Hop Monk in Sebastopol has open mic on Tuesdays as well, but whereas that day receives all forms of talent, 3rd Sunday of the month’s open mic is reserved for comedy only. The business has a large parking lot. Signup is 7pm. I arrived 7:12, thinking signup began 7:30. Six names were already on the list, odd numbers only (3,5,7,9,11,13) being offered. I took the first spot. As it turns out, the even numbers are for booked talent. While there is no admission fee, this room draws a lot of people, and the producers want to guarantee a good show, so talent from Sonoma County and the Bay Area are booked between open mic acts. Amount of time on stage depends on the number of signups, but figure five minutes at least, the light at four. Booked talent got ten minutes. The room seats 55. There is a full bar inside, and food can be ordered from the restaurant and delivered to your table. Draft beers run $7. A truly nice stage, very big, it’s visible to anyone in the room. A gentleman named John runs the open mic from a nice sound system near the back of the room. There are no language restrictions. When the evening started at 8pm, there were 29 people in the audience plus John, Jefferson -- the emcee and co-producer -- and the bartender. There were almost 50 people in the room when I went up, which was after the emcee and a booked talent and another open micer performed first. (There is a reason I did not go up first as an open micer. See below) Sometimes music was played between acts to keep the energy high. By 9:30, there were still 40 people in the audience. Guys, this was a unique experience for me. When I signed up, I was actually approached by the emcee and was offered ten minutes. Evidently, they wanted to treat me like a booked talent. As it turned out, Jefferson recognized me from a paid gig I had done a couple years before at another venue in Sonoma County. I said I would do eight minutes, so the open micers could get more time. After my set, I wish I had done the full ten, so rockin’ was the room when I was up. You distinguished quite easily who the open micers were versus the booked talent. Still, everyone had a good time, and the open micers carried their own weight. I think John and Jefferson run a terrific room. By combining open mic and booked talent, you guarantee a good show, which I think is what kept the attendance so high during the evening. The general audience was given a good night of entertainment. I suspect many of you comedians reading this review will look up Hop Honk to inquire about getting on the booked portion of the show. I understand. But if you’re still new to the business, not quite ready to commit with a solid ten minutes of material, I strongly recommend this room as a stepping stone. You’ll have a sizable audience, and that very night you can gauge the more seasoned talent with the novice and take that as an opportunity to learn, seeing the veteran comics look and present themselves more professionally than the open micers who still make simple mistakes, like not moving the stand to one side if you take the mic out.
Hop Monk in Sebastopol has open mic on Tuesdays as well, but whereas that day receives all forms of talent, 3rd Sunday of the month’s open mic is reserved for comedy only. The business has a large parking lot. Signup is 7pm. I arrived 7:12, thinking signup began 7:30. Six names were already on the list, odd numbers only (3,5,7,9,11,13) being offered. I took the first spot. As it turns out, the even numbers are for booked talent. While there is no admission fee, this room draws a lot of people, and the producers want to guarantee a good show, so talent from Sonoma County and the Bay Area are booked between open mic acts. Amount of time on stage depends on the number of signups, but figure five minutes at least, the light at four. Booked talent got ten minutes.
ReplyDeleteThe room seats 55. There is a full bar inside, and food can be ordered from the restaurant and delivered to your table. Draft beers run $7. A truly nice stage, very big, it’s visible to anyone in the room. A gentleman named John runs the open mic from a nice sound system near the back of the room. There are no language restrictions. When the evening started at 8pm, there were 29 people in the audience plus John, Jefferson -- the emcee and co-producer -- and the bartender. There were almost 50 people in the room when I went up, which was after the emcee and a booked talent and another open micer performed first. (There is a reason I did not go up first as an open micer. See below) Sometimes music was played between acts to keep the energy high. By 9:30, there were still 40 people in the audience.
Guys, this was a unique experience for me. When I signed up, I was actually approached by the emcee and was offered ten minutes. Evidently, they wanted to treat me like a booked talent. As it turned out, Jefferson recognized me from a paid gig I had done a couple years before at another venue in Sonoma County. I said I would do eight minutes, so the open micers could get more time. After my set, I wish I had done the full ten, so rockin’ was the room when I was up. You distinguished quite easily who the open micers were versus the booked talent. Still, everyone had a good time, and the open micers carried their own weight.
I think John and Jefferson run a terrific room. By combining open mic and booked talent, you guarantee a good show, which I think is what kept the attendance so high during the evening. The general audience was given a good night of entertainment.
I suspect many of you comedians reading this review will look up Hop Honk to inquire about getting on the booked portion of the show. I understand. But if you’re still new to the business, not quite ready to commit with a solid ten minutes of material, I strongly recommend this room as a stepping stone. You’ll have a sizable audience, and that very night you can gauge the more seasoned talent with the novice and take that as an opportunity to learn, seeing the veteran comics look and present themselves more professionally than the open micers who still make simple mistakes, like not moving the stand to one side if you take the mic out.