Last week I was fortunate enough to do two new open mics in one week for the first time.  And I’m doing two mics this week as well.

Last Tuesday was my first time getting to do open mic at the Helium Comedy Club in Brentwood. It was their first open mic after a hiatus due to a six week long contest so the crowd was small. Helium is nice because they serve food and it’s a very large and upscale place, but they don’t seat people down front and their sound system is a bit muffled since the showroom is so large.

I was having trouble sleeping that week so I had a raging headache that night so I didn’t feel good about my set and left shortly after I was done. It was still a good experience getting to go up on a new stage though.

On Thursday that week I also debuted at the open mic at Hey Guys Comedy Club in Fairview Heights, Illinois. That’s a great venue for that town and only about fifteen minutes from downtown St. Louis. There were ten really strong comics that night so it was a great show.

I also tried out new material, and we each got to do seven minutes instead of the typical four minutes at open mics. The only drawback was the thunderstorms and hail in the area obviously kept people away that night. Besides the comics, we only had three people in the audience.

This week I did Funny Bone’s open mic on Tuesday. I was the next to the last comic to go up, and though we had a nice sized crowd of about thirty people they were a very cold audience. A few comics were bombing so bad that they didn’t even do their full four minutes.  Even the headliners that get squeezed in and do a set throughout the show were bombing. It was a rough night for everyone.

I tried out some brand new jokes that night which did okay.  And I recorded audio of my set to listen to. Playing it back, I was actually surprised at the laughs that I did get so I think I did better than some that night. It just goes to show you never know how the audience is going to be! That’s one thing that makes stand up comedy so appealing to me.

Tonight I’m headed back to Illinois for my very first contest qualifier.  It’s at Hey Guys Comedy Club. Each month they do a contest qualifier. Twenty comics go up and the audience picks the top three or four.  Those who win become semi-finalists in next year’s contest which is held in early spring.

I’ll probably get to do 6 to 7 minutes I’m guessing. I don’t know the details yet.  Even if I don’t make it into the contest, it’s still good experience for me. Most of the clubs hold their contests in the summer.  Helium wrapped up their contest a few weeks ago and Funny Bone is also in the middle of a contest that wraps up next month.  I’ll probably definitely get in on those next year.