Open mic

An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, usually taking place at night, in which audience members may perform on stage whether they are amateurs or professionals, often for the first time or to promote an upcoming performance.[1] As the name suggests, performers are usually provided with a microphone plugged into a PA system so that they can be heard by the audience.

This article is about the type of live show. For the comedy series, see Open Mike with Mike Bullard. For a microphone that is unintentionally left on, see hot mic.

A musician at a Sausalito open mic in July 2008

Performers sign up in advance for a time slot with the host, who is typically an experienced performer or the venue's manager or owner. The host may screen potential candidates for suitability for the venue and give them a time to perform during the show. Open mics are focused on performance arts like comedy (whether it be sketch or stand-up), music (often acoustic singer-songwriters), poetry, and spoken word. It is less common for groups such as rock bands or comedy troupes to perform, mostly because of the space and logistical requirements of preparing and soundchecking such groups.

Open mics may have very low entrance fees or no entrance fees at all, although the venue itself may prepare a gratuity jar, a "pass the hat" for donations, or a raffle with various prizes. Venues that charge no fees profit from selling alcohol and food. The performers are not typically paid, although the venue may give them a drink or meal. If the host is an experienced professional and not the owner/manager of the venue, they are usually paid for their services and may perform at some point during the evening, either preparing a full performance of their own or filling in at short notice when a performer is unavailable. Open mics are somewhat related to jam sessions, in that they both see amateur performers being given the opportunity to perform. The difference is that jam sessions often involve musical ensembles, possibly even a house band or rhythm section, and may involve the participation of professional performers.

Music

Open mics provide an opportunity for emerging musicians to gain experience performing to a live audience without having to go through the process of getting normal music gigs, which is very difficult to do without experience or a demo recording. They provide an outlet for singer-songwriters. Prior to their popularity, the only outlets generally were folk clubs, which were not always friendly towards creators of new music and preferred traditional popular music. They also suggested that music performed by acoustic musicians or solo artists in this manner would necessarily be folk music, a misconception that still commonly exists today. Some organizers have chosen the title "acoustic night" or "acoustic club" in an attempt to indicate an event run broadly on the lines of a folk club, but with a much wider range of musical styles.

An open mic jam session in Phoenix in January 2015

Open mic events are most commonly held in the middle of the week or at the very end of the weekend when footfall through venues is low. They rarely occur on the hallowed Friday and Saturday night time slots, when venues are busy with weekend customers and any live performances are professionals who have been booked. The most common night for an open mic in the United Kingdom is Thursday, with Wednesday in second place.[2] The largest ongoing open mic-style music contest there is Open Mic UK, which regularly attracts 10,000 participants of all genres. The grand prize for the contest is an investment up to £30,000. The size of the event has necessitated that all participants sign up for performance slots beforehand, instead of simply walking onstage.[3][4]

A popular open mic arrangement in the United States is the "Blues Night". In this format, a bar or club will dedicate a particular night, usually in the middle of the week, as being "open mic blues night". The establishment may supply a house band, typically guitar, bass, and drums, and sometimes a keyboard. Singers, guitarists, and harmonica performers who wish to play sign up, usually with the host. This person is tasked with screening the performers, choosing and ordering, and getting the performers on and off stage in a polite manner.

Since the songs chosen need to be simple enough so that a band of musicians who have not played together can perform them without practice, blues standards are used. Songs might be announced as a "12-bar fast shuffle in C" or "slow 12-bar blues in F", or similar phrases that should be familiar to all concerned. Lead singers, keyboards, horn players (usually saxophones), and various percussion instruments are common additions.[5]

Comedy
A stand-up comedy open mic night

Stand-up comedy open mic nights can be held at established comedy clubs but are more commonly held at other venues with or without a stage, often the upstairs or back room of a pub or bar, or at a bookstore, college campus, rock club, or coffeehouse.[6][7][8][9] Less commonly, they are also held at venues such as strip clubs[10] and comic book shops.[11][12] Comedy clubs may be the only open mic establishments that have a green room, a backstage area for performers waiting to go on stage where no audience members are present.[13]

