By Creig Ewing
You’ve been going to open mics for a while, and you’re ready to be booked on a comedy show. Maybe even for some money. What do you need to do to catch the eye of a booker or club owner to get on a show?
First, you want to be ready. Comedy is not easy. Think of it this way. You wouldn’t expect someone put you in their band if you’ve only had six lessons. So why should someone pay you to be on their show if you’ve only done six open mics?
When your opportunity comes, you want to be ready to impress. Here are some things you can do to be ready and in demand for shows.
Make sure you have at least a strong 5 minutes
It’s not enough to just survive 5 minutes on stage. To get booked, you need to consistently get laughs. Also, you should be able to get through your set without notes — and especially without looking at notes on your phone.
Work on getting your “tight 5.” It may mean refining what you started with. It may mean throwing it all out and starting over.
Learn from audience reactions what is working and what needs to be refined or tossed. Don’t be afraid to get rid of material that isn’t working.
Know where in your set you are expecting people to laugh. Are they? If not, you need to make a change.
If there are no specific places you expect people to laugh because it’s ALL FUNNY, I’m sorry to tell you that probably none of it is funny.
Work on your stage presence
It’s not enough just to tell jokes. As you progress, you should get more confident on stage. Bookers want to see you command the stage and not appear nervous.
Bookers can tell you are really new if you leave the microphone stand in front of you during your set. Or if you look at the ceiling or the floor instead of the audience.
Be confident. Look at the audience. Put the mic stand behind you.
Have solid, unique material
Maybe you’re getting laughs with your jokes about dating apps or airplane food. But bookers have heard similar jokes before hundreds of times, so that material doesn’t bring much to the table, unless you have a new spin on it.
Work on material that is more about you and your experiences and lets us know you.
When we do comedy writing classes it never fails that people are doing material about Donald Trump and you ask a couple questions and find they adopted a one-eyes squirrel with a peg leg and never considering writing material about that.
Look for your own one-eyed peg-leg squirrel and write about her.
Have material that is cleanish
You have more opportunities if you can work clean. Most shows you don’t have to be clean. But newer comics tend to lean on topics like sex, bodily secretions, paying for sex, paying for bodily secretions, etc. It can be a bit much.
You can certainly be very funny with any of that material. But many newer comics assume that just because it’s dirty it’s funny. We’ve heard it all a million times.
Your first show probably won’t be at a comedy club with up-for-anything audiences. Bookers may not want to risk in-your-face new comics saying mother fugger 37 times and turning off the audience who may be at their first comedy show at a brewery with toddlers running around.
It just takes on complaint to the right person that the comics were too dirty or transphobic or racist to get the venue to pull the plug on future shows.
I’d strongly suggest working on material that is cleaner first and then going back and dirty it up later if you want. Maybe with a little added sophistication to your jokes about taking a dump.
Be a draw
If you can get people to come to a show, whether because you haven’t worn out all your friends and family on open mics, your co-workers want to see you in a “real show” or you are TikTok famous, great.
If you can get people in the doors, that’s what bookers want. Let them know you can get people to come see you. But make sure your people show.
Network
Don’t just go to open mics, do your five minutes and smoke outside. Talk to people who run shows and other comics. Let them know you’re available, working hard at comedy and available for shows.
Good luck.
