were 13). The Open Mic audience size depends on how many friends the comics tell to show up and laugh, and that number can range from 15 to 100 (I counted 10 the first night). Feature and headliner comics also use Open Mic Nights to test new material.
Stanford's Open Mic Night not only allows new comedians to try out their material, but it also offers a comedy class before the performances. I sit in on the comedy class, with nine other comics, before the Open Mic Night begins.
At 7:10 p.m. we move from the small lobby into the expansive main room. A Stanford & Sons neon sign hangs above a humble stage and microphone stand, which sit in the far corner and face 100 chairs with circular tables that dot the room. Murals of famous comedians line the walls, including screaming '80s icon Sam Kinnison. Waitresses busy themselves around a long, black bar in the back of the room. The open micers and I find seats around the stage where McGinnis plops down on a stool.
Selections from Ross' comedy class "Maintain professionalism, even with a
Ross McGinnis, host of Open Mic Night and feature comic at Stanford and Sons, laughs at a new joke from one of the comedians during the pre-show meeting. McGinnis, Weston, Mo., resident, has performed comedy for six years.
small crowd." McGinnis' phone rings in his pocket. He answers it while everyone waits. A waitress walks by and says, "Now how professional is that Ross?"
McGinnis' recommendations continue:
McGinnis recommendations "Write your jokes with setups and punch lines.
"You have to realize the target of the joke and get there fast.
"Make sure the jokes are about you.
"Make sure the jokes are about you.
"Pay attention to people you think are good writers.
"Right now, you just want to build up time to become an emcee and a feature.
"Stay away from topical humor unless you can write well, fast.
"I want the comedians to sit together in the back, so you can start bonding again.
the back, so you can maintain "I cannot underemphasize that you need to record yourself.
"First timers will get three minutes. I'll shine a flashlight in the back of the room steadily and will shake it when you have 30 seconds left. Your time starts when your name is called. You need to wait under Sam Kinnison's head.
"Don't leave the stage empty — wait for the emcee to get back.
"Get three minutes that work and set it aside. Do that three times and with nine minutes you'll have an emcee set."
Wow, no pressure. Now I understand why most of the comics seem extremely nervous.
The Open-micers
"This black guy came up to me and said, 'Hey did the Yankees win?' And I
Jared Gillespie, Open Mic Night comedian and Kansas City, Mo., resident, sets up the punchline to one of his jokes. Gillespie's short setups and quick punchlines whipped the audience into a frenzy.
said, 'Yeah, you're free.'" — Jared Gillespie
Gillespie
After the 20-minute comedy class tutorial, we all shuffle back into the lobby to wait for the show. I am introduced to Jared Gillespie, who, according to McGinnis, is an up-and-coming open-micer. The wideeyed, 25-year-old Gillespie sits on a stool across from me at a tall table in a red-striped blue sweater. Only his receding hairline hints that he is of drinking age. His boyish face and constant smile allow him to get away with racier jokes, Gillespie says. For instance his, "I like gay guys, I just don't like the way they taste" joke, which he will try out tonight.
Gillespie will try out 10 new jokes tonight, intermingled with jokes he knows are solid. He's been coming to Stanford's Open Mic Nights for three months now, ever since he moved from Colorado
Springs, Colo., this summer. I'm not sure if there is a common stand-up background, but if there is, Gillespie's definitely isn't one.
Although originally from Oklahoma, where he received a political science degree at the University of Ok
degree at the University of Oklahoma, Gillespie moved to Colorado Springs to live and train at the U.S. Olympic Training Center for Tae Kwon Do. Like most comedians, his friends and teammates always told him he was funny. So when he wasn't kicking ass, he wrote for a sketch comedy show in Denver. He wrote 30 minutes of material before he took the stage at his first open mic night in Denver. Gillespie performed regularly for three months in Denver, then moved to Kansas City for work and to spend time with his sister here. He currently works as a valet at Hotel Phillips in downtown Kansas City, Mo., for his day job.
to move to New York next fall with his girlfriend, who still lives in Colorado Springs and trains as an Olympic weightlifter. She plans to attend the New York Law School and he wants to try his chops in the ultra-competitive New York comedy scene.
Levels of paid comics
After Gillespie's first Open Mic Night performance at Stanford and Sons, he got an emcee gig, which can take months. He's encede a couple times since, usually performing 10 to 15 minutes. As for where the jokes come from, he says 85 percent of the time he comes up with jokes right before he falls asleep. Usually he'll think of a premise or a punch line and will record it into the voice recorder in his phone. Gillespie plans
**Emcee:** Does 10 to 15 minutes of material (plus intros and announcements)
**Feature:** Does 30 minutes
**Headliner:** Does 45 minutes to an hour
Source: www.soyouwanna.com
"I had to run to the store today and buy a box of super tampons. I need supers because I have such heavy miscarriages." — Nikki "Not related to Craig Glazer" Glaser
Nikki Glaser, St. Louis junior, balances schoolwork with stand-up. Although, she says when she should be working on
Nikki Glaser, St. Louis junior and Open Mic Night performer, reacts to the positive crowd response as she glances down at her set list for the next joke. Glaser enjoys shocking the audience.
school-related projects and papers, she finds herself writing jokes instead.
Glaser has been performing off and on for a year and a half now. She tries to make it to Stanford's every Tuesday. Glaser caught the comedy bug at the end of her freshman year at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She participated in the Boulder Comedy Festival, which although it sounds important, she says it was just a bunch of college students performing. While home the next summer, she took a
he next summer, she took a comedy workshop at The Funny Bone Comedy Club in St. Louis. That led to a open mic nights in the city. Glaser stopped performing after transferring to The University of Kansas for a year and then started taking it again last August."
for all you need.
back at it again last August. "I
like to deal with controversial issues," Glaser says. "I'm working on a joke that
ends with beating my children." She doesn't have children and says she would never beat them if she did, but the point is she starts working on the joke from its premise and punch line and then works her way back.
Glaser used to write a journal to come up with joke ideas, but now says it's easier for her to sit down for a couple hours at a time and write out premises and jokes. She also draws inspiration from watching professional comics on TV. "If I watch Mitch Hedberg perform, I'll write a couple Mitch Hedberg-style jokes," Glaser says. She currently has a 15-minute act. At open mics, she says it's hard to watch the same people do their same sets 20 times in a row — but that's just part of it. And she's accepted that performing jokes over and over is the only way to get better. The hardest part of the process for Glaser is listening to recordings of herself, "I've made recordings that aren't even out of the tape deck," she says. "It's nice to be up-and-coming in Kansas City because there are more opportunities for beginners than the coasts." As for advice for first-timers: "Don't be discouraged if they don't laugh — you have to do it at least five times before you give it up," Glaser says. "Everybody bombs — Jerry Seinfeld still bombs." That's good advice, but I don't think it's quelled the overwhelming pit of fear lodged in my stomach from just thinking about dipping my toe in the comedy pool.
The callback
McGinnis estimates there are about 80 active comedians in the Kansas City area.
That breaks down to 30 open-micers, who also account for emees, 30 features and around 20 headliners, McGinnis says.
and on 2014.
"Did you know when black babies are born they're white? Neither did I!" —D.C. Young, the headliner
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Jarett Atkins, Lee Summit, Mo., resident and Jill Vost, Peculiar, Mo., resident, laugh at a joke at Open Mic Night at Stanford and Sons Comedy Club in Overland Park.
11. 4.04 Jayplay
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