Open mic nights give emerging comedians the opportunity to practice their stand-up routine, which they cannot do without a live audience.[26] The audience for a typical comedy open mic is other comedians.[27][28] Those underage must have their parents attend clubs with them.[29] More experienced comedians may use open mics as an unpaid opportunity to work out newer material or a new character.[30][31] Open mic comedy nights are most widespread in larger English-speaking cities with a well-established stand-up scene; the major examples include Boston, Chicago, London, and New York City. Stand-ups also use open mics for networking to find both paid and unpaid work opportunities, for making friends, or as a form of therapy.[32][33][34][35]

"The room" is the term for the setting of a comedy performance; comedians are said to gauge the audience by their ability to "read the room".[36][37] Stand-up performances have a designated stage area and use a microphone with amplification as an industry standard.[13][38][39] Open mics for comedy have no minimum requirements to perform,[40][41][42] a format which is known as "show and go".[43] At a typical comedy open mic, acts will get 3–7 minutes of stage time.[51] The routine of a five-minute slot requires approximately three minutes of material.[52][53][54] All stand-up comedy performed must be an original creation.[55][56]

The host of a stand-up comedy open mic tries to maintain an equilibrium of mood within "the room".[57][58] Hosts will try to seat audience members close together near the designated front stage area because that seems to maximize the audience's feelings of enjoyment and may lead to increased laughter; of one such event, a reviewer wrote, "Tightly arranged seating within the comedy room created physical discomfort for audience members... yet audience members often talked about how much they enjoyed 'the feeling of a full house'. Conversely, when shows were not sold out and audience members had more room to spread out among empty tables and chairs, audience members were less likely to relate their experiences as one of entertainment or enjoyment."[64] The host introduces each act by reciting the name that was placed on the sign-up list and asks the audience to give the performer an introductory round of applause.[65][66][67] Performing first at an open mic puts the comedian at a disadvantage due to the audience being "cold" and is considered the most challenging spot to perform in.[68][69]

Stand-ups usually use the second person to address the audience.[70] In 2011, writer Rob Durham said that an open mic night should be no longer than 90 minutes and consist of no more than 15 acts.[71] A comedy open mic will not normally exceed 30 people, which comedian Hannibal Buress has cited as the maximum number of people who should be there.[72] It is common practice for stand-ups to record their sets for later review and rehearsal.[73][74] The collective feedback from different audiences has a significant impact on how a stand-up routine is shaped.[78]

The host will flash a light at the comedian one minute before their time is up as a signal to finish the joke they are currently telling, a practise known as "getting the light".[79][80] In modern times, this is done with the flashlight from a cell phone so as not to distract the audience with a larger or brighter light.[81] If a comedian ignores this light and continues to perform past their allotted time, this is known as "blowing the light" and may get the comedian banned from performing at that venue.[80][82][83]

Other types of comedy open mics include "booked shows" and "bringer shows". Booked shows have a normal format, but performers reserve spots one week to one month in advance. Bringer shows are presented in a showcase format, with each performer being required to bring 5–15 people with them (with a cover charge and a two-drink minimum per person) in order to secure stage time, but this is widely seen as exploitative.[84]

Poetry, rapping and spoken word
A poet reading her work at the Little Grill in June 2008

Poetry and spoken word open mics feature a host, who is normally a poet or spoken word artist, poets and spoken word artists, and audience members. Sometimes open mic nights have featured readers, or are part of a writing workshop, but generally a sign-up sheet is available for anyone interested in participating. Each participant is then called to come to the microphone and read a selection or two.[85] Writers may attend an open mic to try out a new piece for an audience or to find out more about the local writing community. Others attend poetry open mics just to listen.[85] Poetry/spoken word open mics range from laid back, serene settings to lively sessions where readers and/or performers compete for audience applause. They are usually held in libraries, coffee houses, cafes, bookstores and bars.

Each poet or spoken word artist is often asked to keep their performances to a minimum/specified time slot, giving each performer enough time to share some of their work with the audience. The host or MC acts as a "gatekeeper", determining which performers are suitable for the event. If a performer goes over their time limit, the host diplomatically thanks the performer for their contribution and asks them to yield the stage for the next performer.

Rarer niche variations

The terms "open deck" (where "deck" refers to the kind of turntable used by a DJ) and "open reel" (where "reel" refers to a 35 mm film reel) are used for more niche open mic events where keen amateurs can meet to exhibit and critique their skills/artform. A decrease in the cost of consumer video technology combined with the powerful editing capabilities of modern PCs has caused an increase in the popularity of DJing and amateur filmmaking, but these types of events are still very rare.

