So… You’re fed up with the open mic scene to the point where you’re thinking about starting your own room. First and foremost, who the hell are you to be so frustrated, and second, I have some thoughts about starting a show that I think are pretty good and should probably be taken into consideration before you jump in prepared for nothing more than failure. (Disclaimer: I love the mic my friends and I run and wouldn’t trade it for anything. Know this to be true whilst you read, or I might come off like an asshole. Also, I am, in fact, an asshole.)For starters, the idea of having your own open mic is way more glamorous than actually running an open mic. If you go into this endeavor thinking anything else, be prepared for the misery that is having your delusional thoughts dissolved while trying to bring up the energy of a quarter-filled room of only comics between multiple sets. It’s harder than you can imagine and even if you do it well, will probably go unnoticed.The fun part is, you don’t get to be angry about it because it makes you look terrible and discourages people from supporting the show again, meaning you have no show and are back to square one. I guess what I’m trying to say is knowing the reality of what it’s going to take to run a room well, takes a lot of the edge off the shitty stuff that will inevitably happen.
