You should get Penn on the show... show FreeFM who's boss! Hehe. Yeah, I know, it would be really hard.
I might try to get Penn and Teller up to my univ though- I could get the university to fund a magic show, the atheist club (which I founded) could do something, and the libertarian club (which my boyfriend founded) could also do something. The problem is I bet they'd be really, really expensive. Maybe I could get CU Cinema to run their movie or a few episodes of Bullshit! or something and have them talk after it or something too?
Any ideas would be great!
I admittedly dont know Jack about having an entertainment act perform at a venue, but for the most part, people usually dont lose money by booking an act. If you look into different mid-sized rock bands, Penn and Tellers agent, and those sorts of things, they will provide you with a list of requirements of the venue. Number of seats, indoor or outdoor, lighting and audio requirements, the size of the stage, they need the place to be empty one day in advance, stuff like that.
If the venue didnt profit from an act, it wouldnt be in business, therefor the expense is not exactly how much money they make, but if it is profitable enough to make the effort. The venue needs to provide things like security, consessions, and staffing. They make a few extra bucks on parking and popcorn. The act wants a contract of (just guessing for numbers sake) say, 75% of ticket sales, or 20 grand minimum, whichever is greater. So, 1000 tickets at 25 each would be where you begin to figure profits. (like i said, im just hacking out some rough numbers, for the purposes of conversation, dont think they are real for one second)
Look into it, if you could get some support from the college. That would be a major feather in your cap. I saw some contracts once at smokinggun.com which outlined different acts contract requirements, and I'm pretty sure Penn and Teller's contract was one of them. They had the contracts there because of people like Springsteen and Madonna who demand weird shit like m+m's with no red ones in the bowl, no styrofoam cups except for 12 oz with lids. That sort of stuff.
Good luck if you chase it down.