Benefits for performers

Performing at open mics as a musician, comedian or poet provides many benefits. One of the benefits of performing at open mics is the opportunity for performers to engage in networking. Novice performers are able to connect with seasoned performers who can offer advice on stage presence. These connections are also useful when it comes to organizing future appearances as well as collaborations. Another benefit to networking at open mics is the opportunity for exposure. Open mics offer attendees the opportunity to discover new and local talent. Performing in front of open mic attendees exposes a performer's material to people who have never heard it before. This allows attendees the opportunity to connect with a performer and share a performer's material with friends and family with similar taste. Experience is also another benefit for performers at open mics. Many performers at open mics are just beginning their career as performers or have been performing for years. Either way, performing at an open mic gives performers the opportunity to practice their stage presence and figure out the best way to perform their material that engages audiences.

See also
  • Open Mic UK (British music competition, hosted since 2008)
  • The Raving Poets (Canadian poetry event with live music, hosted from 2000–2010)

References
  1. Zimmer, Ben (29 July 2010). "How Should 'Microphone' be Abbreviated?". The New York Times Magazine. New York: The New York Times Company. Retrieved 4 April 2020. Mike came first, documented from the early days of radio. In the June 1923 issue of 'The Wireless Age,' a photo caption of Samuel L. Rothafel...reads, 'When you hear Roxy [Rothafel] talk about 'Mike' he means the microphone.' This suggests the abbreviation arose as a kind of nickname, playfully anthropomorphizing the microphone as Mike. But by 1926, when the pioneering broadcaster Graham McNamee published his book 'You're on the Air,' mike appeared in lowercase, not as a name...Mic didn't begin appearing in written works for another few decades, first recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary in Al Berkman's 1961 'Singers' Glossary of Show Business Jargon.' Berkman offered both mike and mic as possible clippings of microphone. Since then, mic has grown in popularity among those who work with recording equipment.
  2. "Open Mic Finder Statistics". Retrieved 23 February 2013.
  3. "2010 Winners". Open Mic UK. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
  4. Almroth-Wright, Indy (6 December 2008). "Twleve year-old 'Birdy' wins UK talent contest". BBC (Hampshire). Retrieved 15 April 2011.
  5. rayray. "Phoenix Blues Jams". www.rayrayblues.com.
  6. Lindfors, Antti (6 May 2019). "Cultivating Participation and the Varieties of Reflexivity in Stand-Up Comedy". University of Turku, Finland. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology. 29 (3): 278. doi:10.1111/jola.12223. S2CID 164354426. Retrieved 26 December 2020. in Helsinki...so-called open mic clubs, which refers to organized events (usually in bars and pubs) where both established and beginning comics can try out new material as well as develop their standard routines through relatively short sets ranging from five to twenty minutes, in an environment (with live audience) specifically encouraging and framed for work-in-progress.
  7. Carter, Judy (2001). The Comedy Bible: From Stand-up to Sitcom—The Comedy Writer's Ultimate How-To Guide. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. pp. 66–67. ISBN 978-0-7432-0125-4.
  8. Bromley, Patrick (6 June 2018). "How to Break Into Stand-Up Comedy". ThoughtCo. Potdash. Retrieved 22 March 2019. [Open mics] could be held anywhere, but are often found at bars, rock clubs, and coffee houses.
  9. Durham, Rob (2011). Don't Wear Shorts on Stage: the stand-up guide to comedy. Middletown, DE. p. 16. ISBN 9781468004847. Each comedy club or bar has its own system for signing up for [an] open mic.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. Isador, Graham (2 May 2018). "Comedians Tell Us the Most Epic Fails They've Seen at Open Mics". VICE. VICE MEDIA LLC. Retrieved 18 February 2019. The worst open mic I ever attended was at Zanzibar, a strip club in downtown Toronto.
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  13. Goffman, Erving (1980) [1959]. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor Books: A Division of Random House, Inc. pp. 113, 119. ISBN 978-0-385-094023. In general...the back region will be the place where the performer can reliably expect that no member of the audience will intrude...back region tends to be defined as...all places out of range of 'live' microphones.
