Keeping the open mic alive

This post was inspired by this Reddit thread on running an open mic and keeping an audience.

Starting An Open Mic

An open mic is a room for everyone to come and practice their material, and a place for the audience to get in a laugh.

Open Mics Change With Time

You'll probably start your open mic in an empty venue on a dull night for the bar.
It's a way for them to get some patrons in, comedians included, and fill some seats.
At this stage, you're mostly focused on getting a large number of comics in to sign up and do their material. More the merrier.

Once a gig becomes more established, it gets into the local comedy zeitgeist and real audience members start turning up.

That's when you hit a good problem: the gig has become popular enough that every comic in town wants a spot.

The catch is, if you just let everyone on, you make the gig worse.

Keeping It An Open Mic

Once real punters start coming, it's time to tighten up and keep improving the show.

Now you have punters turning up, and too many comics turning up for too few spots.

Here's the basic housekeeping we've put in place to keep the on-the-night sign-up running, and keep the show inviting for beginners:

• A limit on the number of sign-up spots
• A frequency limit on signing up, something like "every second week" or "every third week." We run a physical sign-up on the night, but keep a record of who was on the previous week so we can enforce it.
• Always let first timers on, even if it means a reduced time. They're here to support the show, so make the effort to give them a good first experience.
• If it's an in-person sign-up gig, keep it in-person only.
• A small number of curated spots for working comics who elevate the gig.
• Explain the rules and tips somewhere visible, like a pinned post on your socials. A lot of first timers don't know how a gig works, so spell out what to do when they arrive and how to get on.
• Keep a regular set of hosts, these people want to make the night great, they're the backbone and will be the reason the gig thrives
• Once you bend these rules for 1 person, you'll gave 20 people doing it, so stick to your rules that's the only way to make it fair for everyone

Case study: Bar Humbug Comedy

I run a small weekly open mic called Bar Humbug Comedy here in Melbourne.

We wanted to keep the show running smoothly for the bar and hosts, but also allow new comics and working comics to come to the room and get a spot.
https://www.instagram.com/barhumbugcomedy/
We capped the sign-up sheet at nine spots. Made sense, it fixed the "show runs too long" problem.
But it created a new issue. Word got out that the list fills up, so the same comics started turning up an hour early just to lock in their name. By the time anyone else arrived, the sheet was already full.

It's great that they're that enthusiastic, but it makes the gig a little stale, audience complained about repeat acts, and working comics could never get a spot.

So we added the "sign up once every two weeks" rule on top of the cap. Performed last week?
You sit this one out. It's a small rule, but it forces turnover, protects the regulars we love, and still leaves room for new faces to get a shot.
We also have a very limited curated spots for working comics, ideally one will open, one will go in the mid, and one will end the show. This way the shows always have a good mix up of skills and acts.

Here's an example of the rules and tips we posted