Geetting Gigs

IanPerth

Although this forum isn't exactly jam packed with comedians (some VERY notable exceptions!) I just thought I'd start a thread on the best way to get gigs.

Club owners seem to be absolutely bombarded by requests from new comers to do open mic slots. Some owners operate on a first come first served basis & have long waiting lists, some want to make sure your act is of a certain quality,,,and more seem to operate on a mixture of the above and a 'who you know' type of basis.

So far I have found going to the venue & chatting to the MC/club owner before: or after: & then dropping them a mail or phone call afterwards as the best way. They need punters, and appreciate you making an effort.

Some club owners I've spoken to privately have expressed their surprise at ''open mic'ers'' looking for open spots without even having visited their club,this is understandable on the club owners part I think!, particularly if you're living locally.

Anyway,,,, I don't really have any point to make :-) Just thought it would be an interesting topic of discussion ... club owners/ headliners or support acts will no doubt have been through this,,, so any basic advice/ do's & don'ts, for us newbies; struggling to get a decent amount of slots; would be much appreciated !

jesusbuddha

Hi I am Aidan, I run LaughOutLoud at Anseo. I like Ian's post as it is something that open mics can learn from.

Anseo is one of the few new clubs (less than a year) that is going well because there is a regular friendly audience there and also because there is a good mix between experienced comedians and open mics. It is most important to me that the audience leave thinking "that was a great night." so it can be risky having open mics that you have not seen on because, quite simply, they can be awful. They can kill the room energy, which makes it harder for the mc and the rest of the comedians.

I get about 4 request a day, so I can only imagine what it must be like for other clubs on for more than one day a week. I know that I try and give everyone a gig, but from my point of view who am I more likely to a give a gig to? A guy who came to the club and introduced himself or some random person, I have never met. A guy who brings no friends or someone who fills seats?

Here is how I wold advise an open mic to proceed:

1. Go to club, talk to mc, at half time or after the show, (Not during someone else's performance)
2. Tell him your experience and ask what is the best way of getting a slot. (For me it is facebook).
3. On the facebook mail.. mention the meeting at the club, (he may not remember), then send him a video link of a performance and your experience so far.
4. When you get a date and time, write it down, don't start annoying him with texts closer to the day of performance... like "where is venue", "what time again?", "when am I on".... just be there for when he said and say hello at the start of the night.
5. Bring friends if you can, it can be hard to, I know, but all comedians had to go through that at one stage... Bring friends and make it clear that you did... it will increase the speed of you next date.
6. Try not to lose the audience... if you bring 10 friends but abuse my audience, it will be a long time before you are back.
7. Have fun, be funny and come back soon to do it again and again until, 10 years later, you are the headliner.

If anyone wants more advise, please feel free to ask me questions. aidankillian@hotmail.com

Hope this helps,
Aidan

Spamjavelin

Yer sister can't wrestle, but ya should see her box-long pause- next bad joke follows :0 how d ya get a fat bird into to bed... piece of cake HaHa:( I hate these cheap jokes a real lack of original material out there

Heisenberg.

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