This is not an open mic. They call it an open mic, but it's basically the same people every week. However, they do put a few new people on each week, so it can't hurt to try. And can be fun to hang out there as well.
You can also get stage time if you provide weed or do favors for someone in the club.
Horrible awful experience! New comics stay away. The host makes fun and hates on all the comics, very negative crowd. No laughs, harsh critics I am never going back there for an open mic.
The World Famous Comedy Store "potluck" or open mic, has been going on for 30 plus years. Bubbling with comedy history, drama and laughter unfolding simultaneously every night. The open mic list is indeed rigged, to weed out the homeless crazies and the half hearted "trying it for the first timers". If you show up a couple weeks, get to know some of the doormen so they know your name and know you're not either the above categories mentioned then you will get on. You get three minutes and they light you with a bright blue star off to your left at two. Eventually, if you get good laughs consistently and become friends with said doormen you can skip the sign up process and just do a pop in during the potluck - depending on how good of friends you are with that night's host. That's the first graduation step for the Comedy Store, next is to be part of the "friends and family" section of the night which takes place AFTER the potluck. This is the employees, doormen, and regulars popping in to try out some stuff. These are 5 minute spots, sometimes 10-15 depending on how big a name you are. Tommy, the General Manager, decides this list, (if he isn't there it falls back on the host again) and if you do well here, putting your time in (years sometimes) you will become a Paid Regular. Now you will get booked for paid 15 min spots throughout the week and even at the La Jolla Comedy Store. It's a myth that industry doesn't come to the Store. They do, just not as much as the Improv or the The Laugh Factory. Many, many great comedians have started at the Store: Sam Kinison, Bill Hicks, David Letterman, Roseanne Barr the list goes on and on - the names on the outside wall are not there for marketing they've all earned their name there by putting in the time and work when they were a young comic - that all starts with the potluck. When you're serious about being a professional comedian, hit up the potluck. The Comedy Store is a long and difficult road but the rewards are endless. - Brett Gilbert
"The host makes fun and hates on all the comics, very negative crowd."
Damn. It hasn't changed, huh? I recently posted something similar. Open mic hosts should take lessons from Gene at Hollywood Hotel. There is a reason why the comics are so supportive there when he hosts.
I don't get the comedy store open mic. Half the people who they pick to go up have been "comics" who have been coming to do the open mic for years, even decades. The host will even announce them as having done open mics there for 20 years, 30 years, etc, and we all know that means they suck. So then they come onstange and guess what? They do suck. Bad. They sap all the energy out of the room and make it an awful experience for everyone involved, so why does the comedy store choose to put these same people up week after week? You would think they'd want to have a better show than that, right? Apparently not. I actually enjoy the fact that the host makes fun of shitty comics. Bring the funny or go home. But please, comedy store, put some new people up there!
I don't want to turn this thread into a running commentary about L.A. open mics in general, but I disagree with a few of the things you wrote. For one thing, I have killed at L.A. open mics, which is like saying I have parted the Red Sea a few times. So I'm not one of the comics...er, people... who you described. I met one of the people you described very early in my "career" last year. She read from a notebook, and even in a room where people were EXTREMELY supportive there was dead silence. Somewhere along the line she told us that she had been doing it 15 years. Part of me wanted to say, "honey... Stop. Now." There is also a black guy who looks homeless at Sal's Comedy Hole who has probably been doing it for decades and has never even made me smile, let alone laugh. Yet I don't want to forbid these people from doing it or pull a dick move like insulting their act. Each of these people has guts enough to try it-- even though they are extremely delusional, they deserve some degree of respect.
