The best way to cut down on unreasonable riders is to actually write back offering to supply to the letter everything that they request and reminding them that the cost will be subtracted from the turnover before their fee is worked out.

We once had a pretty well known folk name booked through a totally inappropriate agency (though admittedly he didn't stay with them very long). In addition to various excessive amouts of alcohol and food requested were things like "a sharpie". I thought at first this must be some kind of knife but it turned out he was only looking for a permanent marker pen. Another stipulation was that the dressing room area had to have "professional 24 hour security" and that there needed to be adequate crash barriers placed between the performer and the audience. Our venue is the back room of a pub!

Anyway, I crossed it all out and returned it saying we'd buy him a pub meal (Sunday roast) and a couple of drinks. This did the trick (nothing more was said). The gig went fine and he was as happy as a sandboy....and totally embarassed when I showed him the agency rider.