Audience Information:

The Joplin Comedy Open-Mics are a place for comedians of all experience levels to get on stage and work on new and old stuff alike.  The Open-Mics are a fun show featuring anywhere from 8-15 comedians and are always free to attend.  So come have a blast with us one Sunday at Blackthorn Pizza & Pub on Main.  We typically have the Open-Mic every other Sunday, so please check on the "Shows" page for exact dates.

Performing Information:


So you think you got what it takes to do this whole comedy deal?  Awesome!!  We'd love to have you come give it a shot. 

How do you go about that?  Well, the first step for any prospective comic is an Open-Mic. 

Here's some tips and guidelines for our open mic:

• If you haven't been to an open mic before, you might consider coming to one as a spectator first.  That way you have a better idea of how everything works and when you decide to give it a shot, you'll be able to concentrate on your material and not worry about all the other stuff.
• Show up between 30 minutes to an hour before the show starts.  There will be a host with a sign up sheet.  Right before the show, we'll gather all the comics to determine the order.
• Typically, you'll get 5 minutes of stage time.  Occasionally, if we have fewer comics show up, we'll let you do a little more time.  However, there's no minimum amount of time you have to do.  If you only feel comfortable starting out with 2 or 3 minutes, that's perfectly fine.  When you get down to a minute left of your time, the host will flash a light at you letting you know to start wrapping your time up.
• There's no topic off-limits and no censorship on language, however, if you use your stage time to throw out a poor attempt at "shock humor", your time performing on Joplin Comedy shows will be short lived.  So what can't you do on stage?
  • Don't be a misogynistic mouth-breather.  Don't be a hate-fueled bigot.  Don't be a homophobic douche.  Don't use your stage time for a desperate attempt to be predatory towards the audience members or other comics.
  • "Wait, what happened to free speech?  Carlin must be rolling over in his grave..." 
    • We're not saying you can't be just as dirty as your evil little heart desires, by all means, go for it.  We're not the "PC Police", but we as an organization have no tolerance for hate.  We're not stripping you of your free speech, we're just saying you gotta go spew that somewhere else.
    • Why?  Well, most importantly, we just don't stand for that and we don't want to be associated with anyone that does.  Second of all, we are a production company.  The audience is our customers.  We produce shows and when people on our shows skip the humor and just seem intent on spewing hatred and purposely trying to offend our audiences to the point that it affects our brand and chases our customers away, well we don't really need you on our stage, do we?
    • This comes up very rarely, but when it does, you will be warned and if you don't adjust accordingly, you will be banned from any and all Joplin Comedy events.

Still have questions?  We'd love to hear them.  Jump over to our contact page or drop by our facebook page and send us a message and we'll be glad to answer them.  You'll find out very quickly that this is a very supportive and close-knit comedy community that's welcoming to any and everyone and is always happy to help you get started on your comedy journey!