Becoming a Stand-Up Comedian: Climbing the Comedy Ladder

As you start out in your comedy career, it's important to keep an eye on your future career path. Let me preface this article by noting that comics in New York and Los Angeles (as well as overseas) generally have different experiences than so-called "road comics" outside those cities. I've included a note at the end of the article discussing their experiences.

In the meantime, one of the most important questions young comedians have is "How do I become a professional?" Like in all of show business, there is no specific or correct career path; but most of us generally pass through the following steps.

Phase 1: Open Miker
Stage Time: 3-10 minutes
Pay (per show): between zero and negative ten dollars
Experience: 0 to ten years

Oh, to be an open miker again, so innocent and pure, so full of optimism and hope. Actually, open mikers have it tough - long drives, lousy crowds, weeknight shows. It's not the two and a half hour drive to do three minutes in Charlotte that gets you - it's the drive back to make it home in time for work the next morning.

As an open miker, you learn the comedy ropes - write your first material, develop your style, and learn to negotiate good, bad, and (especially) indifferent crowds. At the open-mike level, you take stage time anywhere you can find it, make contacts with comedians, and work toward being recognized by the booker of the local club.

It should be noted that the term "open miker" often has a negative connotation. If you're a new, eager comedian with little or no experience, this does not apply to you. If you're in late thirties or forties, have three weak minutes, and have been doing comedy for seven years total since 1988, this definitely applies to you.

Open mikers have no credits and may or may not have decent material. They generally perform anywhere that will allow them.

Phase 2: Emcee
Stage Time: 8-15 minutes
Pay (per show): $25-$50
Experience: 1-4 years

The emcee at a comedy show essentially performs the same duties as the emcee at the Oscars, only for less money and a slightly smaller audience. An emcee opens the show with his or her material - usually eight to fifteen minutes, depending on the venue - and then introduces the feature and headliner. (Most comedy clubs outside New York and Los Angeles have three comedians: an emcee, a feature, and a headliner to close the show.)

Being an emcee is an excellent learning experience, as many comedians consider it the most difficult slot in the show. The emcee must meet the crowd "cold", manage the inevitable patrons who don't understand that THIS IS NOT @#$@#$ IMPROV AND THERE IS NO CROWD PARTICIPATION YOU BRAIN-DEAD REDNECKS (sorry, having flashbacks, excuse me), do announcements on the restroom, upcoming acts, and the like, and deal with the fact that the show probably started late and a third of the crowd is still waiting for their first drink.

Many clubs require emcees to be "clean" - to avoid profanity, sexual content, and often anything else that might be considered remotely offensive. (This is actually good practice for most emcees, as it pushes them toward writing cleaner material, which can be a help down the line.) Regardless of a specific club's policies, some headliners request that emcees stay clean, particularly if the headliner is a clean comic himself.

Emcees are usually local comedians - or regional, at most - few clubs have the budget to cover travel expenses and/or accommodations for the opening slot. (Those comedians who do travel as emcees often wind up sleeping on the couch in the club's two-bedroom apartment, rented for the other comics.) While some top clubs do bring in openers from out of town, most clubs have a roster of local emcees, who rotate on a weekly basis. The quality of an emcee's act can vary greatly - some emcees are young, up-and-coming comedians; some are local "celebrities" (such as radio DJ's); and others are people who enjoy standup simply as a hobby.

Emcee is the first paying gig for the overwhelming majority of comedians (though, in New York and Los Angeles, the emcee is usually the strongest of the 10-12 comics in their 'showcase' format). From the emcee level, a comedian can hope to impress the club enough to be booked again as a feature.