  14. Quirk, Sophie (November 2011). "Containing the Audience: The 'Room' in Stand-Up Comedy" (PDF). University of Kent, UK. Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies. 8 (2): 220. Retrieved 4 January 2021. It is the audience's cooperation which allows the act to succeed and they retain the right to undermine the interaction by withdrawing that cooperation
  15. Smith, Daniel R. (2018). "Part I: Analytical[:] 2 The Professionalisation of Stand-Up Comedy: Coda". COMEDY AND CRITIQUE: Stand-up comedy and the professional Ethos of laughter. Bristol Shorts Research. UK: Bristol University Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-5292-0015-7. Stand-up is the art of self relating to self in the presence of others.
  16. Smith, Daniel R. (2018). "Part II: Synthetic[:] 3 Representation: Stand-up: representing whom?". COMEDY AND CRITIQUE: Stand-up comedy and the professional Ethos of laughter. Bristol Shorts Research. UK: Bristol University Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-1-5292-0015-7. [S]tand-up represents a three part relation in the aesthetic completion of the comedic exchange: attempted joke, laughter, confirmed joke.
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  34. Goffman, Erving (1980) [1959]. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor Books: A Division of Random House, Inc. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-385-094023. When an individual or performer plays the same part to the same audience on different occasions, a social relationship is likely to arise.
  35. Schaefer, Sara (16 March 2012). "Advice to a Young Comedian (& Myself)". Sara Schaefer. Archived from the original on 24 February 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2021. the next day, my friend who was also on the show ['in a theatre above a porn shop across from the Port Authority'], told me a scout from casting at Fox was in the audience and they wanted to meet with him.
  36. Quirk, Sophie (November 2011). "Containing the Audience: The 'Room' in Stand-Up Comedy" (PDF). University of Kent, UK. Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies. 8 (2): 220. Retrieved 27 December 2020. The term 'room' means more than just the physical space in which the performance takes place; it is the term used to summarise a combination of factors which include the nature of the space, the way that space is set up, the character of the audience and more.
  37. Lindfors, Antti (6 May 2019). "Cultivating Participation and the Varieties of Reflexivity in Stand-Up Comedy". University of Turku, Finland. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology. 29 (3): 283. doi:10.1111/jola.12223. S2CID 164354426. Retrieved 27 December 2020. In the heat of real-time performance...comics can 'read the room' through jokes that are optimal for gauging their interlocutors' intellectual, moral, emotional, or other boundaries and preferences, e.g., through lowbrow, strategically ambiguous, or perhaps seemingly offensive bits.
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  39. Brodie, Ian (2014). "Stand-Up on Stage". A Vulgar Art: A New Approach to Stand-up Comedy. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. p. 49. ISBN 978-1-62846-182-4. Staging for the stand-up comedy performance is minimal. Typically, there is a stool, a microphone stand, and a neutral backdrop. The backdrop is either a blank wall (frequently brick) or a curtain.
  40. Seizer, Susan (2011). "On the Uses of Obscenity in Live Stand-Up Comedy". Anthropological Quarterly. The George Washington University Institute for Ethnographic Research. 84 (1): 215–216. doi:10.1353/anq.2011.0001. JSTOR 41237487. S2CID 144137009. Another key feature of the minimal set up of stand-up is that it allows virtually anyone to do it. You don't need 'gear:'...neither do you need 'proof': a license, a training certificate, an academic degree. This democratic character allows live regional stand-up to showcase homegrown and working-class talent.
  41. Mintz, Lawrence E. (Spring 1985). "Special Issue: American Humor" (PDF). American Quarterly. The Johns Hopkins University Press. 37 (1): 71–72. doi:10.2307/2712763. JSTOR 2712763. Retrieved 2 August 2020. A strict, limiting definition of standup comedy would describe an encounter between a single, standing performer behaving comically and/or saying funny things directly to an audience, unsupported by very much in the way of costume, prop, setting, or dramatic vehicle. Yet standup comedy's roots are...entwined with rites, rituals, and dramatic experiences that are richer, more complex than this simple definition can embrace. We must...include seated storytellers, comic characterizations that employ costume and prop, team acts[,]...manifestations of standup comedy routines...such as skits, improvisational situations, and films...and television sitcoms...however our definition should stress relative directness of artist/audience communication and the proportional importance of comic behavior and comic dialogue versus the development of plot and situation
