Open mic at Schubas is for standup only, and parking is on the street. The room is run by a woman named Suz, and she has been hosting this mic for two years. There are no language restrictions, and talent gets four minutes, the light at three. Signup is done by bucket list. For talent who supports the business by buying a drink, they are allowed to write their name on a second piece of paper to drop in bucket, doubling your chances of getting picked early. Typically, Suz announces five names at a time who will go up, but the night I was there, she announced the first ten names. Fortunately, I got the second spot. Schubas is a full bar and offers a limited food selection. However, interconnected with Schubas is a restaurant next door that offers better food. You may take any drinks ordered from the restaurant with you to Schubas’ open mic, which takes place upstairs. That is good. Anyone attending is there for the mic, and there are no distractions like TVs turned on or other competing noise. There is no stage. A mic, stand and stool are set up to one side of the room, but anyone attending can see the talent fine. From the POV of the comedian, to take in the whole room, you may have to do “the lighthouse” effect of turning your face left and right and back to address everyone in the room. The room seats 51, and I counted 44 people in attendance when we started at 8:08pm. Suz welcomed everyone, went over the rules, including if you go over your time, music will play you off, so respect the light. In the time I was there, all talent was good about finishing their sets within their allotted time. The evening went remarkably well. Not only was everyone focused on the mic, but attendance stayed high throughout the evening. I counted 39 in the room at 9:30. At 9:28pm Suz announced we were halfway through the list. I stayed till about 10:05pm before departing between comedians going on stage. Guys, this is a remarkably good room. The support of talent was noteworthy; all attending people are there for the mic. No distractions. Four-minute sets is standard, I’m told, in Chicago. The room has no problem laughing when they hear something funny, and, boy, was there a lot of laughs throughout the evening. Suz is such a delight. I can understand that of all the rooms I’ve done so far, this was the fullest of people wanting to either perform or see standup.
Open mic at Schubas is for standup only, and parking is on the street. The room is run by a woman named Suz, and she has been hosting this mic for two years. There are no language restrictions, and talent gets four minutes, the light at three. Signup is done by bucket list. For talent who supports the business by buying a drink, they are allowed to write their name on a second piece of paper to drop in bucket, doubling your chances of getting picked early. Typically, Suz announces five names at a time who will go up, but the night I was there, she announced the first ten names. Fortunately, I got the second spot.
ReplyDeleteSchubas is a full bar and offers a limited food selection. However, interconnected with Schubas is a restaurant next door that offers better food. You may take any drinks ordered from the restaurant with you to Schubas’ open mic, which takes place upstairs. That is good. Anyone attending is there for the mic, and there are no distractions like TVs turned on or other competing noise.
There is no stage. A mic, stand and stool are set up to one side of the room, but anyone attending can see the talent fine. From the POV of the comedian, to take in the whole room, you may have to do “the lighthouse” effect of turning your face left and right and back to address everyone in the room. The room seats 51, and I counted 44 people in attendance when we started at 8:08pm.
Suz welcomed everyone, went over the rules, including if you go over your time, music will play you off, so respect the light. In the time I was there, all talent was good about finishing their sets within their allotted time.
The evening went remarkably well. Not only was everyone focused on the mic, but attendance stayed high throughout the evening. I counted 39 in the room at 9:30. At 9:28pm Suz announced we were halfway through the list. I stayed till about 10:05pm before departing between comedians going on stage.
Guys, this is a remarkably good room. The support of talent was noteworthy; all attending people are there for the mic. No distractions. Four-minute sets is standard, I’m told, in Chicago. The room has no problem laughing when they hear something funny, and, boy, was there a lot of laughs throughout the evening. Suz is such a delight. I can understand that of all the rooms I’ve done so far, this was the fullest of people wanting to either perform or see standup.