Recently a former student emailed asking, “How do you choose the openers for the comedy class graduation show?”
(Note: Our class shows always have a pro MC, 2-3 opening acts and a professional comedian closing the show.)
Our openers for the class shows usually meet most, if not all, of the following criteria:
1) They have been doing comedy consistently (5-10 sets a week, every week) for 5+ years
2) They’re on the higher energy side of performers
3) They’re able to do crowd work / improvise / change their set if needed
4a) We trust them to do 10-12 minutes of material and do well
or:
4b) If it’s not going well, we know they won’t get phased and make the room weird. (Sometimes early in a show, the crowd is still settling in and barely laughing for jokes that usually pop – not everyone stays calm when this happens.)
5) They have some TV credits
6) We trust them to show up on time and be easygoing / act relatively saneĀ