People deserve respect in general, but show business is a heightened arena. Normal rules of society often don't apply. TALENT deserves respect. Having the guts to take a shot at something is great, but also having the guts to look oneself in the mirror and understand that maybe it's not your calling? That takes far more guts. Mitzi Shore has famously told her people not to encourage mediocre talent. Mediocre! Imagine that. Not horrible, energy sucking people who don't have a clue, but mediocre. Because she knows that encouraging people who have no chance of getting anywhere is not helping anybody in the long run. In fact, it's clogging up show business with millions of people who have plenty of guts to try, but then refuse to quit when they clearly do not have what it takes. That is our culture now, where everyone thinks they can be famous because they have the "guts" to try. But if you haven't gotten solid and honest encouragment or positive feedback within a few years at most, then it's probably not worth continuing. Those who make it usually show talent right out of the gate. Something undefineable. What if that person who has been sucking at open mics for twenty years decided to finally quit and pursue something else where they might find they have true talent? Painting, dancing, etc. Maybe they are only hurting themselves by choosing to suck at something over and over for years. Sometimes you have to give up one dream to start pursuing another -- the one you were meant to excel at all along. That's how I see it, anyway :)
...This should be called the Kardashian Store.......cuz it's run by delusional Hollywood a-holes. They think they are special and wonderful; when it's obvious to ALL that they are rats that need to be exterminated.
I went last Sunday, Jan. 8, and signed up and got on. I was number 2 so I played to an audience made up entirely of other standups. I have played clubs in New York and Toronto and done really well in all of them but this was the toughest audience I have ever seen. Nonetheless, I got several good laughs and survived the nasty comments of the MC, Tony. You must remember that he insults people for laughs not because he really believes it. I spoke to him before I left and he was very nice offstage although he's rough when on. Personally, I learned an awful lot playing that room and I can't wait to go back and kill.
Hey this place is great if you know how to work it. First you should be a serious comic if you plan on going up here. Yes they will tear you a new one if you bomb but if you put in the face time night after night at the club you will get in with the gang. I would not suggest getting up here if you have not been in comedy for at least 1 year. It may be the most important 3 minutes of your life!
30 years ago it actually meant something to have your name on the wall here but not anymore. Mitzi hasn't run it for years. Tommy will tell you he'll get you on and ignore you the rest of the night (this will go on for years). Very very soon Mitzie will die and the comedy store will be sold and made a starbucks. What will Tommy do when his identity is gone and every comedian actually tells him what they truly think of him? He'll prob go back to being a failed musician. I might throw a dollar in his guitar case. Then again I might tell him I'll pay him tomorrow but tell him to keep coming back to that corner for the next 5 years.
I still like this place and I can take the good with the bad I know new people will have to run it at some point as it is with all clubs and the tone will change for better or even worse. Hey concentrate on your comedy not the venue.
If "talent" was the only thing that made someone successful, then everyone you saw would be great, right? And the cream would rise quickly to the top. But after many, many years, I've decided that talent is actually a relatively small percentage of the success equation. It's varying parts talent, hard work, time, physical endurance, social skills, and just plain luck. Is it fair? Who's to say? It is what it is.
My performances here was quite a phenomenon, in terms of my sporadic stage time interventions that spurred out of pure luck. Explaining the intricate dynamics of how i performed here three weeks in successions without signing up is a mystery that defies description, also its a luxury i cannot afford explaining. <<< Apologize for being vague.
There's something extraordinarily magnetic about this magically driven environment, maybe because it encapsulates quite an array of standup demographics and performance density.
There's multiple rooms, and the backstage glitters multiple neon- flashes of hollywood jitters, and obliquely opposite is the hazy LA Skyline just fogging away at our imaginative potentiality.
My experience was memorable, although i was somewhat anti-social, which is ironic for a comedian, i guess my pro-introvertism makes me a victim of my own discretion, seduced by my own self introspection..
Tom i believe is the Talent Coordinator or Owner, 'Not Certain' But he was insightful in terms of LA and the pursuit of standup.
Dude....stop trying to sound smart....you're desperately trying too hard to write like an intellect in a space that doesn't call for it. There's a time and place for poetic language and this forum is neither. I don't even think introvertism is a word. Please. Just stop. You're not Shakespeare, you're a guy with a silly duck hat. Thank you.
