Performing With an Open Mike
Outmotormouthing The Competition: Open Mike Comedy Performances
One of the best risks to take in trying to get your break in the comedy industry is to go to open mike performances. These are free events, and different rules will usually apply depending on the place where the open mike performance is being held.
First off, just what is an open mike performance? And if your reply is that it's the opposite of a closed mike performance, you just earned yourself a swift kick in the butt. Seriously, it's an event held in a club or hosted by a comedy group that allows aspiring comedians (and bored people in the audience) the opportunity to go on stage and perform stand up comedy for a set period of time, usually lasting 5 to 15 minutes.
Some open mike events are very informal, and these are the ones you'll want to go to first if you're not confident yet or inexperienced at stand up comedy. The more informal events are held at comedy clubs where, on those nights, anyone from the audience can just jump up on stage and start jamming. What is the advantage to this? You can bomb, and nobody will really care much - though your confidence will definitely take a massive hit if you do. Unless you bomb worse than your grandmother after prunes, in which case the audience may decide to shower you with (hopefully non physical) abuse.
On the other hand, informal open mike comedy at clubs means you don't have to arrange anything like you would with a formal gig, and gives you plenty of practice with a non-demanding crowd that (hopefully) won't be throwing cutlery at you. You can refine your technique in this fashion, and improve over time as you lose your stage shyness and become comfortable performing in front of a crowd. Just pray that on the nights you do this, you don't get a crowd with the attitude of a school of hungry piranhas.
The disadvantage to open mike comedy at clubs is that the odds of getting noticed are moderately slim. It makes good practice, but rarely will you expect to run into agents and talent scouts who can help you break into the big time at these places. Yes, we've all heard the stories of people discovered by talent scouts while performing at a club. But those are few and far in between, and we have to assume that any talent agents going to the clubs you'll be performing at will be busier getting a date than actually listening to you.
More formal open mike comedy events take the form of a contest of sorts. Some people actually enter these events for kicks. However if you're seriously considering a career in the comedy industry, don't enter these contests unless you're confident onstage. These events are usually hosted by one organization or another, and the audience WILL include invited talent scouts and managers who will be there in a working capacity, looking for raw meat - oops, I mean fresh talent - to bring into their coteries. You definitely want to make a good impression at these events.
These contests will usually have dozens of comedians all out there to win recognition, and if you want to get into the industry fast, this is where you pull out all the stops and use your best material. Depending on your personal attitude, you can either go into this for the sheer fun of the experience, or think of it as a war against the other comedians, with witticism as your weapon. Doing well at these events, whether you win or not, may earn you the attention of a talent scout and get you the break you've been looking for. Unless the managers and agents in the crowd brought along their dates from the clubs where you performed open mike before, in which case they'll STILL be trying to get a date.
Finding an open mike event is easy enough. Surf the net, and check your local papers for news announcement of open mike comedy events. If you've also got a bar which you frequent you can even talk to the owners and get them into the scheme, having them host an open mike contest where you can strut your stuff.
One of the best risks to take in trying to get your break in the comedy industry is to go to open mike performances. These are free events, and different rules will usually apply depending on the place where the open mike performance is being held.
First off, just what is an open mike performance? And if your reply is that it's the opposite of a closed mike performance, you just earned yourself a swift kick in the butt. Seriously, it's an event held in a club or hosted by a comedy group that allows aspiring comedians (and bored people in the audience) the opportunity to go on stage and perform stand up comedy for a set period of time, usually lasting 5 to 15 minutes.
Some open mike events are very informal, and these are the ones you'll want to go to first if you're not confident yet or inexperienced at stand up comedy. The more informal events are held at comedy clubs where, on those nights, anyone from the audience can just jump up on stage and start jamming. What is the advantage to this? You can bomb, and nobody will really care much - though your confidence will definitely take a massive hit if you do. Unless you bomb worse than your grandmother after prunes, in which case the audience may decide to shower you with (hopefully non physical) abuse.
On the other hand, informal open mike comedy at clubs means you don't have to arrange anything like you would with a formal gig, and gives you plenty of practice with a non-demanding crowd that (hopefully) won't be throwing cutlery at you. You can refine your technique in this fashion, and improve over time as you lose your stage shyness and become comfortable performing in front of a crowd. Just pray that on the nights you do this, you don't get a crowd with the attitude of a school of hungry piranhas.
The disadvantage to open mike comedy at clubs is that the odds of getting noticed are moderately slim. It makes good practice, but rarely will you expect to run into agents and talent scouts who can help you break into the big time at these places. Yes, we've all heard the stories of people discovered by talent scouts while performing at a club. But those are few and far in between, and we have to assume that any talent agents going to the clubs you'll be performing at will be busier getting a date than actually listening to you.
More formal open mike comedy events take the form of a contest of sorts. Some people actually enter these events for kicks. However if you're seriously considering a career in the comedy industry, don't enter these contests unless you're confident onstage. These events are usually hosted by one organization or another, and the audience WILL include invited talent scouts and managers who will be there in a working capacity, looking for raw meat - oops, I mean fresh talent - to bring into their coteries. You definitely want to make a good impression at these events.
These contests will usually have dozens of comedians all out there to win recognition, and if you want to get into the industry fast, this is where you pull out all the stops and use your best material. Depending on your personal attitude, you can either go into this for the sheer fun of the experience, or think of it as a war against the other comedians, with witticism as your weapon. Doing well at these events, whether you win or not, may earn you the attention of a talent scout and get you the break you've been looking for. Unless the managers and agents in the crowd brought along their dates from the clubs where you performed open mike before, in which case they'll STILL be trying to get a date.
Finding an open mike event is easy enough. Surf the net, and check your local papers for news announcement of open mike comedy events. If you've also got a bar which you frequent you can even talk to the owners and get them into the scheme, having them host an open mike contest where you can strut your stuff.
