oh yeah, so, lately i've been having a hankering to get back onstage.
not a huge hankering, but, i'd seen a thing for this comedy club in Point Pleasant (called Uncle Vinnie's) that said "Open Mic Night is returning!!"
Cool. So I emailed them asking for the info and they wrote back with a "You need to have 5 friends come to the show"
Dude. That's not an "Open Mic Night" - that's a farking "Bringer Show" - you can call it a "New Talent Show" as well... but whatever it is, THAT isn't an open mic.
So I wrote and said that I was only interested in an open mic that would be a decent room to work on a set without "premiering it" in front of friends
he wrote back:
"no we did a traditional open mic for 7 months, comedians didn't bring friends, cost money to run it every week, so we cancelled it, now that it is a bringer, we are getting a more serious young comedians, making money at the same time and giving some young guys opportunities,"
now, i don't want to get on the bad side of a local club, but... first off, they expected comedians to bring friends. come ON. that's a fucking bringer show.
the thing with bringers is, you wind up having to do these godforsaken things in the beginning... BUT... as in my case back in 1999-2001, you start running low on the tank full of friends who will come out to see you week after week.
as my friends at the Broadway Comedy Club in NYC recommend, a new comic should work on their set at an open mic (which I have a plethora of them listed on my Semi-World Famous Open Mic section, but, was gearing up for a place that was a town over.)... anyway, they should work on their sets at an open mic and then use a bringer show every 3 weeks or so... so that it's a "real" crowd --- but that it also doesn't suck the life out of your friends or their wallets.
I just am floored that they expected comedians to bring their friends. also, if they were trying to run it at the 7pm hour that's a little goofy.
Many of the mics in the city - that i have listed - have 5/5:30pm start times and don't run longer than 7pm, so that they CAN have the more lucrative regular shows.
Oh well, I was gonna try and just work on some new material so I can get back into the city to do some pro shows, alas, I'll put this on the backburner again.
I ALSO wasn't too thrilled with his last sentence:
"we are getting a more serious young comedians, making money at the same time and giving some young guys opportunities"
who says that open mic'ers aren't "serious"??? that's ridiculous.
and it's nice to see that they're giving "young guys" opportunities. eff that.
so, i wrote the dude back:
okey doke. yeah, i know in the city they don't bring friends to an open mic (from the ones i have listed for the past 8 years. but they DO scrape people up for bringers) but the cover charge is usually between $5 and $10 --- and they run them around 5 and 7pm
the last time i was up was in '05 for the aspen festival and then i got way too busy with gaffigan, papa and attell's website after that.
oh well, would've been nice to have had a local mic around to work on...
best-
gc
never heard a word back since i sent it last week.
nice that i've had their "show" listed on my mic site (for FREE) for the past year or so...
pretty much all of the other mics that i've listed (at least in nyc and the other jersey mics) have said "any time you want to work on your set, come to the room and it's all yours... no cover, baby!"
think i'm gonna have to head up to the city and get back into the swing of stuff. i HAVE been writing a bit more than i had... and i've got some decent new material.
Welcome to the YapFest (12 yapped)
It's really too bad - because a club needs to make some $$$. But at the same time where else can new talent develop themselves? It's a tough line to walk.
Back in the 90s I went religiously with some friends to open mic night at Rascals in Eatontown. We went every week, and it was great. I guess my point is to cultivate the regulars and hope they turn other folks on. We tried to get other people to come every week with us with varying levels of success. Rascals was a great breeding ground and we saw some folks who made it at varying levels in comedy - including Frank Del Pizzo and Jim Norton.
--*Rob
Hey Rob! yeah, i remember they had one back in the day. also, i used to head up to red bank in the early 90s to the Laughing Bean. Norton, Florentine, etc would all be there doing little sets at this hole in the wall coffee house.
Bringer shows are pure evil. It should be the responsibility of the club to put butts in the seat, not the open-miker.
When I started in the '80's, we would get crowds of 100-plus to see the open-mikes. Back then, owners understood the importance of cultivating new talent and marketed the shows accordingly. Now, nobody cares.
I'd love to come see ya, but I moved about 1200 miles away a couple of months ago, so it'd be a hell of a trip!
Good luck though!! (and YouTube it or somethin'!) :D
hey gigglechick!
I'm frank del pizzo. Please remind me what your name is and did we work together some time ago?
I ran that open mic @rascals for 3 years and it was some of the best times I can remember. We all got time and we never were made to bring friends my only rule was if you went on you stayed till the end because you were the show as well as the audience. I had a big bunch of funny people come thru there.
If you want to try you can usually get an open mic started for no money invested. I would do one again I just don't have time
Take care
Frank
I haven't performed since 2006 which was at HA's comedy club in New York. All you had to bring was yourself. I started doing stand-up in the mid-eighties in Detroit. You didn't have to bring anyone or anything but your material. I have been living in New Jersey since 1988 and have only did a couple of bringer shows over those years. I hate em'. The reason is you practically have to beg people to come all the way to New York at 6pm on a Tuesday night after they get off of work to wait two hours to see you perform.
Back in the day what if a comic was coming from across the country to try his or her luck at stand-up in New York or LA? If you're from a small town in Arizona and went to New York, you don't know 5 people! There are many rags to success stories of comics having to sleep in their cars or live at the YMCA before making it. They took "themselves" to the clubs rain or shine, whether they killed or bombed. It was them and the audience; and you knew right away if your material sucked at the "Open Mic Night".
I can't imagine Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby or George Carlin having to round up "five to fifteen people" every time they wanted to perform. I know that was a different era, but that's not my cup of tea. For me, as much as i would like to, i don't do the shows anymore. Trying to haul five people from New Jersey to New York when they have to get up early the next day to go to work for five minutes of stage time is asking too much. If they ever go back to "just bring yourself shows", i guess i'll just stick to writing songs.
Hey Frank. How are you? I know you probably don't remember me, but when i came to New Jersey in 1988 i started doing Open Mic Nights at Rascals a year so later in Ocean, NJ. If i remember correctly, i think you came straight from work to do the shows because i recall you used to wear your uniform. I faded from the scene for 4 or 5 years due to personal tragedies. When i came back you were headlining. Wish i would have stuck with it.
Stay funny
-Nate "Boomer"
If you know of or start any "no bringer" shows, please post it here or email me at:
nateboomer2002@yahoo.com or natebooomer@optonline.net.
(The second email has three o's in boomer).
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Incredible site!