The gentleman who runs the open mic at Peppertree introduced himself to me as Art; however, comedians who know him referred to him as Arturo. I showed up hours earlier, stopping in to make sure open mic was still happening when no one answered my phone call earlier in the day. I met the owner of the lounge who does comedy herself, but she was not in attendance when open mic started. I only learned that night that signups take place on Facebook, but walk-ins will still get to go up. The host arrived uncharacteristically late. While signups start at 7:30pm and the show at 8, Art did not arrive till about 8:12pm. Traffic. It wasn’t long before he set up the single mic and speakers on the floor of the room (no stage) and started the show, opening with about ten minutes of standup. While this open mic is principally comedy, Art does allow other genres of talent. Talent gets six minutes, and the room runs till everyone has gone up. Comedians were dropping in as late at 9:30 and still getting stage time. The signup sheet came out 8:35pm after Art opened the show and brought up the first talent. Slots one through four and seven through ten were already filled. Since I was the earliest open micer to arrive I got to signup first and took the fifth slot. Turns out I did not go up till ninth. Don’t ask me why. The lounge is a full bar; they don’t offer any snacks. Peppertree shares a large parking lot with other businesses, so that is not a problem. Inside, six TVs are on throughout the lounge, but the one nearest "the stage" is turned off for the show. Sound came from other TVs, and only halfway through the evening were they muted when someone requested they be silenced. The lounge seats about 39 in the main room, but only about 24 seats have a good view of the area where talent performs. There are no language restrictions. Open mic has been going on for nine months. Art announced they usually have a raffle with prizes, but it was not happening the night I was there. Art told me that on average he gets 12 to 20 comedians each week. The night I was there about 20 plus people were in attendance, a combination of talent and general audience. While there is no admission fee, Art does bring out a Tip Jar, which he goes around the room, carrying the jar a couple of times during the course of the evening. Guys, I gotta say, this was an atypical night for comedy. There was one patron, a woman, who almost from the beginning talked back to almost every comedian. Thankfully, she had stepped out when I was on stage, but sitting at the table where I was, watching this unruly behavior, interrupting the comedians one after the other, it was just insufferable. Whatever the talent said, including the host, this woman just did not get the message to “shut the f**k up” even though that was the explicit message from several of the talent. The bartender told me he had never seen this woman at the lounge before, and heckling isn’t a common practice as this open mic. In spite of this awful evening – I truly felt bad for the talent who did not get to try out new material, as they exhausted their minutes on stage addressing the gross behavior of this woman – I do recommend this room. No matter when you show up, you will get stage time, though I suggest signing up early, as the audience thinned as the evening progressed. Art is a good emcee and a friendly young man. Talent supports each other, and the audience will laugh when they hear something funny. The energy was high in the room, regardless of the negative flow from the one heckler.
The gentleman who runs the open mic at Peppertree introduced himself to me as Art; however, comedians who know him referred to him as Arturo. I showed up hours earlier, stopping in to make sure open mic was still happening when no one answered my phone call earlier in the day. I met the owner of the lounge who does comedy herself, but she was not in attendance when open mic started.
ReplyDeleteI only learned that night that signups take place on Facebook, but walk-ins will still get to go up. The host arrived uncharacteristically late. While signups start at 7:30pm and the show at 8, Art did not arrive till about 8:12pm. Traffic. It wasn’t long before he set up the single mic and speakers on the floor of the room (no stage) and started the show, opening with about ten minutes of standup. While this open mic is principally comedy, Art does allow other genres of talent. Talent gets six minutes, and the room runs till everyone has gone up. Comedians were dropping in as late at 9:30 and still getting stage time.
The signup sheet came out 8:35pm after Art opened the show and brought up the first talent. Slots one through four and seven through ten were already filled. Since I was the earliest open micer to arrive I got to signup first and took the fifth slot. Turns out I did not go up till ninth. Don’t ask me why.
The lounge is a full bar; they don’t offer any snacks. Peppertree shares a large parking lot with other businesses, so that is not a problem. Inside, six TVs are on throughout the lounge, but the one nearest "the stage" is turned off for the show. Sound came from other TVs, and only halfway through the evening were they muted when someone requested they be silenced. The lounge seats about 39 in the main room, but only about 24 seats have a good view of the area where talent performs. There are no language restrictions. Open mic has been going on for nine months. Art announced they usually have a raffle with prizes, but it was not happening the night I was there.
Art told me that on average he gets 12 to 20 comedians each week. The night I was there about 20 plus people were in attendance, a combination of talent and general audience. While there is no admission fee, Art does bring out a Tip Jar, which he goes around the room, carrying the jar a couple of times during the course of the evening.
Guys, I gotta say, this was an atypical night for comedy. There was one patron, a woman, who almost from the beginning talked back to almost every comedian. Thankfully, she had stepped out when I was on stage, but sitting at the table where I was, watching this unruly behavior, interrupting the comedians one after the other, it was just insufferable. Whatever the talent said, including the host, this woman just did not get the message to “shut the f**k up” even though that was the explicit message from several of the talent. The bartender told me he had never seen this woman at the lounge before, and heckling isn’t a common practice as this open mic.
In spite of this awful evening – I truly felt bad for the talent who did not get to try out new material, as they exhausted their minutes on stage addressing the gross behavior of this woman – I do recommend this room. No matter when you show up, you will get stage time, though I suggest signing up early, as the audience thinned as the evening progressed. Art is a good emcee and a friendly young man. Talent supports each other, and the audience will laugh when they hear something funny. The energy was high in the room, regardless of the negative flow from the one heckler.