Don’t be fooled by the title of this open mic. They feature poets each month, yes, but the mic is open to all genres of talent. The room is run by four people, only one hosting and then it alternates each month between the four. The night I went up, Dale Jensen ran the room. Parking is on the street. The venue itself seats about 34 but very tightly. Talent gets 5 minutes, and signup is first come first choice. The room goes till 9pm. There are no language restrictions. The evening starts with 3 open micers, each doing 5 minutes, then 2 featured artists go up (they get more than 5 minutes) then there is a short intermission and then the remainder of the open micers go up thereafter. The room has been running for ten years. When I arrived at 6:30pm, there were already three names on the signup sheet. I took the fifth spot, but ended up going up third. By 7pm we had 9 people in the room, two staff, and our host. Dale intentionally waited to start the evening in hopes of drawing more people. We started the show at 7:15pm, and there were 13 people in the audience, which was the peak of attendance. There is no stage. Talent is asked to walk to one corner of the room and perform. Some talent chose to read their poetry from where they stood. Except for the occasional noise from behind the counter, talent can be heard from wherever they performed, so intimate was the room. One thing I noticed: save for myself and one young man who left not long after my set (he did not perform), everyone in the room was not younger than 55. Guys, while the audience was not large, they were a very specific type of audience. I found myself thinking if I could win over this audience I can do the retirement and convalescent homes no problem. Sure enough, the audience did take to me. I felt very good about the set, especially because they were not used to comedy. They came for poetry, but welcomed comedy nonetheless. One person even remarked they need more standup. Though this happens only once a month, Fridays are not easy days to find open mics in the Bay Area. Make a point of marking this on your calendar and performing when you can. It will be a challenge to connect with such an audience -- especially for the younger comedians -- but if you can win them over, especially when they are eager for comedy, then kudos to you.
Don’t be fooled by the title of this open mic. They feature poets each month, yes, but the mic is open to all genres of talent.
ReplyDeleteThe room is run by four people, only one hosting and then it alternates each month between the four. The night I went up, Dale Jensen ran the room. Parking is on the street. The venue itself seats about 34 but very tightly. Talent gets 5 minutes, and signup is first come first choice. The room goes till 9pm. There are no language restrictions. The evening starts with 3 open micers, each doing 5 minutes, then 2 featured artists go up (they get more than 5 minutes) then there is a short intermission and then the remainder of the open micers go up thereafter. The room has been running for ten years.
When I arrived at 6:30pm, there were already three names on the signup sheet. I took the fifth spot, but ended up going up third. By 7pm we had 9 people in the room, two staff, and our host. Dale intentionally waited to start the evening in hopes of drawing more people. We started the show at 7:15pm, and there were 13 people in the audience, which was the peak of attendance. There is no stage. Talent is asked to walk to one corner of the room and perform. Some talent chose to read their poetry from where they stood. Except for the occasional noise from behind the counter, talent can be heard from wherever they performed, so intimate was the room.
One thing I noticed: save for myself and one young man who left not long after my set (he did not perform), everyone in the room was not younger than 55.
Guys, while the audience was not large, they were a very specific type of audience. I found myself thinking if I could win over this audience I can do the retirement and convalescent homes no problem. Sure enough, the audience did take to me. I felt very good about the set, especially because they were not used to comedy. They came for poetry, but welcomed comedy nonetheless. One person even remarked they need more standup. Though this happens only once a month, Fridays are not easy days to find open mics in the Bay Area. Make a point of marking this on your calendar and performing when you can. It will be a challenge to connect with such an audience -- especially for the younger comedians -- but if you can win them over, especially when they are eager for comedy, then kudos to you.