A once a month room on Fridays, this open mic has pretty much only one rule, but it’s a rule they are adamant you respect: no profanity. This mic does, after all, take place in a church. Talent gets ten minutes. All genres of the arts are welcomed, but mostly this room attracts musicians. Signup is first come first choice. The room goes from 7pm to 10pm, though more often than not, the room doesn’t go past 9pm. Parking is on the street. The church seats about a 100, all chairs facing the stage area in a semi-circle. There is no stage, but three mics are set up, and everybody can see the performance no matter what. A piano located in a different part of the room is allowed to be used by talent, and one signup did three songs on it. A woman, Mimi, guest emceed the room. A woman named Mary Lou produces the show, but she was not there that night. The room has been going on seven years. Coffee, water and some sweet treats were offered, with a donation jar on the same table to pay for it. I signed up third, but ended up going second. Overall, we had three musical performances, one comedy, and one signup did poetry. On a very good day they can get 13 to 16 signups. On an average day, they’ll double what we had the night I was there. I think I did closer to twelve minutes than ten and with no objection from the audience. I never got a light. I just got myself off when I felt I had done ten or so. We had ten people in the room when we started at 6:58pm. At its peak we had 13 people. I was up at 7:15pm, playing to the maximum. The evening ended at 7:55pm. Guys, I know a church is not what a comic envisions when performing for a room. And not being allowed to use language can be limiting. But, in spite of that, I recommend doing this room. First off, it takes place on a Friday. There are not a lot of rooms to choose from on a Friday. Eventually, make your way to this one, trying out material on a brand new audience. Two, and I’ve said this before, if you want to make the bigger bucks in standup – corporate gigs, cruise ships, TV – you have to work clean. What better place to test clean material than in a church? Lastly, as intimate as the room was, I did remarkably well, getting peeps to laugh out loud quite often. This is truly an accepting room of all talent, even though they are not used to standup. One note: While they say the cutoff to signup is 6:55pm, if you arrive late, they will put you up. I learned that from the guest emcee.
A once a month room on Fridays, this open mic has pretty much only one rule, but it’s a rule they are adamant you respect: no profanity. This mic does, after all, take place in a church.
ReplyDeleteTalent gets ten minutes. All genres of the arts are welcomed, but mostly this room attracts musicians. Signup is first come first choice. The room goes from 7pm to 10pm, though more often than not, the room doesn’t go past 9pm. Parking is on the street.
The church seats about a 100, all chairs facing the stage area in a semi-circle. There is no stage, but three mics are set up, and everybody can see the performance no matter what. A piano located in a different part of the room is allowed to be used by talent, and one signup did three songs on it. A woman, Mimi, guest emceed the room. A woman named Mary Lou produces the show, but she was not there that night. The room has been going on seven years.
Coffee, water and some sweet treats were offered, with a donation jar on the same table to pay for it.
I signed up third, but ended up going second. Overall, we had three musical performances, one comedy, and one signup did poetry. On a very good day they can get 13 to 16 signups. On an average day, they’ll double what we had the night I was there. I think I did closer to twelve minutes than ten and with no objection from the audience. I never got a light. I just got myself off when I felt I had done ten or so. We had ten people in the room when we started at 6:58pm. At its peak we had 13 people. I was up at 7:15pm, playing to the maximum. The evening ended at 7:55pm.
Guys, I know a church is not what a comic envisions when performing for a room. And not being allowed to use language can be limiting. But, in spite of that, I recommend doing this room. First off, it takes place on a Friday. There are not a lot of rooms to choose from on a Friday. Eventually, make your way to this one, trying out material on a brand new audience. Two, and I’ve said this before, if you want to make the bigger bucks in standup – corporate gigs, cruise ships, TV – you have to work clean. What better place to test clean material than in a church? Lastly, as intimate as the room was, I did remarkably well, getting peeps to laugh out loud quite often. This is truly an accepting room of all talent, even though they are not used to standup.
One note: While they say the cutoff to signup is 6:55pm, if you arrive late, they will put you up. I learned that from the guest emcee.