Phase 3: Feature
Stage Time: 25-40 minutes
Pay (per week): $300-700, plus accommodations
Experience: 3-15 years

Comedians generally first experience life on the road as a feature, or middle act. A feature follows the emcee and generally does a twenty-five to thirty-minute set. Features obtain work in one of two ways: direct booking through a stand-alone comedy club, or through "one-nighters" run by a number of bookers throughout the country. These bookers (among them Heffron Talent, owner of the well-known "Comedy Zone" franchise) will have "Comedy Nights" set up in bars, restaurants, and hotels in their region, and have a set roster of features which they rotate through their shows.

Generally speaking, features (and headliners) will have a "run", or a series of one-nighters that are relatively nearby. For example, this week I have four shows in four separate cities in Florida. Working features - that is, features who support themselves solely on comedy - often work 40 weeks a year or more on the road, living out of their car, and picking off the ugly women that the headliner deems beneath him. Pay ranges from $50 to $150 (most often in the $100-$125 range); one-nighters often are at the higher end of the scale, since travel expenses (and travel time) are higher. A four-night run at a single club might pay $300-$400 plus accommodations, while a four-night run of one-nighters might be closer to $500.

A comedian generally will spend a few years as a feature act before graduating to headliner; it takes time to develop a full hour act, in addition to developing the contacts and references required to become a headliner. Features must have a strong, funny, thirty-minute set and may have some small credits - bit parts in TV or radio shows or something similar.

Phase 4: Headliner
Stage Time: 45-60 minutes
Pay (per week): $1000 and up, plus accommodations
Experience: 10-30 years

The headliner is, simply put, the star of the show. He or she closes the show, generally providing between forty-five minutes and an hour's worth of material. (Although I once opened for a brilliant comedian named Bob Marley in his hometown of Portland, Maine. He did nearly two hours. "Thank God he's done," said one of the managers. "He did almost three last night.")

While the term "headliner" may conjure up thoughts of famous comics like Chris Rock, George Carlin, and Jerry Seinfeld, there are in fact a few thousand headliners who make six figures a year performing all across the U.S. and Canada. Much like features, many headliners spend a great deal of time on the road, performing at comedy clubs and one-nighters. Headliners, however, have the added revenue streams of corporate shows and cruise ships, both of which can be exceptionally lucrative. Corporate shows can pay anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000, including first-class hotel and often travel expenses as well. A week on a cruise ship can earn a headliner several thousand dollars, including full accommodations for him and whoever he's cheating on his wife with that week. Most headliners sell merchandise at shows, such as T-shirts and CD's, which then sit for months, untouched, on the backseat floors of cars all around the country.

In all seriousness, it's important to note that most headliners have a minimum of ten years' experience in comedy, and in 'A' rooms such as the Improvs and Funny Bones, that number is usually closer to twenty years or more. Not only do headliners have to be funny, but they need to have the experience to handle tough rooms, hecklers, talkers, waitresses handing out checks at the end of their set, and the myriad other distractions comedians can face. Headliners often have major TV credits, such as starring roles in unfunny television series, or appearances on similarly unfunny late-night talk shows such as Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Tonight Show, or The Late Show with David Letterman.

New York and L.A.

New York City and Los Angeles have different tracks for comedians for a number of reasons. First of all, most clubs in those cities use the "showcase" format. Rather than have three comedians, those clubs will have a two-hour show featuring anywhere from six to twelve comedians, each doing roughly equal sets. It is rare for even "headliners" at most New York clubs to do a set longer than twenty minutes. Competition for work at clubs in those cities is ridiculously intense, and it will take comedians years to become an established club regular there.

Secondly, the number of off-stage opportunities in both those cities is significantly greater. Many comics work for years in New York, establish a presence in the clubs, and then get one big credit - a spot on Comedy Central, a TV commercial, a guest-starring spot on a network series - to springboard them directly to headlining road clubs. While the road is more of a "ladder", New York comics who hit it big tend to do so quickly - after years of struggling. The choice between New York and the road is one of personal preference, career goals, and one's personal situation. What's the right answer? Like so much in this business, it all depends.

This article was originally published on Suite101.com. Subsequent changes have been made.