Dude got millions of YouTube views a website, been on television and running shitload of dvertisements all over and what u bum fuckers got? Open mic douchebags? Rock on atelston Fitzgerald holder da first bro
Talent agent?. Oh please. Tonight atelston Fitzgerald holder 1st got on stage in the MAIN ROOM OPEN MIC and complained about not getting booked, It was hilarious and weird at the same time, I guess the bookers dint find it funny and trashed him on stage. WTF is up with this dude man? Flappers need to ban this nutjob, every comic that interacted wit this dude says he's a little off in the head. Spoke to him once and it was the weirdest conversation ever, one of the female comics said he followed her home one night and parked Infront her building texting her nonstop asking her to invite him up, he eventually left when she threatened to call the police. WEIRD SHIT I was like 'did you give the dude your number' she was like 'no' then how the F3k he got it then??. She said he took his clothes off and stood in the streets in the middle of the night, he does that shit on stage also, weird weird and creepy.
Atelston they're jealous, they're a bunch of open mic comics that never been nowhere, they can't even writer properly further more talk about shakespare
Palms bar. One of the best open mics in L.A. Honest lottery. No cover charge. Sizable crowd.
ReplyDeleteRigged list. One hell of a waste of time.
ReplyDelete"Rigged List...." Apparently you aren't familliar with how entertainment industry works.
ReplyDeleteThere are only 15 spots and 50 comics. There is a reason the place has been around for 30 someodd years.
You have to earn a spot to do an open mic, if you show up and get respect from the regulars you will get up, just don't blow it.
If this was easy, everyone would do it. not just try it.
This is not an open mic. They call it an open mic, but it's basically the same people every week. However, they do put a few new people on each week, so it can't hurt to try. And can be fun to hang out there as well.
ReplyDeleteYou can also get stage time if you provide weed or do favors for someone in the club.
Horrible awful experience! New comics stay away. The host makes fun and hates on all the comics, very negative crowd. No laughs, harsh critics I am never going back there for an open mic.
ReplyDeleteThe World Famous Comedy Store "potluck" or open mic, has been going on for 30 plus years. Bubbling with comedy history, drama and laughter unfolding simultaneously every night. The open mic list is indeed rigged, to weed out the homeless crazies and the half hearted "trying it for the first timers". If you show up a couple weeks, get to know some of the doormen so they know your name and know you're not either the above categories mentioned then you will get on. You get three minutes and they light you with a bright blue star off to your left at two. Eventually, if you get good laughs consistently and become friends with said doormen you can skip the sign up process and just do a pop in during the potluck - depending on how good of friends you are with that night's host. That's the first graduation step for the Comedy Store, next is to be part of the "friends and family" section of the night which takes place AFTER the potluck. This is the employees, doormen, and regulars popping in to try out some stuff. These are 5 minute spots, sometimes 10-15 depending on how big a name you are. Tommy, the General Manager, decides this list, (if he isn't there it falls back on the host again) and if you do well here, putting your time in (years sometimes) you will become a Paid Regular. Now you will get booked for paid 15 min spots throughout the week and even at the La Jolla Comedy Store. It's a myth that industry doesn't come to the Store. They do, just not as much as the Improv or the The Laugh Factory. Many, many great comedians have started at the Store: Sam Kinison, Bill Hicks, David Letterman, Roseanne Barr the list goes on and on - the names on the outside wall are not there for marketing they've all earned their name there by putting in the time and work when they were a young comic - that all starts with the potluck. When you're serious about being a professional comedian, hit up the potluck. The Comedy Store is a long and difficult road but the rewards are endless. - Brett Gilbert
ReplyDelete"The host makes fun and hates on all the comics, very negative crowd."
ReplyDeleteDamn. It hasn't changed, huh? I recently posted something similar.
Open mic hosts should take lessons from Gene at Hollywood Hotel. There is a reason why the comics are so supportive there when he hosts.
