I live in Baytown, 20 minutes outside of Houston (30 minutes from any good comedy club, of which there is only "3?") I can't find a god damn open mic. I've been to three different bars and asked for the opportunity to start an open mic. So fuck it. I'm just going to go to different karaoke nights and ask if I can tell jokes for two minutes instead of singing. Fuck it. Fuck this town. Any thoughts?
I was tired when I wrote this, so it's not even my fault that it's wrong! Isn't that great?
Bad idea.
Any poetry or musician open mics? You can usually bust in and tell jokes on those, because the people there are usually pussies.
Are you able to get to Houston?
http://www.badslava.com/houston-open-mics.htm
If so what's the deal with these?
I would agree to heir on the side other open-mics. If not comedy there's gotta be some music mics around and they're more often than not pretty cool and welcoming. Karaoke is just a different atmosphere and I think you'd be less welcome.
(Though while we're here I will say the Karaoke night near my place hilariously has a whole section of "Classic Comedy Bits". Would love to see someone actually do one)
If you can't get up every night of the week you should think about moving to someplace where you can. In the meantime try to get as much stagetime as possible.
30 minutes isn't that far. I'm 30 minutes from San Jose/San Francisco/Oakland (by scud missile) if you're serious you have to hustle.
I worked my way through college DJ'ing and hosting karaoke nights, and the type of person who takes karaoke seriously - the type who hang out for hours and hours, drinking tea or water and sing as much as possible - will throw a shitty fit if you get up and just tell jokes for 3-5 minutes. While I would have been more than happy to have somebody tell jokes instead of listening to yet another fat woman sing treacly, annoying-ass country ballads that still haunt me in my sleep, that personality will then complain to the host, complain to the bartender, complain to the bar owner and, if possible, complain to whomever actually cuts the checks to the person hosting (it's usually a third part who doesn't have to attend said shitty karaoke). You may only get away with it once, but I doubt you'll ever get to do it again. And seeing as how you're in rural/suburban Texas, I imagine every bar with karaoke is filled to the rednecky brim with the exact type of person I'm talking about. If you're hanging out on AST then something tells me your brand of comedy will be welcomed with hushed "faggot" comments, and at worse boo'ing and beyond. Shitty audiences are something you need to learn to deal with, but this situation is like putting yourself in a tiger cage.
All that said, if you do it please film it and put it on YouTube.
a. I'm from Texas and I realize that "Houston" can be a huge mess to travel around and one side v. the other makes a 30 minute ride an hour. But... a few thoughts.
1. 30 minutes is nothing.
I live IN Boston and even in town it took me over n 45min each way to get to an open mic tonight. I also go up to Portland, ME once every couple of months and that's 6 hrs roundtrip.
2. There are 3 clubs in Houston. I'm sure some of them have showcase/off weekend nights.
Go hang out. Watch the people showcasing. Say hi to someone you thought was funny and ask them about where all to go. I've given handwritten lists/let newer comics copy my list in my old notebook of the open mic schedule. Figure out what's really out there. I'm sure Houston is no mecca of hilarity but I'd be surprised if you couldn't find a lot more out than you realized.
3. Think outside the box.
You've got more options than Karaoke. Contact some speaking clubs (toastmasters etc) and ask them if they'd be interested in having someone stop by and tell some jokes. You prolly can't get too weird/crass but it'd be a good audience to work on monologue jokes maybe...
4. Facebook groups.
Every area has a facebook group of comics.
5. Open Mic Startup strategy
Pick your targets and treat like you're worth it. Asking someone to "let you" comes across bad I think. Whereas you have a stronger pitch with,
"I see you've got trivia in the back on Tuesdays but it ends at 10 and then everyone just goes to the front... I could run a comedy show that would bring both performers (who're known to drink) as well as hold audience. For $50/week we could get the newbie comics to bring a bunch of friends to "win the prize." It would take a bit of a commitment to get it going as these things carry mostly by word of mouth. But I'd host and book it and just ask (whatever is fair?) for me."
I think it's clear that one sounds better to a business person than the other.
5. Logistics.
Do you have a PA system, reliable microphone/cable, mic stand?
Plan for who will fill in if you're sick/life gets in the way?
6. Ask a Local Comic with standing.
Go to some weekend shows at the nearest club and see who's hosting/opening that's local. We've had several shit shows here started by ambitious new comics that just missed the mark because they didn't know where the mark was. The guys who know the local scene and have been there forever will really be able to tell you how grim/hopeful it is.
7. (I have no need for #s now but whatever, it would be weird if I didn't keep it going) I would never recommend hijacking someone else's open mike. You catch more flies with honey... go to the show beforehand, ask the host when he/she's not distracted if it would be ok. Most people are nice. Some aren't. Those who aren't can be really annoying when they've been "wronged" so it's easier to find that out without confrontation. That could just be the buddhist coming out tho.
Anyways, best of luck. There's hope! Even if you are on the wrong side of Houston
edit:
If I'm unclear on anything I'm "unwinding" and that's why I actually respond in such length XD
I'm probably going to be wrong on stuff and after Erik responds will wish I hadn't.
Nah, most of that sounds reasonable. I've only done comedy in Boston and LA, so I never had any need to start an open mic. (Though I did one run one for a few months...)
