) insurance now, because the distributor will ask you for it later, at the worst possible moment.