I don't get the comedy store open mic. Half the people who they pick to go up have been "comics" who have been coming to do the open mic for years, even decades. The host will even announce them as having done open mics there for 20 years, 30 years, etc, and we all know that means they suck. So then they come onstange and guess what? They do suck. Bad. They sap all the energy out of the room and make it an awful experience for everyone involved, so why does the comedy store choose to put these same people up week after week? You would think they'd want to have a better show than that, right? Apparently not. I actually enjoy the fact that the host makes fun of shitty comics. Bring the funny or go home. But please, comedy store, put some new people up there!
ReplyDeleteI don't want to turn this thread into a running commentary about L.A. open mics in general, but I disagree with a few of the things you wrote.
ReplyDeleteFor one thing, I have killed at L.A. open mics, which is like saying I have parted the Red Sea a few times. So I'm not one of the comics...er, people... who you described.
I met one of the people you described very early in my "career" last year. She read from a notebook, and even in a room where people were EXTREMELY supportive there was dead silence. Somewhere along the line she told us that she had been doing it 15 years.
Part of me wanted to say, "honey... Stop. Now."
There is also a black guy who looks homeless at Sal's Comedy Hole who has probably been doing it for decades and has never even made me smile, let alone laugh.
Yet I don't want to forbid these people from doing it or pull a dick move like insulting their act. Each of these people has guts enough to try it-- even though they are extremely delusional, they deserve some degree of respect.
People deserve respect in general, but show business is a heightened arena. Normal rules of society often don't apply. TALENT deserves respect. Having the guts to take a shot at something is great, but also having the guts to look oneself in the mirror and understand that maybe it's not your calling? That takes far more guts. Mitzi Shore has famously told her people not to encourage mediocre talent. Mediocre! Imagine that. Not horrible, energy sucking people who don't have a clue, but mediocre. Because she knows that encouraging people who have no chance of getting anywhere is not helping anybody in the long run. In fact, it's clogging up show business with millions of people who have plenty of guts to try, but then refuse to quit when they clearly do not have what it takes. That is our culture now, where everyone thinks they can be famous because they have the "guts" to try. But if you haven't gotten solid and honest encouragment or positive feedback within a few years at most, then it's probably not worth continuing. Those who make it usually show talent right out of the gate. Something undefineable. What if that person who has been sucking at open mics for twenty years decided to finally quit and pursue something else where they might find they have true talent? Painting, dancing, etc. Maybe they are only hurting themselves by choosing to suck at something over and over for years. Sometimes you have to give up one dream to start pursuing another -- the one you were meant to excel at all along. That's how I see it, anyway :)
ReplyDeleteHey, Aug 27, that's a real cool and insightful post.
ReplyDelete...This should be called the Kardashian Store.......cuz it's run by delusional Hollywood a-holes. They think they are special and wonderful; when it's obvious to ALL that they are rats that need to be exterminated.
ReplyDeleteI went last Sunday, Jan. 8, and signed up and got on. I was number 2 so I played to an audience made up entirely of other standups. I have played clubs in New York and Toronto and done really well in all of them but this was the toughest audience I have ever seen. Nonetheless, I got several good laughs and survived the nasty comments of the MC, Tony. You must remember that he insults people for laughs not because he really believes it. I spoke to him before I left and he was very nice offstage although he's rough when on. Personally, I learned an awful lot playing that room and I can't wait to go back and kill.
ReplyDeleteHey this place is great if you know how to work it. First you should be a serious comic if you plan on going up here. Yes they will tear you a new one if you bomb but if you put in the face time night after night at the club you will get in with the gang. I would not suggest getting up here if you have not been in comedy for at least 1 year. It may be the most important 3 minutes of your life!
ReplyDeleteDec. 4...that wasn't even clever lmao that joke made no sense.
