Open mic at Ditta is for comedy only. No music or poetry. The room is run by a gentleman named Brian, and he has been doing this for four weeks, as of this posting, but the room has been going on for over two years. There are no language restrictions, and signup is first come first choice. The venue can take place either inside or outside. The evening I performed, it was inside, but in a plastic, dome-shaped room, with a green roof, that connected to the main building. Think biosphere. It seats about 24. There was no stand (at least not that week), and there is no stage. All the chairs face the area of performance, and everyone in the room can easily see the talent. The business doesn’t serve alcohol, but it does offer coffees, teas, and a variety of juices and sodas, including Italian. To eat, they offer salads, sandwiches, wraps and quiche. They offer limited parking, but street parking is free. The signing up was an atypical experience for me. I arrived with my friend very early. When the signup sheet came out 6:42pm, a couple names were in the first and second spot, comedians who were also there and signed up when they recognized the host. According to the sheet, the first five signups get five minutes, and everyone thereafter gets three. I signed my friend and I third and fourth. However, when it came time for the mic, Brian rearranged the order for whatever reason and I went up fifth and my friend went up eleventh. She felt slighted, and I don’t blame her. She played to a smaller audience than if she had gotten to go where her name was on the signup sheet. All I can say to that is, to anyone running their own room, please respect your own rules. It’s vexing for the talent, otherwise. The evening started at 7:12pm. Sunset wasn’t till close to 8pm, so there was plenty of illumination in the room. We had 14 people, including the host, at the beginning, but that quickly increased to 18 by 7:20 when the first talent went up after Brian opened with his own material. By 7:30pm we had 20 people in the room. Sure enough, the pendulum swings the other way, and after 8pm attendance started to erode, down to 14 by 8:30. We had 14 signups, so some of the people were there just to watch and support, but numbers still dwindled. The evening ended by 8:40pm. Guys, I’m torn on this one. My friend, who was without any good reason, put way down the list of signups, even though we were one of the first comics there. The list in order should have been honored, I believe. However, while she played to a lesser crowd, the host gave her over five minutes (maybe to make up for placing her so far down the list?), and overall, mostly the audience paid attention to all the talent on stage. Even though it was a roomful of comedians, I could feel the support in the room, not just for those who knew each other, but for everyone. It’s also the only open mic on Friday, and as much open mic as there is out here -- doing at least one room a night -- if you’re visiting Salt Lake City on the weekend, there isn’t much reason not to do the room. Yes, even if you’re not going up where you signed on the list.
Open mic at Ditta is for comedy only. No music or poetry. The room is run by a gentleman named Brian, and he has been doing this for four weeks, as of this posting, but the room has been going on for over two years. There are no language restrictions, and signup is first come first choice.
ReplyDeleteThe venue can take place either inside or outside. The evening I performed, it was inside, but in a plastic, dome-shaped room, with a green roof, that connected to the main building. Think biosphere. It seats about 24. There was no stand (at least not that week), and there is no stage. All the chairs face the area of performance, and everyone in the room can easily see the talent. The business doesn’t serve alcohol, but it does offer coffees, teas, and a variety of juices and sodas, including Italian. To eat, they offer salads, sandwiches, wraps and quiche. They offer limited parking, but street parking is free.
The signing up was an atypical experience for me. I arrived with my friend very early. When the signup sheet came out 6:42pm, a couple names were in the first and second spot, comedians who were also there and signed up when they recognized the host. According to the sheet, the first five signups get five minutes, and everyone thereafter gets three. I signed my friend and I third and fourth. However, when it came time for the mic, Brian rearranged the order for whatever reason and I went up fifth and my friend went up eleventh. She felt slighted, and I don’t blame her. She played to a smaller audience than if she had gotten to go where her name was on the signup sheet. All I can say to that is, to anyone running their own room, please respect your own rules. It’s vexing for the talent, otherwise.
The evening started at 7:12pm. Sunset wasn’t till close to 8pm, so there was plenty of illumination in the room. We had 14 people, including the host, at the beginning, but that quickly increased to 18 by 7:20 when the first talent went up after Brian opened with his own material. By 7:30pm we had 20 people in the room. Sure enough, the pendulum swings the other way, and after 8pm attendance started to erode, down to 14 by 8:30. We had 14 signups, so some of the people were there just to watch and support, but numbers still dwindled. The evening ended by 8:40pm.
Guys, I’m torn on this one. My friend, who was without any good reason, put way down the list of signups, even though we were one of the first comics there. The list in order should have been honored, I believe. However, while she played to a lesser crowd, the host gave her over five minutes (maybe to make up for placing her so far down the list?), and overall, mostly the audience paid attention to all the talent on stage. Even though it was a roomful of comedians, I could feel the support in the room, not just for those who knew each other, but for everyone. It’s also the only open mic on Friday, and as much open mic as there is out here -- doing at least one room a night -- if you’re visiting Salt Lake City on the weekend, there isn’t much reason not to do the room.
Yes, even if you’re not going up where you signed on the list.