Starting out in LA

[P-Dub]

Hey Sly, that's really nice of you. I can kill two birds with one stone and tell you that the UCB open mic is a lot of fun and i'll be there this Friday! If we don't get spots we can go down to Counterpoint and sell some books for peanut butter money!

P.S. I look like this: http://twitter.com/petefweiss

[SlyBattery]

Sorry I missed it Pete. I think I was too poor/forgetful. Oh well. Shame they only do one every month. Hopefully I'll be at the next one.

[Burnside]

I've read plenty of negative stuff about the Comedy Store's potluck, nevertheless I'm going to be in LA on SUN and was thinking about checking it out out of sheer curiosity to get the vibe of the scene. I understand that it's difficult to get on if they don't know you, etc., but my questions are: How large is the audience at the CS Potluck usually? And - Is the show typically any good?

[Osquip]

I haven't been in a while but I wouldn't really expect there to be much of an audience other than comedians. That's pretty standard for L.A. open mics.

I run a mic on Sunday. http://www.facebook.com/events/423890077636719/ I'm expecting a pretty light turnout since a lot of the comics that would do it are in Portland for the Bridgetown Fest, but say hi if you come. It's only for characters.

If you're generally of fan of AST approved comedy I would go to the Nerdist open mic at Meltdown Comics. I think the drawing is 7 or 7:30 but you should call or check on-line somewhere. Audience is decent here. Other Sunday mics are
Dangerfield's 3 at 3pm - Fairly new. Never been.
Rafa's Lounge at 4:30 - Fun but will probably also be light because of Bridgetown
Silverlake Lounge at 6 - This is the only non-lottery. Sign-up starts at 5:30. This is mixed comedy and music but usually fun with a crowd. Get there early to sign-up or you will be late on the list.

Hope that helps.

EDIT:
Just realized you were wanting to go watch. Misread your post as looking for a mic cause it's in the stage time forum. The potluck will be fine to go watch if you just want to see what the Comedy Store is like. Was going to delete the above but then I thought it might be useful to someone anyway.

[Burnside]

Thanks, that was helpful. It was I who wasn't clear about whether my intent was to perform or just watch. Ideally, I'd look to do both, but I'm only going to be in LA for that night and wanted to get a feel for what the LA open mic scene is like as much as I actually wanted to get mic time. Since I understand it can be hard getting mic time there, I was curious whether a show is worth sticking around to see even if I don't get picked to go up. I'm being on an open mic tourist, you might say.