Starting a local open-mic

[kylezen]

So a friend and I are starting to perform stand-up at an open-mic night in a local bar. The first show did not go as well as we hoped, most people there were not the typical comedy audience, not really paying attention, maybe because this place is just a bar that only recently started hosting a general open-mic (music, comedy, poetry).

The bar-owner is pretty open to suggestion about ways to make this show better, any tips on how to make this venue more appropriate for the comedy aspect of it? (there are a few tables in front with candles on them, only one t.v. set behind the bar which is good, its a small bar that holds about 50 people.)

[nixonjames]

What night of the week is it?

Do you have a lead in/out (i.e. trivia before or karaoke after)?

Is there a seperate room or a way to partition the area by the stage from the part of the bar crowd that isn't there for comedy?

Do they advertise their comedy night? outside signage, bartenders/waitresses talking about it to customers, table settling placards announcing it, etc

Are there any other open mikes in the area? You should always talk to the folks who run those rooms before getting too deep into your own adventure. A lot of the time there's someone with more knowledge who may've even tried comedy in a similar situation in new orleans.

How's the equipment?

How's the performer/audience turnout?

What does the owner want out of it?


If the end goal of the owner is to make it a more profitable option than doing something else, then you should try to make it the most attended, best place to network, etc etc mike in the area and get all the comics in once a week. Then bump folks who put down a decent food/bar tab, etc. But make it an awesome show that everyone wants to go to... I feel like the 'comedy/music/poetry' open mike is fishing with the wrong bait. It's like a catchall safety net in the hopes you get all of them instead of doing any one of them well.

I've babbled enough. curious to hear some answers to see if i'm knowledgable enough to help

[ErikNielsen]

Attacking this from a different angle -- where are you? And are there not other open mics in that place?

[nixonjames]

I'm pretty sure I already scared him off. >.>

[Colemancoxstandup]

You can pretend that I'm him if you want. I'm trying to start up an open mic a little outside of houston. It's a sports bar, with lots of high def tvs and only seats about 30 people. Should I even bother?

As for what night of the week, etc. I can't tell you because the owner wants to see me do stand up before we set anything up.

[nixonjames]

You can pretend that I'm him if you want. I'm trying to start up an open mic a little outside of houston. It's a sports bar, with lots of high def tvs and only seats about 30 people. Should I even bother?

As for what night of the week, etc. I can't tell you because the owner wants to see me do stand up before we set anything up.

I would pass on this strictly for the lack of power at the outset. I wouldn't consider doing an open mike without a consistent/enthusiastic owner backing me and pushing to make it successful by providing initial investments in advertising, etc as well as making a firm commitment to do a night for a while (6 months +) so that it can have traction.

The environment already seems iffy so if you're doin an open mike there and the owner isn't a huge fan of your night he's not gonna turn the TVs off and he's gonna hate a bunch of water drinking open mikers coming in and taking up the limited space.

I'd look for something with a seperate back room that is normally rented for events that they will commit to you for a period of time in a consistent, regular fashion.

[Cameron]

a bunch of water drinking open mikers

This is a problem open mics in Austin definitely do not have.

[Burnside]

I don't see what the problem is with trying it and seeing what happens. There's plenty of open mics in bars with horrible environments and ambivalent owners. Why not try one on your own side of town?

[nixonjames]

I don't see what the problem is with trying it and seeing what happens. There's plenty of open mics in bars with horrible environments and ambivalent owners. Why not try one on your own side of town?

The argument which I've been told but not experienced firsthand. Is that if you run an open mike that seems doomed to fail, it's a good chance it will. When it does, it runs the risk of souring the idea of comedy to not only that bar owner but other bar owners he/she knows or are in the area. Then a potential open mike/show with better backing can't come in later because of the preconceived notion.

I do think that's a bit of a generalization cuz it's always going to come down to people. But for me what is the benefit of running an open mike under less than ideal circumstances? And more importantly, what are you hoping to get out of it?

If you want to provide stage time for local performers in a part of Houston that is currently bare in terms of time, more power to you. If you want to get better by Hosting and taking the Bullet every week, more power to you.

