Yeah,, just really a lot to unpack here to get back tote original question. Also, I believe, in my experience, that open mics are necessary, but absolutely, in no way a good barometer of your skills as a comic. Here’s why;
1. Politics.The same rotating group of dregs go to the same mics, every night there is one anywhere in my city. Cool, lot’s of time to ‘work out their material,,,for the next open mic. They snake the sign up sheets and pass them amongst each other,,,then it’s like, “O.K., so Erik, you’ll be#18.”
Another mic at a really cool venue, does a bucket pull, but only in the sense that the emcee pulls the names out of the bucket, and the same jokers (no pun) are up first…..then, when I do get up, it’s the typical “local comics’ walking around, staring at the 3 minute set on their phone, walking in and out of the room,, then they take off when they’re done,,,
It goes like this: these people show up to ‘play comedian’. I don’t know if they started doing this with the hopes of finding success, but if so, it’s long gone now. This is just their thing. And that’s fine. We all need hobbies. But there’s an immense amount of work that goes into trying to ascend,, Social Media and constant content creation, monitoring your website, coming up with clever ways to develop relationships with the people in the city who matter (Club owner, radio people, Improv (and I hate Improv, but I’m learning skills),,,,writing and getting up and being funny is 25% of it. It’s lonely, it’s hard,,,,,,,,,,,but those open mic people could care less about their appearance, they all run together in their sets,,I feel like I’m listening to the same 3 min set, done at different degrees of mediocrity, with a couple exceptions who are clever and could be pro-level,,,,,,,,
There’s just so much talk of ‘community’ and ‘cultivating local talent’,,,I work at one of the Comedy Clubs,,,the big one,, just within the week and the owner, who likes to make such a big deal of that, basically acknowledged that it was nonsense,,,,,
I’m pushing every button, making every call, writing down names,, I even wrote a book just to have something else to help me stand out.
I’m doing my EPK, but without any real shows under my belt, I don’t have reviews and press clippings,,,, and, I’m not a clean comic. I would love to be,,,,but I’m not. It’s not even about not wanting to be disingenuous,, I don’t make filthy dick jokes and what not,, I have things of substance but there’s a lot of calm, calm sarcasm then some crazy nut job thing thrown in which catches everyone off guard,,,,,,I know it’s good. I know it’s unique in a way that is completely different than any of the open mic people BUT if I had an audience of real people, who showed up and I was a feature, , I’d have automatic credit and could do what I do,,,and then if it went over the cliff, and it won’t, then I could concede that ‘if I can’t make a smaller group laugh, how could I a larger?’
Because local open mic comics are not the same as a regular audience.
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