The first time Kelsie Huff performed stand-up in Chicago, she was greeted by two comics who were drunkenly vomiting outside the venue. Once inside, things didn’t get much better—another comic she attended the show with went onstage first and stole all of Huff’s jokes. The ordeal was an experience that almost made her quit comedy altogether, but as time passed she came to terms with the fact that everyone starts by working the painful and awkward rooms of open mikes.
I asked the cast of The Open Mic to share their real-life open-mike stories and their go-to spots in the city for trying out new material.
Elizabeth Gomez
Go-to open mike: You Joke Like a Girl at Volumes Cafe
When I was still within my first couple years of performing and still living in Des Moines, another open-mike friend of mine and I drove down to a comedy club in Kansas City for their open mike. I called the club that morning and was told we were on the list. When we showed up, the local “road comic” who emceed told us that we were supposed to also call his phone to get on the list. He sighed and muttered something inaudible, but which clearly contained “fucking open mikers.” He said that since we drove so far, he would get us on the show at the end. The show started and a seemingly never-ending cavalcade of terrible comedians marched through the room. After what seemed to be the greater part of the 20th century, the host thanked the audience and said the show was over. When we ran up to him, he said the show ran late and we got bumped. Now seems like the appropriate time to mention that we had to pay ten dollars each to perform. He told us tough, that’s comedy. That was my last time ever paying to perform comedy.
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