Author: michnyc@gmail.com

I am officially no longer running my weekly mic. I ran the mic for just over a year and well it’s time to say goodbye. I don’t want to say I outgrew it, but I tried different tactics to keep the mic interesting for me. I had a friend co-run it, but she eventually decided it wasn’t worthwhile for her. Then I had someone run the 2nd half of the mic so I would only be there part of the time.  This friend eventually couldn’t run the 2nd half. So I found someone else. Last week was the tipping point. There were a few special shows running and so the mic started at 11:30pm– 30 minutes late. The deal with the person I shared the mic with was at 11:45pm she takes over and runs the mic. So I literally called up the first round of comics and then passed over the mic to her. It felt weird like I was either cheating the mic or myself or I’m not sure, but someone yelled out to me “DO YOUR JOB”. Which was totally obnoxious, it’s a free mic, and when I leave doesn’t affect anything, but it jolted me into making the decision that had been on my mind for months. And so I let the mic go. I didn’t make a post on Facebook or make an announcement at the mic. I did the ol’ Irish goodbye. Minus this blog post. I’ll still hang at the club and go to the mic, but it just won’t be my mic anymore and I am (mostly) ok with that.

The last post I wrote was May 12th. That was a while ago. I picked up this new job and found the comedy/day job balance difficult and so I halted the blog, but not the comedy performing. The job is over for the summer and so I am back in the blogging game. Here’s hoping I can figure out the balance between day job and comedy by the time I return to the job in the fall.

I run a few weekly shows. I want to be on other people’s shows. But, there’s a skill and an art to spot trading. You don’t want to flat out say “hey, book me and I’ll book you” because that’s low brow, but you want the other person to know they should book you. This is a skill I need to develop. I am booked on 2 other people’s shows in the next few weeks. Let’s see how the ‘I scratch your back if you scratch mine’ system works.

I’m tired. I have a new job that is 25 hours a week (most comics have full time jobs). In addition to freelance jobs. Oh and I’m a comedian which involves late nights.  I need to figure out a balance. Today I had a few hours in between my job and running an 11pm mic. Fortunately or unfortunately my job is right next to the mic, so it didn’t make sense for me to go home.

I was asked to MC a music show. This is the second time I was asked to do it, so I must have done a good job the first time around. The show was hectic and the comedy occurred while bands were setting up directly behind the comedians, so the audience had trouble paying attention to the comics.
The producer said next time the comedians will perform before the musical acts set up. I think this is a good move because the audience will be focused on the comedian. So to be continued….

I host a mic at a comedy club. I hardly ever get laughs at my jokes. Even the ones I know work don’t get laughs. I don’t blame it on me being unfunny, or a bad host it’s the culture of open mics in New York City, for the most part.

Last week I was running late (for the first time)  and two comics covered for me. They co-hosted and it seemed like so much fun. They were playing off each other nicely. And so I was inspired to ask my friend Jessica Brodkin if she would co-host with me. And she did. She has an awesome laugh and her presence changed the dynamic of the room.  At the end of the mic, I publicly asked her a question.  It seemed like I was proposing to her and in a way I was, I asked if she would co-host with me and she said yes! She said yes! And so the dynamic of the mic has changed!

For Purim I Mc’ed and produced a comedy show at a synagogue in Long Island. Sounds simple right? Due to traffic driving there took 2.5 hours and driving home in the rain took about 1.5 hours. I wrote a few jokes specific for purim ie: “People think purim is the Jewish Halloween, it’s not. Jewish Halloween is the day after Halloween when all the costumes are 80% off.”  The purim jokes went over well as did most of the Jew specific jokes. The show was challenging because the front row was filled with chatty children.  Getting heckled by a six year old armed with a whoopy cushion is a lot to handle! It took time for the audience to get focused with all the distractions, but we made it happen and the show was well received. Not an easy show, but we did it! The nicest thing was some of the audience came up to us after and acknowledged how difficult the situation was and told us we did well. It’s rare an audience understands that it’s not an ideal situation for comedy.