Portland Area Comedy Open Mikes!

I have had some questions lately about where people can see free and enjoyable local comedy, or where they should go to perform some, and although I try hard not to have anything useful on this page, I am too lazy to write things down for people and would like to have something on the internet.

Monday Nights: Boiler Room with Kevin Michael-Moore, 503-227-5441. NW 3rd and Davis.

This is the longest-running open mic in Portland. It is seven years old. Sign-up is at 9, the show is from 9:30 to 11:30, or earlier, karaoke follows! Kevin Michael-Moore is an amazing emcee. I like it there. Kevin keeps the chitchat to a minimum. This mic is not running tomorrow, the 28th, but it will be back soon!

Tuesday Nights: Suki's, at SW 4th and Carruthers. 9:30-12:00. Host Dax Jordan, 503-226-1181.

This is a fun room in the dive bar in the basement of Travelodge. The comics believe that sitting in the small cul-de-sac room is the same thing as being in a soundproof shark cage. Dax is skilled and funny, and this is the hands-DOWN best place to be ignored by your friends in the shark cage while they talk about who threw up in whose car, and also who has pot.

Dante's, W Burnside and 2nd. Rochelle Love is giving Dante's another shot at comedy from 7:30 to 9:30 on Tuesdays! No cover!

Wednesdays: A new biweekly mic is starting at the Krakow Cafe and Pub at 3990 N. Interstate- running from 8-11, hosted by Tim Hammer! Email krakowcafe.cafe1@gmail.com to sign up! The next one is March 10!

Thursdays:
Mt. Tabor Theatre! 9PM! Whitney Streed's very popular Freak Show Comedy books ahead of time! Please write her at streed.jokes@gmail.com to reserve your performance slot! 503-235-8021!

Fridays:
Our improv friends at the Brody Theatre at 16 NW Broadway have been rocking an occasional open mic! Call them for details at 503-224-2227!

Sunday Nights:

Sunday Nights at 7PM at The Copper Rooster 5837 E.Burnside St Starts Feb 14th Free Beer for Comics ! Free Cheeseburger to
the Night's Best Comic. Sign ups @ 6:30PM MUSTY'S BACK BABY !!!!!!

A biweekly Sunday night mic at 9PM at the beautiful Curious Comedy Theatre on MLK, hosted by myself! 5225 NE MLK! The next one is Sunday, March 14th. In this venue, several feature comics open the show, and it's free to the public! I may throw projectiles at people whose jokes I don't like. Fair Warning.

The LAST SUNDAY of the MONTH is the Women's and Trans mic at the Krakow, with host Whitney Streed! The next one is March 7th!

There Ain't No Sanity Clause

Well, I'm about to be three years old- This May 25th is my third anniversary in stand-up. That's not much in the world of comedy, but it's as much as I've ever done. It has gotten me many things, such as being recognized at Montage and at Chaos Cafe. I was having a few sincere thoughts about it, and would like to offer you, dear reader, some completely unsolicited advice.
When I was new, I got laughs by accident, or by luck. I got superstitious about it. The first time I had a good set at an open mike, I never wanted to go back and "ruin" it.
A lot of new comics dwell on and overanalyze their first set, their second set, and it doesn't really matter. They say, I bombed, or I killed, and neither one is true. You're not good enough to bomb. You got lucky. The first time a person gets up to do stand-up, it might be interesting, it might be funny, it might be good writing- but it won't be great stand-up. There are too many microskills that need to be formed. You just have to do it again and again. The good news is that taking a microphone out of a stand 100 times makes for some pretty slick karaoke.
Truly bombing is a gift- if you can survive a room hating you thoroughly, then you know that nothing can be worse than that, and you can get past it.
Where I am now: I can get laughs pretty consistently. It's still like a magic trick, I don't know quite how it's done but I can do it. I found my old notebook and started using material that I had abandoned, because it didn't used to work, and I can make it work now, can better communicate the funny to the audience.

Here is some of the best of the many pieces of advice that more skilled comics have given me:

- Don't disengage between jokes, keep eye contact with the audience.

- The longer the setup, the bigger the laugh needs to be at the punch.

- Write a hundred jokes on a premise and cut down to what works.

- Try to match the crowd's energy. Don't scream at a mellow room, or whisper to an excited, party room.

And my advice is:

The first mistake every comic makes is: Talking too fast. Slow down.
The second mistake is different for everyone. You'll figure it out.