  42. Naessens, Edward David (2020). "Busting the Sad Clown Myth: From Cliché to Comic Stage Persona". In Oppliger, Patrice A.; Shouse, Eric (eds.). The Dark Side of Stand-Up Comedy. Palgrave Studies in Comedy. United Kingdom: Springer Nature Switzerland AG: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 229. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-37214-9_11. ISBN 978-3-030-37213-2. S2CID 216338873. Novice stand-up comedians must introduce themselves, break the ice, and quickly provide background to audiences of strangers.
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  51. [44][45][46][47][48][49][50]
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  56. Brodie, Ian (2014). A Vulgar Art: A New Approach to Stand-up Comedy. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-62846-182-4. Stand-up comedy, being a contemporary, popular genre, is a genre of novelty, so one does not learn the canon so much as learn from it, locating oneself within a tradition not simply to continue it but to develop and add to it.
  57. Keisalo, Marianna (2018). "The invention of gender in stand-up comedy: transgression and digression". Social Anthropology. 26 (4): 555–556. doi:10.1111/1469-8676.12515. Retrieved 1 February 2021. [They] act as Masters of Ceremony, the club hosts who warm up the audience and introduce each comedian. This is a challenging job; the MC is responsible for maintaining the mood of the audience and adjusting it if necessary after each performance.
  58. Quirk, Sophie (2015). Why Stand-up Matters: How Comedians Manipulate and Influence. New York: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-4725-7893-8. Here Mintz is deconstructing the complex process of 'warming up' the audience. This is not only a matter of relaxing the audience and ensuring that they are capable of producing laughter easily; the warm-up also allows the comedian to establish that comic license is in operation, and that all following statements are to be read within the safe bracket of the joke. Furthermore, the comedian asserts that the disparate collection of individuals in attendance is in fact a unified group with a shared consensus, thus allowing the group to feel secure in the knowledge that their laughter is acceptable to their peers, and any potentially risky value-judgments involved in the joking are shared with others.
  59. Thomas, James M. (2015). "Laugh through it: Assembling difference in an American stand-up comedy club". Ethnography. Sage Publications, Ltd. 16 (2): 174. doi:10.1177/1466138114534336. JSTOR 26359086. S2CID 144390090. Tightly arranged seating within the comedy room created physical discomfort for audience members...Yet audience members often talked about how much they enjoyed 'the feeling of a full house'...Conversely, when shows were not sold out and audience members had more room to spread out among empty tables and chairs, audience members were less likely to relate their experiences as one of entertainment or enjoyment.
  60. Lindfors, Antti (6 May 2019). "Cultivating Participation and the Varieties of Reflexivity in Stand-Up Comedy". University of Turku, Finland. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology. 29 (3): 277. doi:10.1111/jola.12223. S2CID 164354426. Retrieved 26 December 2020. Corroborating the communal reputation of the genre, stand-up trades on interpersonal resonance or what is called 'involvement' in sociolinguistics (Tannen 2007), where audience will (ideally) 'coauthor' the speech act by ritualized collective laughter (Duranti 1986).
  61. Quirk, Sophie (November 2011). "Containing the Audience: The 'Room' in Stand-Up Comedy" (PDF). Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies. University of Kent, UK. 8 (2): 228. Retrieved 27 December 2020. To produce laughter, an audience needs not only energy but also confidence. To laugh is pleasant, but can also be risky; to be caught laughing heartily when other audience members are silent could be embarrassing. Bergson describes the importance of camaraderie in laughter...It is therefore important that, as Brook intimates, the energy that causes laughter flows freely and easily between people.
  62. Lockyer, Sharon; Myers, Lynn (November 2011). "'It's About Expecting the Unexpected': Live Stand-up Comedy from the Audiences' Perspective" (PDF). Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies. Brunel University. 8 (2): 177. Retrieved 29 December 2020. Respondents expressed that they enjoy the limited [spatial] distance between the audience and the stand-up comedian...Such explanations support Bennett's observation that the 'lessening of distance leads to fuller engagement with the spectator' (1997: 15). Although this reduced distance is important in all live performances, closeness and intimacy is especially important in standup comedy.
