Texas
Texas has multiple strong comedy markets, but the state is so large that casual routing creates brutal mileage.
Treat cities as separate markets
Austin, Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and smaller regional markets each have their own rooms, comics, buyers, and audience patterns.
Working one Texas city does not mean you have worked Texas.
Texas mileage punishes wishful scheduling.
Mountain States
Mountain-state touring has fewer dense clusters, so distance, altitude, weather, and limited alternate routes matter more.
Respect the gaps
Denver and Salt Lake City can support strong comedy, but smaller markets between major hubs may be several hours apart.
Do not assume the next usable room is just across the state line.
Mountain routing rewards restraint.
Southwest
The Southwest mixes major metros, desert drives, casinos, resort markets, tribal venues, universities, and large empty stretches.
Heat affects travel
Summer desert driving places more demand on vehicles and bodies. A breakdown that is merely inconvenient elsewhere can become dangerous quickly.
Carry water and keep the vehicle maintained.
Wide-open roads are still work.
West Coast
The West Coast contains major comedy markets and deep talent pools, but traffic, lodging, and long north–south distances shape the economics.
Los Angeles is many submarkets
A show in Hollywood, Orange County, the Inland Empire, and the Valley may all be labeled 'LA' by outsiders but require very different drives.
Build schedules around actual addresses.
On the West Coast, the metro label can hide the real drive.
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest offers established comedy cities and strong independent scenes, but routes can stretch quickly between population centers.
Build around real hubs
Seattle–Tacoma, Portland, Spokane, Boise and other regional markets can form useful routes depending on the direction of travel.
Cross-state geography matters more than regional labels.
The Pacific Northwest is routable when you connect hubs instead of chasing every dot.
