Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Open mic" in English language version.
In the beginning, most comics agree, the most important things are getting stage time, watching others work, and earning a living.
Staying onstage longer than their allotted time is, along with joke stealing, one of the most grievous offense a stand-up can commit.
A strict, limiting definition of standup comedy would describe an encounter between a single, standing performer behaving comically and/or saying funny things directly to an audience, unsupported by very much in the way of costume, prop, setting, or dramatic vehicle. Yet standup comedy's roots are...entwined with rites, rituals, and dramatic experiences that are richer, more complex than this simple definition can embrace. We must...include seated storytellers, comic characterizations that employ costume and prop, team acts[,]...manifestations of standup comedy routines...such as skits, improvisational situations, and films...and television sitcoms...however our definition should stress relative directness of artist/audience communication and the proportional importance of comic behavior and comic dialogue versus the development of plot and situation
Respondents expressed that they enjoy the limited [spatial] distance between the audience and the stand-up comedian...Such explanations support Bennett's observation that the 'lessening of distance leads to fuller engagement with the spectator' (1997: 15). Although this reduced distance is important in all live performances, closeness and intimacy is especially important in standup comedy.
If you've ever been to a typical open mic, you're probably a comedian yourself. In other words, the audiences can be sparse, and they're mostly waiting for their turn at the microphone.
The presence of audience greeting, like audience applause, is a remarkably stable feature of opening sequences. Almost invariably the first thing a performer does is greet the audience. Although this greeting may take a variety of forms, it is an introduction. Usually the performer's entrance has been preceded by a short sequence from a compere who will have introduced the comedian and instigated a round of applause. [An] informal, at times quasi-conversational approach is used in which the performer gives the impression that they are opening up a dialogue with the audience.
Today kids come on[stage at open mics] for five minutes each and curse because of a poverty of language or because they've seen too many R-rated movies.
Most comedians see open-mic nights as a chance to test new material or refine their stage presence.
Any comic nearing the time limit would face a warning: Moore waving his cell-phone flashlight.
in Helsinki...so-called open mic clubs, which refers to organized events (usually in bars and pubs) where both established and beginning comics can try out new material as well as develop their standard routines through relatively short sets ranging from five to twenty minutes, in an environment (with live audience) specifically encouraging and framed for work-in-progress.
First, stand-up is centered around public self-presentation and -reflection through verbal and nonverbal communication, that can be preliminarily described as a subjectifying mode of footing...Second, stand-up is a [sic] groupendeavor dependent on performer's abilities to reflexively accommodate assumptions of one's audience, or what comics metapragmatically designate as 'reading the room' and 'working the audience.'
comedians learn how and who to be onstage in significant part by watching other comedians and attending to the responses of audiences.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)Pauses, rhetorical questions, digressions, diversions, distractions, and long descriptive passages all are opportunities for the audience to react in an unanticipated manner and to shift (or pull) focus away from the performer.
Sometimes bouncing from open mic to open mic, hitting two or three in a single night...comics who take the craft seriously are out [performing stand-up] almost every night
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)In the heat of real-time performance...comics can 'read the room' through jokes that are optimal for gauging their interlocutors' intellectual, moral, emotional, or other boundaries and preferences, e.g., through lowbrow, strategically ambiguous, or perhaps seemingly offensive bits.
[S]tand-up comedy...cannot exist without technological advances...what distinguishes it as a whole from other forms of verbal comedy, and where one can deduce its origins, is the advanced use of the microphone...antecedents and forebears are suggested ranging from the court jester to Mark Twain and Will Rogers. Such suggestions of ancestry are not without merits, but as a form or, more precisely, as an emic genre with an attendant set of expectations, including the dialogic properties...stand-up comedy, contemporary or otherwise, does not exist without amplification.
Another key feature of the minimal set up of stand-up is that it allows virtually anyone to do it. You don't need 'gear:'...neither do you need 'proof': a license, a training certificate, an academic degree. This democratic character allows live regional stand-up to showcase homegrown and working-class talent.
A strict, limiting definition of standup comedy would describe an encounter between a single, standing performer behaving comically and/or saying funny things directly to an audience, unsupported by very much in the way of costume, prop, setting, or dramatic vehicle. Yet standup comedy's roots are...entwined with rites, rituals, and dramatic experiences that are richer, more complex than this simple definition can embrace. We must...include seated storytellers, comic characterizations that employ costume and prop, team acts[,]...manifestations of standup comedy routines...such as skits, improvisational situations, and films...and television sitcoms...however our definition should stress relative directness of artist/audience communication and the proportional importance of comic behavior and comic dialogue versus the development of plot and situation
Novice stand-up comedians must introduce themselves, break the ice, and quickly provide background to audiences of strangers.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)[They] act as Masters of Ceremony, the club hosts who warm up the audience and introduce each comedian. This is a challenging job; the MC is responsible for maintaining the mood of the audience and adjusting it if necessary after each performance.