  63. Greene, Grace F. (2012). "Rhetoric in Comedy: How Comedians Use Persuasion and How Society Uses Comedians". The Corinthian: The Journal of Student Research at Georgia College. 13 (11): 138. Retrieved 26 January 2021. [E]xpectancy violations theory is not particular to humor; it is a contemporary communication theory that can be applied to rhetorical situations. Expectancy violations theory is heavily based on the studies of personal space and proxemics, or the study of people's use of space (Griffin, 2009). The key to the expectancy violations theory is the argument that when our expectations are violated, we have the choice of responding negatively or positively. A comic's goal is to persuade his or her audience to respond positively to a violation of personal space or any other previously set expectation
  64. [59][60][22][61][62][63]
  65. Rutter, Jason (1997). "Stand-up as interaction: Performance and Audience in Comedy Venues" (PDF). Department of Sociology. CORE. University of Salford: Institute for Social Research. p. 169. Retrieved 13 November 2020. The presence of audience greeting, like audience applause, is a remarkably stable feature of opening sequences. Almost invariably the first thing a performer does is greet the audience. Although this greeting may take a variety of forms, it is an introduction. Usually the performer's entrance has been preceded by a short sequence from a compere who will have introduced the comedian and instigated a round of applause. [An] informal, at times quasi-conversational approach is used in which the performer gives the impression that they are opening up a dialogue with the audience.
  66. Filani, Ibukun (2015). "Discourse types in stand-up comedy performances: an example of Nigerian stand-up comedy". Department of English. European Journal of Humour Research. 3 (1): 43–44. doi:10.7592/EJHR2015.3.1.filani. Retrieved 4 January 2021. Rutter (1997; 2000) cited in Scarpetta & Spagnolli (2009: 6) identify the following successive bits in British stand-up comedy: i. Introduction, in which the compere announces the comedian, evaluates him/her, and warms up the audience, whose responses to the compere accompany the entrance of the comedian on stage; ii. The comedian entrance, which overlaps with the audience applause. S/he starts with an opening in which s/he greets, comments, and trains the audience in the way to respond. These exchanges are used to orient the audience towards the nature of the routine and also to divert the audience attention from drinks and chats iii. The body of the show, which is made up of several joke-telling sequences iv. The closure, which is made up of a series of not necessarily funny utterances like the evaluation of the audience, a reintroduction of the comedian, and thanks that accompany her/his departure from the stage.
  67. Brodie, Ian (2014). "The Social Identity". A Vulgar Art: A New Approach to Stand-up Comedy. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. pp. 85–86. ISBN 978-1-62846-182-4. [The] emcee asks that the extant personal goodwill between him- or herself and the audience be extended to these more or less unknown comedians...Rutter identifies six 'turns' evident in the compere's talk: contextualization (giving background details), framing of response (directing the audience to greet the comedian with a certain attitude), evaluation of comedian (commenting on performance skills), request for action (typically applause), introduction (naming), and audience applause (466).
  68. Antoine, Katja (2016). "'Pushing the Edge' of Race and Gender Hegemonies through Stand-up Comedy: Performing Slavery as Anti-racist Critique". Etnofoor. Stichting Etnofoor. 28 (1): 41. JSTOR 43823941. Retrieved 14 September 2020. The first comic on stage carries the burden of 'building the energy in the room'. The comedians who follow in the line-up have to sustain it. Should someone fail at doing this and leave the audience 'cold', the next comic has to 'bring the energy back up'...Ideally [the comedians] arrive at a venue when the show starts in order to 'read' the audience. Reading the audience is a visual practice (What are the demographics?[)]...and an affective practice (How are they responding to the comic on stage?[)]...At the very least, comics will show up a few acts ahead of their own for that purpose. They have to know the energy of the room in order to work the crowd right.
  69. Gulman, Gary (26 March 2020). "Gary Gulman's Comedy Tips: The Complete Collection 366 bits of wisdom, advice, and encouragement from the stand-up veteran". Vulture: Devouring Culture. NEW YORK MEDIA LLC. Retrieved 14 September 2020. Tip No. 17: You've been killing every night. You're not sure this is still a challenge. For the next few months, ask to go on first. It's a great test of your act. The booker and host will love you for it.