But yeah, I wouldn't start an open mic if I hadn't been doing comedy for a pretty long time with a pretty substantial amount of success. Granted, that goes for any show. You have to pay your dues before you can call the shots. Also, if nobody knows who you are, you're either not going to get any real comics, or else real comics will think of you as a novice who runs an open mic, rather than as a viable performer in your own right. And if you make the mistakes everyone makes when they're learning to host, especially people who haven't been around for a few years before trying it, they'll think of you as a novice who runs an open mic badly. Which may not be fair -- everyone goes through it -- but still, you don't want to draw attention to yourself while you're making mistakes or plowing through new stuff at an open mic. You want to do that stuff quietly, and then draw attention to how you can kill with a tested set at real shows.
And certainly don't go into a crowd of Houston comics as a newcomer and say "hey, nobody's doing this, so I have to do it." Houston may not be the biggest city in America, or the best town for comedy, but I can guarantee you there's enough shows and open mics going on that an open micer with little or no experience has to appoint himself to a position of authority. It may sound like a matter political gamesmanship/cliques, but as James said, anyone who's been around long enough has seen inexperienced comics start shows, mishandle them, and turn the venues off to the idea of comedy in the future. I'm not saying you'd do that... I'm just saying that as a veteran comic, my first reaction when I hear about an unproven performer starting a show is one of worry. No need to invite that on yourself.
Erik Charles Nielsen is a moderately funny fellow... right?
I ditto this, though I don't think you need to move to a place that has open mics every single night of the week but preferably one where you can go up at least 3-4 times a week (like in my city); I just think back 10 years ago (way before I started comedy) and the open mics where once every month and that's all you had to work with. Those open mics where packed with a crowd in the hundreds and a list of 30 comics each doing 3 minutes. Fast forward to today and some people were bitching that we have too many open mics (we had up to 6 a week, a lot for a small city like Louisville) with some open mics overlapping others and only 5-8 people showing up and many of those shows.Originally Posted by KevinLee
Anyway not to get off topic one of the best things you can do is start a show. We started one last year at a bar/theater that doesn't use their smaller room on Friday nights and it's been a big success, most of the time it's standing room only. We rotate about 6 up and coming comics doing 10 minutes each, and then at the end of the show we do a 'off the head' contest of comics given a topic from the crowd and having to riff on it for 3 minutes.
Thinking of it in terms of "stage time" is dangerous, as is getting up every night of the week. (Especially at open mics, in front of crowds that aren't going to give you anything.) Do a bunch of shows, but only when you have progress to make -- new material that has to be worked out or an audience to perform for. If you can get up every night and actually do work, that's fine -- but if you have THAT much new material, you're uncommonly prolific. Don't go up without work to do.
Getting up at open mics too much will warp your stage presence, especially when you're not experienced enough to be self-aware. You need to grab the crowd when you go up there, sense and work with their attention -- that just doesn't work very well/the same way with a crowd of comics. A lot of performers who slog through open mics early in their careers don't develop that skill or even learn to operate on those terms. (Then again, a lot of stage presence is innate anyway. So I may be overstating this a bit. Not much, though.)
Because open mics provide so few cues, it's easy to run mediocre material into the ground without even realizing it's not worth that much effort. And it's easy to treat clocking in at open mics as "work", even though you're just running through another iteration of the same stuff. If anything, open mics become the opposite of getting work done -- they discourage you from thinking of your performance as a performance, and that "putting in stage time" attitude always shows to a real audience.
As much as possible, you want to go up with something to prove and something at stake. A model of performance where virtually unlimited open mic "stage time" is available tends to produce uncommitted performers, especially as compared to a model where performance determines the availability and frequency of future sets. I'm not saying open mics can't be valuable in moderation, especially once you've found your feet as a performer -- I'm just saying you have to minimize clocking in and "putting in time," because clocking in just numbs your soul.
Erik Charles Nielsen is a moderately funny fellow... right?
I agree with this. And honestly I also think it depends on you the performer. I have a friend that asked me why I only go up about 3 times a week and I basically said because those weeks that I went up 7-10 times were burning me out. But I know there are some people who need that to feel fresh. However I also know a guy that goes up about 8 times a week and he does that same set and has done the same set for 3 years at an OPEN MIC to a point where we know every facial expression and hand gesture. Personally I prefer 3-4 times a week and each week I bring 50 percent new material and I mix it with 50 percent of the material from the previous weeks and it's what has been working best for me. Then I take the best of those and use them at one of our shows and it's helped me put together a decent 15-20 minute set so far.
Yeah -- it's definitely a thing that varies from person to person. Some people are that prolific. Some people can repeat their material without it becoming rote. Some people don't take stage time for granted, and are focused on delivering a performance every time. (The good news is, advancing as a comic helps with all of those things.) But if you're not all of those things, there are some real pitfalls that you can fall into. And there are also other important things to do when you're a new comic... using the night to write material, watching shows at a local club or DVDs/CDs, etc.
I feel like a lot of the veteran comedians who tell new comics "get up every night" are thinking of their time as intermediate-level comedians a few years in. When you have your stage presence/persona down, enough proven and developing material to work with, and access to good shows some of the time, the only real reason not to get up is to avoid burnout. But when you're still working on the basics, there are a lot of concerns.
(Mind you, it's also a thing that can be easily varied -- you can go up every night when you have new material, and then only occasionally when you don't have much to work on, etc. No use expressing it as a binary, really.)
Erik Charles Nielsen is a moderately funny fellow... right?
I should probably say, I started looking harder and found a bunch of open mics. Thanks guys!
I was tired when I wrote this, so it's not even my fault that it's wrong! Isn't that great?
Awesome! Now I know who to harass when I go visit skewston ^^
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