ReplyDelete30 years ago it actually meant something to have your name on the wall here but not anymore. Mitzi hasn't run it for years. Tommy will tell you he'll get you on and ignore you the rest of the night (this will go on for years). Very very soon Mitzie will die and the comedy store will be sold and made a starbucks. What will Tommy do when his identity is gone and every comedian actually tells him what they truly think of him? He'll prob go back to being a failed musician. I might throw a dollar in his guitar case. Then again I might tell him I'll pay him tomorrow but tell him to keep coming back to that corner for the next 5 years.
ReplyDeleteI still like this place and I can take the good with the bad I know new people will have to run it at some point as it is with all clubs and the tone will change for better or even worse. Hey concentrate on your comedy not the venue.
ReplyDeleteIf "talent" was the only thing that made someone successful, then everyone you saw would be great, right? And the cream would rise quickly to the top. But after many, many years, I've decided that talent is actually a relatively small percentage of the success equation. It's varying parts talent, hard work, time, physical endurance, social skills, and just plain luck. Is it fair? Who's to say? It is what it is.
ReplyDeleteIf the mic is anything like this comment string, I really hate it and will be going weekly
ReplyDeleteBOOM! You just got Bartoloned!
DeleteMy performances here was quite a phenomenon, in terms of my sporadic stage time interventions that spurred out of pure luck. Explaining the intricate dynamics of how i performed here three weeks in successions without signing up is a mystery that defies description, also its a luxury i cannot afford explaining. <<< Apologize for being vague.
ReplyDeleteThere's something extraordinarily magnetic about this magically driven environment, maybe because it encapsulates quite an array of standup demographics and performance density.
There's multiple rooms, and the backstage glitters multiple neon- flashes of hollywood jitters, and obliquely opposite is the hazy LA Skyline just fogging away at our imaginative potentiality.
My experience was memorable, although i was somewhat anti-social, which is ironic for a comedian, i guess my pro-introvertism makes me a victim of my own discretion, seduced by my own self introspection..
Tom i believe is the Talent Coordinator or Owner, 'Not Certain'
But he was insightful in terms of LA and the pursuit of standup.
Thank You Tom
Mega Magnificent Place....!
Atelston Fitzgerald Holder 1st
Mr Pregnant.....!
www.mrpregnant.com
www.youtube.com/mrpregnant
www.youtube.com/mrpregnantmusic
Dude....stop trying to sound smart....you're desperately trying too hard to write like an intellect in a space that doesn't call for it. There's a time and place for poetic language and this forum is neither. I don't even think introvertism is a word. Please. Just stop. You're not Shakespeare, you're a guy with a silly duck hat. Thank you.
DeleteLet him write how he wants. He's entertaining me.
DeleteDude got millions of YouTube views a website, been on television and running shitload of dvertisements all over and what u bum fuckers got? Open mic douchebags?
DeleteRock on atelston Fitzgerald holder da first bro
Atelston Fitzgerald holder is a talent agent for lionsgate films
ReplyDeleteTalent agent?. Oh please.
ReplyDeleteTonight atelston Fitzgerald holder 1st got on stage in the MAIN ROOM OPEN MIC and complained about not getting booked, It was hilarious and weird at the same time, I guess the bookers dint find it funny and trashed him on stage. WTF is up with this dude man? Flappers need to ban this nutjob, every comic that interacted wit this dude says he's a little off in the head. Spoke to him once and it was the weirdest conversation ever, one of the female comics said he followed her home one night and parked Infront her building texting her nonstop asking her to invite him up, he eventually left when she threatened to call the police. WEIRD SHIT
I was like 'did you give the dude your number' she was like 'no' then how the F3k he got it then??.
She said he took his clothes off and stood in the streets in the middle of the night, he does that shit on stage also, weird weird and creepy.
Should I bring a new set every week?
ReplyDeleteAtelston they're jealous, they're a bunch of open mic comics that never been nowhere, they can't even writer properly further more talk about shakespare
ReplyDeleteThe mic is no longer on Sundays. Only Mondays at the same time.
ReplyDeleteWish I had read this ^^ before I went. Yeah there is no open mic on sundays. Does anybody know if you can park in the back?
ReplyDelete