  70. Tsang, Wai King; Wong, Matilda (2004). "Constructing a shared 'Hong Kong identity' in comic discourses". Discourse & Society. Sage Publications, Ltd. 15 (6): 777. doi:10.1177/0957926504046504. JSTOR 42888651. S2CID 145745392. Retrieved 16 September 2020. 'I,' 'my,' 'me' as the comedian versus 'you' as the audience directly engages the audience in a dialogue.
  71. Durham, Rob (2011). Don't Wear Shorts on Stage: the stand-up guide to comedy. Middletown, DE. p. 20. ISBN 9781468004847. Open mic night really shouldn't have more than fifteen acts...[or] ninety minutes.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  72. Hannibal Buress (3 August 2018). Hannibal Buress: Advice for Comedians. The Atlantic. Event occurs at 3:12–3:22. Retrieved 10 September 2019. [M]ax, 30 people, 'cause that's the max people that should be at an open mic
  73. Gulman, Gary (26 March 2020). "Gary Gulman's Comedy Tips: The Complete Collection 366 bits of wisdom, advice, and encouragement from the stand-up veteran". Vulture: Devouring Culture. NEW YORK MEDIA LLC. Retrieved 14 September 2020. Tip No. 1: Record Every Set...Record every set. The hard part: Listen to it, and transcribe everything you want to say again...This is especially helpful early on in your career, when you're trying to build time.
  74. Naessens, Edward David (2020). "Busting the Sad Clown Myth: From Cliché to Comic Stage Persona". In Oppliger, Patrice A.; Shouse, Eric (eds.). The Dark Side of Stand-Up Comedy. Palgrave Studies in Comedy. United Kingdom: Springer Nature Switzerland AG: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 244. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-37214-9_11. ISBN 978-3-030-37213-2. S2CID 216338873. He explained to me the importance of recording every gig.
  75. Kornelis, Chris (25 August 2020). "Stand-Up Comics Find It Isn't Funny Writing Without an Audience". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 25 December 2020. How does a comedian know if something is funny? The audience tells [the stand-up comedian through a call and response with laughter].
  76. Wuster, Tracy (2006). "Comedy Jokes: Steve Martin and the Limits of Stand-Up Comedy". Studies in American Humor. American Humor Studies Association (14): 25. JSTOR 42573700. Stand-up comedy is a unique form of performance in that the reaction of the audience is an integral part of the success or failure of each individual performance.
  77. Roberts, Rebecca Emlinger (2000). Tim Allen. "Standup Comedy and the Prerogative of Art". The Massachusetts Review. The Massachusetts Review, Inc. 41 (2): 158, 159. JSTOR 25091646. No laughter? Out then. Tim [Allen]'s willingness to change his act to suit his audience...The difference between Tim's censoring of material and a poet's censoring is elusive. Tim's goal is to make money, that's one of his desires, but not his primary motivating desire. His drive as a comedian is to make people laugh.
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  79. Durham, Rob (2011). Don't Wear Shorts on Stage: the stand-up guide to comedy. Middletown, DE. p. 21. ISBN 9781468004847. The light will normally be flashed when you have one minute left in your set.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  80. Ewing, Creig (25 July 2018). "The secret to comedy? Time... hard work". LEO Weekly. Retrieved 25 March 2019. Usually the host will shine a light to let the comedian know a minute is left. If you keep going, it's called blowing the light, and it is a sin.
  81. Lagatta, Eric (21 March 2019). "Budding, established comedians hone craft at open-mic nights". The Columbus Dispatch. GateHouse Media, LLC. Retrieved 25 March 2019. Any comic nearing the time limit would face a warning: Moore waving his cell-phone flashlight.
  82. Borns, Betsy (1987). Comic Lives: Inside the World of American Stand-up comedy. Simon & Schuster, Inc. p. 179. ISBN 0-671-62620-5. Staying onstage longer than their allotted time is, along with joke stealing, one of the most grievous offense a stand-up can commit.
  83. Neill, Geoffrey (22 December 2015). Hitting Your Funny Bone: Writing Stand-up Comedy, and Other Things That Make You Swear. San Bernardino, CA. p. Chapter 6. ISBN 9781515180661.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  84. Kelly-Clyne, Luke (20 September 2018). "I Want Out: How to Leave the Boring Job You Don't Like and Start Your Comedy Career". Vulture: Devouring Culture. NEW YORK MEDIA LLC. Retrieved 4 April 2020. In order to get stage time at [bringer shows]...you [have to] bring...5 to 15 friends, each of whom must show up and agree to buy at least two drinks...Some people think bringers are a scam, and they kind of are. They're a cash grab for club owners
  85. Poets, Academy of American. "Read a poem at an open mic | Academy of American Poets". poets.org. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
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