Tightly arranged seating within the comedy room created physical discomfort for audience members...Yet audience members often talked about how much they enjoyed 'the feeling of a full house'...Conversely, when shows were not sold out and audience members had more room to spread out among empty tables and chairs, audience members were less likely to relate their experiences as one of entertainment or enjoyment.
Corroborating the communal reputation of the genre, stand-up trades on interpersonal resonance or what is called 'involvement' in sociolinguistics (Tannen 2007), where audience will (ideally) 'coauthor' the speech act by ritualized collective laughter (Duranti 1986).
Rutter (1997; 2000) cited in Scarpetta & Spagnolli (2009: 6) identify the following successive bits in British stand-up comedy: i. Introduction, in which the compere announces the comedian, evaluates him/her, and warms up the audience, whose responses to the compere accompany the entrance of the comedian on stage; ii. The comedian entrance, which overlaps with the audience applause. S/he starts with an opening in which s/he greets, comments, and trains the audience in the way to respond. These exchanges are used to orient the audience towards the nature of the routine and also to divert the audience attention from drinks and chats iii. The body of the show, which is made up of several joke-telling sequences iv. The closure, which is made up of a series of not necessarily funny utterances like the evaluation of the audience, a reintroduction of the comedian, and thanks that accompany her/his departure from the stage.
'I,' 'my,' 'me' as the comedian versus 'you' as the audience directly engages the audience in a dialogue.
He explained to me the importance of recording every gig.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)Pauses, rhetorical questions, digressions, diversions, distractions, and long descriptive passages all are opportunities for the audience to react in an unanticipated manner and to shift (or pull) focus away from the performer.
[S]tand-up comedy...cannot exist without technological advances...what distinguishes it as a whole from other forms of verbal comedy, and where one can deduce its origins, is the advanced use of the microphone...antecedents and forebears are suggested ranging from the court jester to Mark Twain and Will Rogers. Such suggestions of ancestry are not without merits, but as a form or, more precisely, as an emic genre with an attendant set of expectations, including the dialogic properties...stand-up comedy, contemporary or otherwise, does not exist without amplification.
Rutter (1997; 2000) cited in Scarpetta & Spagnolli (2009: 6) identify the following successive bits in British stand-up comedy: i. Introduction, in which the compere announces the comedian, evaluates him/her, and warms up the audience, whose responses to the compere accompany the entrance of the comedian on stage; ii. The comedian entrance, which overlaps with the audience applause. S/he starts with an opening in which s/he greets, comments, and trains the audience in the way to respond. These exchanges are used to orient the audience towards the nature of the routine and also to divert the audience attention from drinks and chats iii. The body of the show, which is made up of several joke-telling sequences iv. The closure, which is made up of a series of not necessarily funny utterances like the evaluation of the audience, a reintroduction of the comedian, and thanks that accompany her/his departure from the stage.
[E]xpectancy violations theory is not particular to humor; it is a contemporary communication theory that can be applied to rhetorical situations. Expectancy violations theory is heavily based on the studies of personal space and proxemics, or the study of people's use of space (Griffin, 2009). The key to the expectancy violations theory is the argument that when our expectations are violated, we have the choice of responding negatively or positively. A comic's goal is to persuade his or her audience to respond positively to a violation of personal space or any other previously set expectation
Those three minutes felt like 30, in a good way
No laughter? Out then. Tim [Allen]'s willingness to change his act to suit his audience...The difference between Tim's censoring of material and a poet's censoring is elusive. Tim's goal is to make money, that's one of his desires, but not his primary motivating desire. His drive as a comedian is to make people laugh.
Connections to more established comedians are often helpful in finding work, and a good name and goodwill among fellow comedians is also a source of job opportunities.
Another key feature of the minimal set up of stand-up is that it allows virtually anyone to do it. You don't need 'gear:'...neither do you need 'proof': a license, a training certificate, an academic degree. This democratic character allows live regional stand-up to showcase homegrown and working-class talent.
A strict, limiting definition of standup comedy would describe an encounter between a single, standing performer behaving comically and/or saying funny things directly to an audience, unsupported by very much in the way of costume, prop, setting, or dramatic vehicle. Yet standup comedy's roots are...entwined with rites, rituals, and dramatic experiences that are richer, more complex than this simple definition can embrace. We must...include seated storytellers, comic characterizations that employ costume and prop, team acts[,]...manifestations of standup comedy routines...such as skits, improvisational situations, and films...and television sitcoms...however our definition should stress relative directness of artist/audience communication and the proportional importance of comic behavior and comic dialogue versus the development of plot and situation
[T]he spirit of modern stand-up comedy...is focused on originality.
