Shayne-Michael.COMedy

How To Run A Open Mic - by Shayne Michael

How can I run a good open mic? Having a good sound system helps. It also helps to have a real stage. However, a stage and sound system are not really the most important components. If you really want people other than comics to attend, you need to worry about the quality of the show you produce.

Good open mics usually share three common threads. They feature a honest sign-up system, that is as fair as possible while still catering to quality. The booker seeks out good comics. And they usually feature a very good emcee.

What Are Open Mics For?

You will not be discovered at an open mic. Open mics were not designed to generate fame. They were designed to give everyone a chance to develop material. That way you're not penalized when you become famous. Here's the catch 22, that keeps audience members away. Open mics are practice for real shows. If you really want to run a good open mic seek out comics who practice before the "practice."

Very few people would pitch a half written script. So when you run an open mic don't cater to people who pitch half written jokes. If you run the show, you should keep a list of comics that do well often and invite them often. If you run an open mic at a comedy club, it's even more important. Nobody goes to the open mic at the Comedy Store because it caters to homeless people and comics who won't give up after three years of dead-end open mics.

In the end, the open mic is not good for business. And it's even worse for the real comedians who know nobody important will ever see them at the Store. In other words, nobody wins.

Honest Systems Are Better Than 'Fair' Systems

When you run an open mic you're better off not treating everyone equally. Not all comics are created equally. Since every open mic is for testing material, comics need the freedom to bomb. But they also need audience members to truly gauge their material. Because this is true I always give better spots to the best comics. However, I'm always up front about that. I also limit the number of those guest spots in advance. Usually I limit them to 3/20 spots. And the sign up sheet states clearly that I intend to insert three good comics into critical points within the line up.

My purpose is to create a better show where everyone can accurately gauge their material. Fairly run shows do not allow that. That's why I always seek out good comics. Keep in mind, I never turn away bad comics. I've seen the worst comics turn into comic geniuses over night. But while their at the height of their "lousyness" I never actively seek them out. And if they ask me for a prebooked spot, I tell them "you're not ready."

How To Use Good Comics

Repeat after me, "Bad comedians drive audience members away." After running Novel Cafe for a year the open mic got much better when I first started inviting and prebooking the best comics. That's easy in LA, good comics are always hungry for stage time. When I prebooked three comics at each open mic I put them up when the room was packed. And I also gave them more time, usually 20% more. However, since they were there to do well, they also knew I had the freedom to cut them short if they failed to do their job. Fair is fair. If you hire someone to "do well" you have the right to expect delivery.

Actually the prebooked comics had three jobs. They opened the show strong. They were to attract paying customers and keep them there after bad sets. Finally, they were to give the room the biggest laughs when the most people were there. When this is done right, very few comics gripe. And at the height of Novel it was very effective.

But how do I find good comics? Watch the first open mic you do. Who did well? Get their number. Invite them back next week. If someone bombed, ask yourself why. If they're really trying invite them too. However, what if someone is just plain lazy? They had no jokes. They insulted audience members when they stumbled over their own material. Why bother inviting this person back? If it's an open mic, let them come back. But don't pursue them yourself.

Put The Show Before Comics Feelings

Does that sound like favoritism? Damn straight, if I run a comedy show, open mic or not, I favor the comics who are funny. There should always be rewards for doing your job well. Otherwise there is no reason to do your job well.

There are really two kinds of favoritism. The first type of favoritism is destructive. It's means booking personal friends for no other reason than they're friends. I have friends who are both very close to me and very good at holding an audience's interest. Nine times out of ten, I choose the latter.

The second type of favoritism is to book the people who are truly funny for those select spots to make the show better. When running the show at Novel, the show came first while the comic's feelings came second. Yes, that bothered some people. But they didn't come back. And the truth is, I didn't miss them.

You Have Obligations Before The Comics Feelings

You have several responsibilities that came before the comic's feelings. The first is to put on a good show with limited resources. I had new comics. Even worse, most of these "new comics" were testing new material. Under those situations control quality any way you can. Make sure everyone there isn't so green.

