As I have previously mentioned, I recently went out to an open mic at Brittany's in Woodbridge. This was a packed night of comedy. Fifteen comedians took the stage that night. In my opinion that is way too many comedians to sit through, especially for an open mic. The show ran almost two and a half hours! For God's sake, Eddie Izzard kept it to two hours. I love Eddie Izzard, but there's only so long even he can keep me in my seat. So I have decided to highlight some comics from that show who caught my eye both in a good way and a bad way. This first of a two part blog I will highlight the more impressive comics. I rated each comic on my "laugh meter". This is a scale of 1-10 to rate the overall laughter of the room (not just me). If someone just got occasional awkward chuckles he might get a 1 or a 2. If he had the room rolling I might give him an 8 or 9. However, to achieve this rating you have to make me no shit laugh out loud... which is hard to do.
Dave Carter
Dave Carter took the stage with authority. He performed fourth in the line up. I think that is a really good slot to get. The crowd is relatively warmed up, but they're not tired of hearing comedy yet. Having said this, I don't think he really needed it. In my opinion he killed. On top of great material, he captured the audience's attention. He was very comfortable on stage, with great rhythm, flow and delivery. He started off with a bathroom joke that almost made beer come out my nose. That is quite impressive because normally these types jokes are lame and I never go for them. I really want to catch another set by Dave. I have never heard of this guy before, but I would really like to follow him. His set seemed shorter than the other comics, maybe only three or five minutes. When he said, "that's my time", I literally wanted to hear more. I was observing the comics before the show started and Dave was off by himself in a booth in the back going over his material. This really impressed me. I could tell he took that gig seriously. And if he takes open mics this seriously and kills that much, I would love to see him feature for a full comedy production.
Laugh Meter: 9
Lafayette Wright
In the previous post I explained that comedians need to know the anatomy of a joke. In addition to this, they also need to know how to arrage their material. Typically it is best to start off with tried and true material that has proved to get laughs in the past. This shouldn't be your funnies material, just your most solid. In the middle of your set you put your weaker, or new material. Then, in typical Vegas fasion, you end on a high note. You pull out all of the stops and give the crowd your grand finalle with your best material. Lafayette did this pretty well. He grabbed the mic and, with no introductions, rolled into his first joke which took the crowd off guard and got big laughs. It was just a simple one liner too, which was the beauty of it. Instantly he engaged the audience's attention. He sustained that momentum through his next few jokes, which carried him through his weaker material in the middle. Even though his weaker material didn't get as good of laughs he still held your attention because we all were waiting for him to recover, which he did pretty well. As a comic you can't let silence distract you from your focus. It is the mark of a comedian as to how well you can recover.
Laugh Meter: 6
Kathleen O'Brien
This is a new comedian who gives me hope. This was her first time doing comedy. For her first time I was very impressed. Right off the bat I'm sure she impressed Jim Pate (who runs the show) because she had a substantial cheering section. There were at least 10 people there just to see her. Even if you're not funny that is how you get a call back for another show. Club owners down't give a rat's patootie if people are laughing, just so long as they are buying food and alcohol. On a comedic level I was impressed with the lack of first time jitters she performed with. Could she work on her stage presence? Of course. But she spoke clearly and confidently. She had very clever material. Half of her jokes were worked into an extenseive story which is something you don't hear very often, but I liked. The story line held your attention as well as the jokes. Even though I give her a low laugh rating, I still give her first set an A.
Laugh Meter: 3
Next blog we will discuss the less impressive comedians... I can see the hate mail now!
3 comments:
You're publicly rating comedians at an open mic? You do know that a comedian isn't neccesarily trying to be impressive at an open mic, right?
If comedians aren't trying to impress the audience, then why should I come out to see them?
I understand that open mics are not the place to hear polished material, but if a comic takes the stage he better be trying his hardest to make me laugh. Half of the reason I write these critiques is for the consumer's benefit. If they see a comedy flyer with Erik Myer's name on it I want them to say, "I heard this guy is good. I want to go see him." The other half is for the producer's benefit. Open mics are a place to work on your material, and I'm just pointing out good things for you to excel at and bad things for you to work on.
You shouldn't. I honestly can't think of a single reason for a non-comedian to go to an open mic. I run an open mic and a booked show and I've never told anyone to go to the open mic. Open mics are for people to work on shit and if there is a crowd there...great, but I have no idea why anyone would want to sit through one. There are shows that people kill themselves over trying to make it good. They are not called open mics. Reviewing an open mic is like trying to review a play during auditions.
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