STAGE TIME Magazine: The Philadelphia Comedy Scene

The Comedy Beat Philadelphia

Philly Offers More Stage Time Than Ever

When I started comedy five years ago in Philly, I
came during the time when stage time was limited.
There were two main open mikes: The Comedy Cabaret
and the Laff House and the others were held at bars
where no one would listen to you. And if you were
looking for more stage time, you had to travel outside
of Philly to find it. I've traveled as far as New Jersey to
to do 5-10 minutes at a dive bar on a weeknight.

Many of the comics that I worked with agreed that we need more stage time in Philadelphia.
In March of 2003, three comics produced a weekly show at a popular bar in called Flatspin
on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Flatspin had a beautiful stage, good lighting and a
sound booth overlooking the room. If you wanted to perform at this open mike you had to
be booked first. There was no pay, but it offered free advertising from the bar and free
drinks for the comics. To most comics, free beer is just as good as pay. Flatspin had such a
cool “A room" atmosphere that made you feel good about yourself for playing the room. I
was there every Tuesday night even if I wasn't booked on the show. I went to support the
room.

The success of Flatspin motivated two newer comics Pat Kelly and Steve Reese to produce an
open mike at the corner of 18th and Race in Center City, Philadelphia. It was located in a
three-story building that had a café, bar, dance floor and a stage, that led to the top. I
loved this place because it had a small stage, dim lighting and the deejay was right next to
the stage. None of us cared because we had an opportunity to perform on Monday nights. It
was unpredictable because you never knew what you would see: a homeless person
rambling onstage or comics fighting over jokes.

Now we had stage time Monday through Wednesday. By fall of 2003, more new places
popped up. Most were bars, but we didn’t care, because it was stage time. It made us better
comics to get onstage almost every weeknight and prepare us for our weekend shows.

It's 2006 and Flatspin has gone out of business. The corner of 18th and Race is now a
parking lot. They both gave comics more stage time as we no longer had to rely on the
major clubs to get work. Today, we have Rascals and Helium Comedy Club. Helium is
Philly's first upscale room in almost ten years.

Philly comics should realize that the current comedy scene didn't happen overnight. It
started with a couple of open mikes created by comics that spawned at least 20 new places,
which most are still standing. Philadelphia might not be known as the “hot bed of comedy,"
but we are on our way. Most importantly, we should continue to work together. Most of these
new places would have never started if it wasn’t for a couple of comics working together to
expand the Philly comedy scene.

Tell us what you think. To add
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Vince Cummings is a stand-up
comedian from Philadelphia, PA.
He is also featured in this issue's
Comic Progress Report.

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