But why? It's an open mic, not a show!

Maybe. But when you run any show, you need to make the venue happy first. No venue will be happy with a second-rate show that scares away their customers. I don't care what you want to call that show. Even the most understanding owner will eventually cancel that "show" for something productive. Then nobody has a place to perform. Now who wins?

Remember, before you start debating the evils of censorship, if I let any person abuse the stage time they're being given, you might loose customers (both good comics and regular audience members). That one comic might be happy. He'll probably even call you a champion of the first amendment. But the 14 other comics going up after him will be pissed. When 14 comics and four customers start complaining to the venue how happy do you think the venue will be?

When you're in that situation, and you start citing the first amendment you're either a wimp or a moron. Never let one person ruin an entire show, not even an open mic.

The Best People To Run Shows Are Good Emcees

The reason I say this is that a good emcee can make a good show better. A bad emcee can take a show that's tanking and drag it straight into the mud. So having a good emcee almost always brings the show up a notch. Having a bad emcee almost always brings a show down a notch.

Good emcees focus on what's going right. By doing so, they make everything that is going right a little better. Bad emcees focus on what's going wrong and drag it back to a point of no return. When you start by using a good emcee to run a show, you already have one big advantage.

How do you find one? If you are a running the show and you want a good emcee just look for someone with strong material who is likeable. Since you are already actively looking for good comedians, you just need to select the few that smile the most. These are the comics who seem to have a positive edge while not being so nice that it's sickening. Make a list of at least five of those people, because the one you want will not always be available. Steer away from people with dark senses of humor no matter how funny they are.

When looking for good emcees it helps even more if they seem to be good at improv comedy. That means they can make things up at a moments notice. If you can't find that, look for observational comics. At the very least they will pay attention to the show.

Qualities Of Good Emcees

Good emcees are never selfish. They can standout. But they don't stand out for their own material. They notice everything that happens in the show and really listen to each act. They usually do one or two lines in between performers that makes the audience focus back on the last performer's material. It could be a bit from the emcee's collection that just seems right at that moment. But more often than not, this involves writing at least a page of material on the last person's act and choosing the one line that just seems right now. Why is that hard? That emcee should only do one new line he just wrote and completely let go of everything else.

Good emcees do their act, they do it once. The worst emcees do their act in between everyone who steps on stage and give you time to write novels between acts. Ironically, they become great comics because they get so much time. Too bad, after doing that for any length of time, everyone hates them. If you're emcee is doing that, get another emcee. Unless the emcee is good enough for their own one-person show nothing warrants that kind of arrogance.

Good emcees learn peoples names. They don't take cards on stage. They act they know other comics, even when they don't. When you put a good emcee with an 'honest' system and three comics prebooked on talent alone you can easily create a very good open mic. Everyone who goes up in between has the benefits. Under these circumstances all comics much more pressure to do good material themselves.

Summary Of This Pamphlet

I did other things that made Novel Cafe better. I required clean material. But this is purely a matter of personal choice. I think if you require clean material you should have a good reason. My reason was Novel Cafe was a coffee house. Children were often in the audience. And for that reason, I felt clean material was best. Don't censor comics because you don't like blue material. I also did not allow comics to insult audience members. Open mics are a place for testing out new material. Blaming the audience when they fail didn't accomplish that goal.

There are three things that matter in running a good open mic. They are very similar to the things that matter when running a regular shows. You need good comics, an honest system of running the open mic, and a good emcee.

Don't treat everyone equally. However, have a definite method for using better comics. If you prebook comics, don't use vague numbers. Be clear on who was invited because they were good. And if they're prebooked to make the show better, hold them to a different level of excellence. Use them in critical places. Put them up half way through the show, when you have the most paying customers. There job is to make those people come back. No prebooked comic should work from notes. Give everyone the same chance at these spots even if you have no intention of choosing everyone.

Try to use good emcees. Look for comics who are likeable and positive. With the right emcee a good show becomes better, while a bad show becomes worse. Remember everyone appreciates a well run open mic. And everyone talks about a poorly run open mic and the person who ran it long after that open mic is gone.