Show Up Early
Being early creates room for parking problems, sound checks, paperwork, lineup changes, and the hundred tiny things that become emergencies when you are late.
Build an arrival target
Call time and showtime are not the same thing. Know when the venue actually expects you.
For unfamiliar rooms, add parking and building-entry margin.
Professionalism often looks like nothing going wrong because you arrived before it could.
Know the Venue
Every room has quirks that matter more on the second visit if you bothered to learn them on the first.
Record the basics
Parking, entrance, green room, stage, sound, light, staff contacts, hotel, food, merch, and settlement should live in your venue notes.
Do not rediscover the same problem annually.
Your venue notes should make the second visit easier than the first.
Know the Show Order
The lineup determines your handoff, audience state, time, and responsibilities.
Confirm before doors
Hosts, guests, features, headliners, drop-ins, and contest formats can change.
Do not discover your position while someone is introducing you.
Know when you go up and what job the room expects from that slot.
Never Running the Light
Running the light tells a room that your extra joke matters more than everyone else’s time.
The math is unforgiving
If ten comics each take one extra minute, the show runs ten minutes late before hosts, announcements, and transitions are counted.
On a paid show, that can affect staff, headliners, parking, transportation, and the audience's patience.
Your time limit is part of the material.
Never Run the Light
Ignoring time is one of the fastest ways to make a strong set professionally unusable.
The whole show has a clock
Your extra five minutes may delay the headliner, staff closing, transportation, another show, or venue curfew.
Your material does not outrank the event.
The light is not a suggestion.