If you, don't know what to do next because you haven't been passed to the local clubs or gotten as many independent show bookings as you want, then I'd think twice. If you're doing it to guarantee that you can do 20 minutes close to your house every week, then I'd think twice.

If it's none of those things then this post doesn't apply to you and I'll have to hope it positively helps someone else someday.

[Adult Ed]

If you are going to do a mic in a sports bar, do it EARLY. They aren't going to turn the TVs off for you once the games start but may at least turn the volume off for the pregame bullshit.

And maybe this is just a New York thing but open mics are usually played to only other comics or ambushed patrons. That IS a typical comedy audience for that level of show.

[Burnside]

My guess is he wants to have an open mic he doesn't have to drive an hour to and from each week. Houston is a big city.

[ErikNielsen]

All right. If there are no open mics in that part of Houston, that's the first step passed. The open mic's not redundant.

The next question -- do you know a large enough base of good comics who would do the show? I don't mean professionals, though if you can get a few of them it helps. I mean people with talent who are worth watching. The fact is, even if you're only playing to other comics, you need that. I've never been to a good or even decent open mic that didn't draw a lot of people who were also doing booked shows regularly. I know it seems backwards -- aren't open mics for new comics who don't necessarily know what they're doing? -- but those guys need the structure and the motivation provided by better and/or more experienced acts. If new comics and non-comics are the majority of the lineup, the show's going to be depressing. Nobody's going to want to stick around and support, and nobody's going to keep the no-hopers and the crazies from taking the place over.

The third question -- does the open mic have its own room? You never want to put an open mic in the main room of a place, because that drives out the actual patrons. (Or worse, it antagonizes the actual patrons.) There's no quicker way to cast a pall over the room and eventually get the mic cancelled.

[Burnside]

"You never want to put an open mic in the main room of a place, because that drives out the actual patrons. (Or worse, it antagonizes the actual patrons.)"

And yet one of the biggest open mics in Houston does exactly that.

[nixonjames]

I'm not sure Houston's current system of comedy is exactly lauded... might be an indication of the scene needing to improve.

[ErikNielsen]

And yet one of the biggest open mics in Houston does exactly that.

Do they draw audience members? And if so, why isn't it a booked show, or at least a booked open mic?

[Burnside]

The main open mic had been several years in a great location in the back room of a bar that used to in fact be a comedy club (The Laff Stop), but that bar closed in May, forcing the mic to relocate to a related bar, which has only one room. Since the bar has allowed it to continue, I suspect the bar tabs of the comics must more than makeup for any loss of regular Mon night patrons. I doubt the show draws many new, non-comic patrons, though. It doesn't seem to antagonize so much as result in a loud bar of patrons trying to talk over the comedy as comedians try to talk over patrons.

It's by no means ideal, but it offers an alternative to an open mic with a crowd comprised entirely of other comics.

Comedy just isn't big in Houston these days. There's not even a comedy club left in the part of the city where the main comedy clubs were located historically. The comedy clubs that do exist haven't done much to support the local scene, so there's a guerilla open-mic environment now.

[ErikNielsen]

It doesn't seem to antagonize so much as result in a loud bar of patrons trying to talk over the comedy as comedians try to talk over patrons.

That's exactly what I meant by "antagonize". That sounds awful for everyone. I know an audience of comics can be pretty tight, but they let you do your material, which is the main point of an open mic to begin with.

Actually, an audience of comics is the best audience for an open mic -- they're largely polite, and don't tend to fall for hack jokes (though they may have their own biases you have to correct for). If you regularly have actual non-comic audience members who are there to see a show, it's stupid to have an open mic at that venue. Book the show, entertain the civilians, build something.

What you're describing is no valid alternative to anything.

And I guess my point is not so much that that existing open mic should close -- though there are serious ethical and business issues with the idea of stand-up (open-mic stand-up, at that) being presented to an audience which is likely to see it as an annoyance. That's not good for anyone. Not on the night, not in the long term. Why would you want the people who go to that bar to associate stand-up comedy with some jerk with a microphone trying to shout over them? You're not just killing one audience on the night, you're killing potential future audiences for real shows.

(Not you specifically. I know.)

But at the very least, can we agree that just because misfortune has thrust one open mic into a terrible situation, that's no reason to deliberately create another terrible open mic?