This page will focus on comedian etiquette towards your host. This is almost going to sound like a repeat but it is not. Some of the things you may do wrong towards your fellow comics, also discredit you with the comedy club.
First…
Whether you at an open mic or at a comedy club and your allotted time is five, ten, fifteen, or 30 minutes, then that is your time, not more and not less. How will you know without a watch? Comedy clubs will give you the light or you will have a clock on the stage hidden behind a speaker that you can see. The same goes for an open mic.
See how that sounded exactly the same? That’s because I copied and pasted it. First, believe it in your heart and keep it there forever that, open mic does not need to exist and you do not need to perform, as far as the club is concerned. In other words, they are doing you the favor and not the other way around. Therefore, you need to follow the rules to a “T”
You need to be smart enough to know how to time your skit during rehearsal. You are better off 30 seconds under (No more) than going 30 seconds over, I assure you.
If you get the light at a comedy club, it means, “Get to !@#$ off the stage” You have wore out your grace period and you are breaking into another person’s set.
If that other person is you then how will you finish your set without enough time? If it is another person that you managed to screw, then you just burned a bridge with a person that may have been able to help you in the future.
In a comedy club, there are two shows a night on Friday and Saturday with 30 minutes to clear the room and make it new again for the next crowed to come in and enjoy the show.
If you are the reason they have less time to get that done, then you have just pi$$ed off the host, manager, and the waitresses that are trying to tab out and clean up. You are going to have to hope that you are not so prideful that you do not think you need to march your butt up to the club team and make formal apologize or you may be doing your shows in another town before too long.
These people can make you or break you in the world of comedy. You need to treat each one of them as if they are the CEO of a company that you want to work for forever…because they are. Once they feel that they are no longer in need of your services, it’s off to another city to start over again. Life is hard enough without making it harder on yourself and you do so by making it harder on others. a little bit of pure comedian etiquette will go a long way.
Do unto others, as you want them to do unto you…Or suffer the repercussions.