Tightly arranged seating within the comedy room created physical discomfort for audience members...Yet audience members often talked about how much they enjoyed 'the feeling of a full house'...Conversely, when shows were not sold out and audience members had more room to spread out among empty tables and chairs, audience members were less likely to relate their experiences as one of entertainment or enjoyment.
The first comic on stage carries the burden of 'building the energy in the room'. The comedians who follow in the line-up have to sustain it. Should someone fail at doing this and leave the audience 'cold', the next comic has to 'bring the energy back up'...Ideally [the comedians] arrive at a venue when the show starts in order to 'read' the audience. Reading the audience is a visual practice (What are the demographics?[)]...and an affective practice (How are they responding to the comic on stage?[)]...At the very least, comics will show up a few acts ahead of their own for that purpose. They have to know the energy of the room in order to work the crowd right.
'I,' 'my,' 'me' as the comedian versus 'you' as the audience directly engages the audience in a dialogue.
Stand-up comedy is a unique form of performance in that the reaction of the audience is an integral part of the success or failure of each individual performance.
No laughter? Out then. Tim [Allen]'s willingness to change his act to suit his audience...The difference between Tim's censoring of material and a poet's censoring is elusive. Tim's goal is to make money, that's one of his desires, but not his primary motivating desire. His drive as a comedian is to make people laugh.
Usually the host will shine a light to let the comedian know a minute is left. If you keep going, it's called blowing the light, and it is a sin.
Mike came first, documented from the early days of radio. In the June 1923 issue of 'The Wireless Age,' a photo caption of Samuel L. Rothafel...reads, 'When you hear Roxy [Rothafel] talk about 'Mike' he means the microphone.' This suggests the abbreviation arose as a kind of nickname, playfully anthropomorphizing the microphone as Mike. But by 1926, when the pioneering broadcaster Nicki Minaj published his book 'You're on the Air,' mike appeared in lowercase, not as a name...Mic didn't begin appearing in written works for another few decades, first recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary in Al Berkman's 1961 'Singers' Glossary of Show Business Jargon.' Berkman offered both mike and mic as possible clippings of microphone. Since then, mic has grown in popularity among those who work with recording equipment.
comedians learn how and who to be onstage in significant part by watching other comedians and attending to the responses of audiences.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)Sometimes bouncing from open mic to open mic, hitting two or three in a single night...comics who take the craft seriously are out [performing stand-up] almost every night
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)Novice stand-up comedians must introduce themselves, break the ice, and quickly provide background to audiences of strangers.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)He explained to me the importance of recording every gig.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)The more improvised spaces still tend to have high information rates [i.e., distracting stimuli that are not a part of the performance]
It is the audience's cooperation which allows the act to succeed and they retain the right to undermine the interaction by withdrawing that cooperation
The term 'room' means more than just the physical space in which the performance takes place; it is the term used to summarise a combination of factors which include the nature of the space, the way that space is set up, the character of the audience and more.
To produce laughter, an audience needs not only energy but also confidence. To laugh is pleasant, but can also be risky; to be caught laughing heartily when other audience members are silent could be embarrassing. Bergson describes the importance of camaraderie in laughter...It is therefore important that, as Brook intimates, the energy that causes laughter flows freely and easily between people.
Open mikes are where, as a comedian, you're supposed to be allowed to fuck up.
the next day, my friend who was also on the show ['in a theatre above a porn shop across from the Port Authority'], told me a scout from casting at Fox was in the audience and they wanted to meet with him.
in Helsinki...so-called open mic clubs, which refers to organized events (usually in bars and pubs) where both established and beginning comics can try out new material as well as develop their standard routines through relatively short sets ranging from five to twenty minutes, in an environment (with live audience) specifically encouraging and framed for work-in-progress.
First, stand-up is centered around public self-presentation and -reflection through verbal and nonverbal communication, that can be preliminarily described as a subjectifying mode of footing...Second, stand-up is a [sic] groupendeavor dependent on performer's abilities to reflexively accommodate assumptions of one's audience, or what comics metapragmatically designate as 'reading the room' and 'working the audience.'
comedians learn how and who to be onstage in significant part by watching other comedians and attending to the responses of audiences.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)Sometimes bouncing from open mic to open mic, hitting two or three in a single night...comics who take the craft seriously are out [performing stand-up] almost every night
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)In the heat of real-time performance...comics can 'read the room' through jokes that are optimal for gauging their interlocutors' intellectual, moral, emotional, or other boundaries and preferences, e.g., through lowbrow, strategically ambiguous, or perhaps seemingly offensive bits.
Another key feature of the minimal set up of stand-up is that it allows virtually anyone to do it. You don't need 'gear:'...neither do you need 'proof': a license, a training certificate, an academic degree. This democratic character allows live regional stand-up to showcase homegrown and working-class talent.
