The Dive Bar is just that, a dive bar: lighting about as dim as the people there intent on getting hammered, offering any alcoholic beverage but no food, not even bags of chips. Nevertheless, this room is one to do. Open mic is run by Alex, and he has been doing comedy at Dive Bar for three years. It’s a competition, actually, where comedians get five minutes, a featured performer goes on after – the winner of the previous week’s competition – and then the audience votes. The winner gets $25 and another $25 when they come back and feature the following week. The signup sheet comes out at 8pm. Signup is first come first choice. There are only 15 spots on the list. Of course, there are no language restrictions, given it’s a bar and it’s comedy-only open. Dive Bar shares a parking lot with other businesses, and there’s plenty of it. The place seats about 36 who can see the stage well, and the stage itself is good, elevated well, so everyone sees you just fine. The spotlight is such that you can hardly see the audience, so blinding is it. Because the list was not that long, everyone got five minutes (typically four). A monitor counts down the time, and it’s up to the comedian to get themselves off when they see their time is up. The evening started at 8:45pm, as it’s supposed to. Alex opened with some material then brought up the first comedian. I had taken the second spot. One comedian before me purposefully took the first one. By 8:30pm there were six signups. In the audience, by 9:30 there were 30 people in the room, almost half were talent. Several comedians showed up too late to do the competition but still did stage time after. Guys, this was a good room. Several of the audience, especially this one guy, “ribbed”, if not heckled the talent, including myself, but that’s comedy. But in this case, since it’s a competition, you should leave the talent alone and judge them on their act, not how they deal with your “help”. I was able to win the guy over when he started commenting on my material, and after my set he even fist bumped me and said “good job”. Maybe the guy exhausted himself, but eventually he stopped talking back to the talent. A few other people congratulated me as well. I didn’t win, though. A local took the prize this week. Go figure. Still, what was good about it was the support of the room. Most of the comedians stayed till the end. A few who knew they were not going to win that week disappeared in the second half of the show when the featured talent went up. One woman in the audience I had seen just the night before at another venue. She sees comedy all the time. Imagine, a comedy groupie. She was so supportive, as was most of the audience. Yes, you’ll get a feel in the air that this can be a rough room, but commit to it no matter what. If you have something to offer, they will want to hear it. And laugh.
The Dive Bar is just that, a dive bar: lighting about as dim as the people there intent on getting hammered, offering any alcoholic beverage but no food, not even bags of chips. Nevertheless, this room is one to do.
ReplyDeleteOpen mic is run by Alex, and he has been doing comedy at Dive Bar for three years. It’s a competition, actually, where comedians get five minutes, a featured performer goes on after – the winner of the previous week’s competition – and then the audience votes. The winner gets $25 and another $25 when they come back and feature the following week.
The signup sheet comes out at 8pm. Signup is first come first choice. There are only 15 spots on the list. Of course, there are no language restrictions, given it’s a bar and it’s comedy-only open. Dive Bar shares a parking lot with other businesses, and there’s plenty of it. The place seats about 36 who can see the stage well, and the stage itself is good, elevated well, so everyone sees you just fine. The spotlight is such that you can hardly see the audience, so blinding is it. Because the list was not that long, everyone got five minutes (typically four). A monitor counts down the time, and it’s up to the comedian to get themselves off when they see their time is up.
The evening started at 8:45pm, as it’s supposed to. Alex opened with some material then brought up the first comedian. I had taken the second spot. One comedian before me purposefully took the first one. By 8:30pm there were six signups. In the audience, by 9:30 there were 30 people in the room, almost half were talent. Several comedians showed up too late to do the competition but still did stage time after.
Guys, this was a good room. Several of the audience, especially this one guy, “ribbed”, if not heckled the talent, including myself, but that’s comedy. But in this case, since it’s a competition, you should leave the talent alone and judge them on their act, not how they deal with your “help”. I was able to win the guy over when he started commenting on my material, and after my set he even fist bumped me and said “good job”. Maybe the guy exhausted himself, but eventually he stopped talking back to the talent. A few other people congratulated me as well. I didn’t win, though. A local took the prize this week. Go figure.
Still, what was good about it was the support of the room. Most of the comedians stayed till the end. A few who knew they were not going to win that week disappeared in the second half of the show when the featured talent went up. One woman in the audience I had seen just the night before at another venue. She sees comedy all the time. Imagine, a comedy groupie. She was so supportive, as was most of the audience. Yes, you’ll get a feel in the air that this can be a rough room, but commit to it no matter what. If you have something to offer, they will want to hear it. And laugh.
loving these reviews. now I know what to expect
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t get a ringing phone on this mic I found them on Instagram but did not hear back. It looks like the bar is still in business though.
ReplyDeleteThey confirmed the phone doesn’t work but said the mic was good.
DeleteThank you came for the same reason but now I am stoked for the mic.
ReplyDelete