OPEN MICS: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

For a comedian, going to an open mic is like going to the gym. It keeps your comedy muscle in shape, and will help you develop your craft! For some of us comedians, we should probably also go to real gyms too for our actual bodies…

I’ve heard a lot of differing opinions about open mic culture among comedians. Often I’ll hear, some mics are good, and some are completely useless. I’ve even heard comics get to the point where they’ll say “I don’t need to go to open mics anymore.”

Since you asked by choosing to read this article, here’s my opinion on open mics. All open mics can be useful and good. All comedians SHOULD go to open mics if they have the time to do it. (I know working comics get to the point where they simply don’t have the time, and there is a skill to using part of your set as an open mic, but that’s a post for a different day). In my opinion, all new comics need to develop their chops in the open mic comedy scene, and seasoned comics can make their acts go from “Good” to “Great” by hitting open mics, even the “bad” ones.

And yes, there is most certainly bad open mics. If you’re reading this and you have never done comedy before, something you should know is that a comedy open mic can be a cesspool of negativity and if you don’t go into a comedy career struggling with depression, you likely will develop depression because of open mics. It’s important to consider our mental health while working on our comedy but again, that’s a different post for a different day. (And I already wrote that post, feel free to find it on this site!)

Comedians can find value in every open mic, the good, the bad, and the ugly ones. It’s healthy to know going into a room what kind of mic it is, so that you can temper your expectations and maximize the value of the mic.

Here are some thoughts on the different kinds open mics, identified in “Old Western Movie” Rhetoric.

“The Good” Mics

There are a few different qualities that can make a mic “Good”. It can be the layout…Honestly, I am fan of any room with a stage where people come on purpose to intentionally watch comedy. Also if you have people actually present for the open mic (who aren’t comedians) then that’s a major plus. Is it run well with a good host who knows what they’re doing? That’s a good mic.

At good mics, you can run your material in front of a real audience and get a “real” idea of how solid your jokes are. Good mics are often more fun, and will give you much needed confidence in yourself and your material, which helps you develop as a comic.

(A big part of “getting good” as a comedian is building up your stage confidence which allows you to say your material in a more convincing way…the more “good” shows and mics you do, the more this will happen.)

If the mic is fun for you to go to, then it’s a good mic! Not all mics are fun, so if you find one where you are comfortable performing, like the people, and vibe with the culture of the room…hold on to that as long as you can, because that’s a “good” mic. It’s 100% as a comic to have a favorite room that you go to because you have fun there…Remember Rule #1 of comedy is to have fun!

A final, and often rare, factor of a “good” open mic is if there is an opportunity to be booked at a bigger show. A lot of traveling comics will go try an open mic at a comedy club and use it as a networking opportunity to get work from said club. (It’s incredibly disappointing when you show up to an open mic at a club and quickly realize that nobody who books for the club is present, but that’s just part of it sometimes!) Even if it isn’t for a club, many comics who run their own shows will be at open mics so when you perform in those rooms, you are putting yourself in front of them.

These factors can make an open mic “good”, but this isn’t the case for ALL mics…

“The Bad” Open Mics

Not all open mics are good, some are just flat out….bad. There is no audience, it’s mostly just comics, and their might not even be a stage. When comics call open mics “working out for comedians” THESE are the mics that feel like workouts. These open mics are like leg day, and nobody likes leg day!

But don’t confuse my term “Bad open mic” for “useless open mic”, these rooms still are incredibly important to your development as a comedian. When you’re in a room with little to no audience, and most the comics are in the back on their phones, use this as a time to work on the verbiage of your jokes.

Every joke can be worded differently and better, and for me it takes a few tries to say the punchline in a way that I feel makes a good joke. I love going to these “bad” rooms to work out how I say a joke first in front of probably nobody.

Also when there is a smaller crowd, while it may be harder to make them laugh, when you do make them laugh, it should matter more to you. Against all odds, you brought humor to a place devoid of humor. As a comic, count that as a win! And if that happens at a bad open mic, that probably means you are working on a joke that is good!

And when you have a good set at a bad open mic, it’s a special sense of accomplishment which thus makes the experience fun and worth it.

Some open mics aren’t just bad though….

“The Ugly” Open Mics

OK Let’s be honest, comics… Sometimes when you sit through certain open mics, it feels like God is bullying you.

Some open mics happen at venues that had no idea comedy was happening. TVs are on, folks are talking at the bar, the loudest round ever of pool is happening in the back, you are surrounded by the saddest , angriest, and maybe the most mentally unstable, gathering of people who are waiting their turn to “do comedy”.

These are the rooms where the audience is angry that you exist, and that’s if you are lucky enough to have an audience. Sometimes an Ugly room has nothing to do with the venue or audience. Sometimes the host is a real jerk and runs a terrible room. Sometimes all the comics are the worst people on earth, and they all seem to agree on only one thing…and it’s that they hate you.

Why on earth would anyone want to do comedy in a room that looks like it could double as the goblin caves in a Lord of the Rings novel? The answer is actually really simple:

Because these are the rooms where you get better and develop tougher skin.

As a comic, you need to develop nerves of steel to keep going. Today it may be an ugly open mic that is rejecting you, but that’s okay because they reject everybody. If you keep going in comedy, it might be a booker via an email, or an angry YouTube troll who specifically hates YOU, or an angry audience member…the point is, developing thick skin against jerks today can only help you more tomorrow!

Not enough comedians talk about this because they want to pretend they never bomb, but learning how to shake off a bomb is actually a very useful skill for comics to have. When I first started, if I bombed, it’d ruin my whole week. Now, I am better at shaking it off by the end of the night! How did I get like this? I have bombed at a lot of awful (and awesome) open mics and showcases…and I’ve dusted off my shoes and kept going. Comedians are like Sayains from Dragon Ball Z, when we are beaten to near death on stage and are able to recover, we only come back stronger!

If you don’t learn to do the ugly rooms, the argument can be made that you’re going to stay at the same level in your comedy.

Lastly, tough rooms are like working out with the heaviest weights. If you can turn a room of angry drunks that would rather be watching the football game on the TV screen behind you, then you’re ready to absolutely KILL in a room full of people that actually came to watch comedy on purpose.

If you do a joke that kills in a good room, that may have nothing to do with your joke. If you do a joke that kills in a bad room, then that’s probably a good joke. But if you do a joke that kills in an ugly room…That’s probably an amazing joke, and you should be very proud and make a mental note that it’s one of your good ones!

The last benefit we can get from witnessing comedy at an Ugly room is that you can watch veteran comics take over and dominate the room, and you can learn how they do that. You can also watch all the worst comics on earth get up and further dig your all’s collective grave on stage, and you can take note of what NOT to do as a comedian. Either way, you’re skill in comedy is growing!

Comedy is after all a skill and a craft. Open mics are where we hone our performance abilities, and every mic (and show) always makes you a little better as a performer.

Those are some of my thoughts on open mic but I’d love to hear some of yours! Feel free to comment below with your own open mic related opinions. Or if you disagree with me, feel free to comment that below! Or maybe you have a funny or weird open mic story? Share em too!

As always, thanks for reading!