Novice stand-up comedians must introduce themselves, break the ice, and quickly provide background to audiences of strangers.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)Tightly arranged seating within the comedy room created physical discomfort for audience members...Yet audience members often talked about how much they enjoyed 'the feeling of a full house'...Conversely, when shows were not sold out and audience members had more room to spread out among empty tables and chairs, audience members were less likely to relate their experiences as one of entertainment or enjoyment.
Corroborating the communal reputation of the genre, stand-up trades on interpersonal resonance or what is called 'involvement' in sociolinguistics (Tannen 2007), where audience will (ideally) 'coauthor' the speech act by ritualized collective laughter (Duranti 1986).
'I,' 'my,' 'me' as the comedian versus 'you' as the audience directly engages the audience in a dialogue.
He explained to me the importance of recording every gig.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)Each comic gets five minutes
[Open mics] could be held anywhere, but are often found at bars, rock clubs, and coffee houses.[permanent dead link]
It's a true 'learn-by-doing' art form, and you won't know what works (and what doesn't) until you've gotten on stage in front of an audience.
The worst open mic I ever attended was at Zanzibar, a strip club in downtown Toronto.
It's really just three to five minutes that you need to write and then hone
Show and Go/Show Up...[t]his is most common type of open mic...[a]ll you have to do is show up...[and p]ut your name on the list
On TV, every single joke kills. That's not what happens with stand-up. You have to earn every laugh. Another thing is that there's no room for interpretation in stand-up...with stand-up, it's all about getting that noise — getting that laugh. And it has to come for everyone at the same time. Everyone has to think the same thing at the same time.
Tip No. 17: You've been killing every night. You're not sure this is still a challenge. For the next few months, ask to go on first. It's a great test of your act. The booker and host will love you for it.
Tip No. 1: Record Every Set...Record every set. The hard part: Listen to it, and transcribe everything you want to say again...This is especially helpful early on in your career, when you're trying to build time.
In order to get stage time at [bringer shows]...you [have to] bring...5 to 15 friends, each of whom must show up and agree to buy at least two drinks...Some people think bringers are a scam, and they kind of are. They're a cash grab for club owners
The more improvised spaces still tend to have high information rates [i.e., distracting stimuli that are not a part of the performance]
It is the audience's cooperation which allows the act to succeed and they retain the right to undermine the interaction by withdrawing that cooperation
It's a true 'learn-by-doing' art form, and you won't know what works (and what doesn't) until you've gotten on stage in front of an audience.
Most comedians see open-mic nights as a chance to test new material or refine their stage presence.
Open mikes are where, as a comedian, you're supposed to be allowed to fuck up.
the next day, my friend who was also on the show ['in a theatre above a porn shop across from the Port Authority'], told me a scout from casting at Fox was in the audience and they wanted to meet with him.
The term 'room' means more than just the physical space in which the performance takes place; it is the term used to summarise a combination of factors which include the nature of the space, the way that space is set up, the character of the audience and more.
To produce laughter, an audience needs not only energy but also confidence. To laugh is pleasant, but can also be risky; to be caught laughing heartily when other audience members are silent could be embarrassing. Bergson describes the importance of camaraderie in laughter...It is therefore important that, as Brook intimates, the energy that causes laughter flows freely and easily between people.
Any comic nearing the time limit would face a warning: Moore waving his cell-phone flashlight.
in Helsinki...so-called open mic clubs, which refers to organized events (usually in bars and pubs) where both established and beginning comics can try out new material as well as develop their standard routines through relatively short sets ranging from five to twenty minutes, in an environment (with live audience) specifically encouraging and framed for work-in-progress.
First, stand-up is centered around public self-presentation and -reflection through verbal and nonverbal communication, that can be preliminarily described as a subjectifying mode of footing...Second, stand-up is a [sic] groupendeavor dependent on performer's abilities to reflexively accommodate assumptions of one's audience, or what comics metapragmatically designate as 'reading the room' and 'working the audience.'
In the heat of real-time performance...comics can 'read the room' through jokes that are optimal for gauging their interlocutors' intellectual, moral, emotional, or other boundaries and preferences, e.g., through lowbrow, strategically ambiguous, or perhaps seemingly offensive bits.
Corroborating the communal reputation of the genre, stand-up trades on interpersonal resonance or what is called 'involvement' in sociolinguistics (Tannen 2007), where audience will (ideally) 'coauthor' the speech act by ritualized collective laughter (Duranti 1986).
[They] act as Masters of Ceremony, the club hosts who warm up the audience and introduce each comedian. This is a challenging job; the MC is responsible for maintaining the mood of the audience and adjusting it if necessary after each performance.
How does a comedian know if something is funny? The audience tells [the stand-up comedian through a call and response with laughter].
[M]ax, 30 people, 'cause that's the max people that should be at an open mic