A campus is a buyer with a job to do: a student board and its staff adviser, choosing a show for their students. Build clean, college-appropriate minutes, test them in front of mixed audiences until they hold, and learn which schools near you book stand-up before you package anything.
Where you are, the tests for the next stop, and the steps between, in the order most comics take them. The steps are the Career Field Manual's; mark each one as you go, and the day goes in your passport.
These are the tests the next stop’s buyers set in their own published rules. Tick each one when it’s true for you.
0 of 4 true
17 steps in 4 parts, from the Career Field Manual. Each has its “done when”, a D.O.C. tool for it, and your status, note and target date; star up to twelve for your 90-day plan.
From the Career Field Manual: Choose your starting point. In the D.O.C. book: topics 1–20 and 435–455.
Choose your starting point · start-04
Name the campus rooms you want: a welcome-week show, a comedy night, a late-night program. Each is a different audience, and a different set.
Done when Three audience descriptions, not follower counts.
Choose your starting point · start-05
Done when Five names and what you want to learn from each.
From the Career Field Manual: Grow the act without padding and Explore specialty markets. In the D.O.C. book: topics 51–70, 115–131, 435–455, 132–142 and 143–173.
Grow the act without padding · set-02
Write it clean from the start: a clean set is its own act, not your club set with the words taken out.
Done when An actual timed set, not censored placeholders.
Grow the act without padding · set-03
Done when A ten-minute recording and notes.
Grow the act without padding · set-04
Done when Two usable opening and closing choices.
Explore specialty markets · specialty-01
Clean for a club and clean for a campus can mean different things: ask each school where its line is, and keep a version that meets it.
Done when Two clearly defined content policies.
Explore specialty markets · specialty-02
Done when A live recording of the specific clean set.
Explore specialty markets · specialty-03
Done when A proven runtime, not an optimistic estimate.
From the Career Field Manual: Build a repetition habit and Become the comic rooms trust. In the D.O.C. book: topics 96–114, 415–434 and 400–434.
Build a repetition habit · reps-01
Done when Venue, date, minutes, set and room notes.
Build a repetition habit · reps-03
Done when The findings you choose to act on.
Build a repetition habit · reps-04
Done when Two versions and the reason for the change.
Build a repetition habit · reps-05
Take the clean set to rooms where the audience isn’t mostly comics. A set that holds mixed crowds in two rooms is evidence; one great night is a start.
Done when Two-room comparison rather than one verdict.
Become the comic rooms trust · pro-02
Done when A note for rooms with different expectations.
Become the comic rooms trust · pro-06
Done when Know who has authority and where to get help.
From the Career Field Manual: Explore specialty markets and Find and pitch the right rooms. In the D.O.C. book: topics 132–142, 143–173 and 143–196.
Explore specialty markets · specialty-05
Read two buyers’ own pages, word for word: GP College Entertainment and KP Comedy publish what they ask of a new comic, and NACA what it asks of an act.
Done when Buyer guidance and eligible programs.
Find and pitch the right rooms · bookings-01
For campuses, this is ten schools within a drive you can manage that program comedy, and who runs their events: often a student board with a staff adviser.
Done when Ten candidates and their official sources.
Find and pitch the right rooms · bookings-02
Done when Opportunity types labeled in your lead list.
Habits, not a timetable: the atlas has no stopwatch. Keep these going, and the proof for this stop builds up week by week.
Each buyer's published rule, quoted from its own page, checked on 10 November 2026. They differ, so send each one what its page asks for, and read the page again before you send.
KP Comedy books comics for college campuses, and its main test of a new comic is whether the act fits the college market: material a college-aged audience relates to, and that suits them.
Our primary consideration when looking at new comics is whether or not the act is a fit for the college market.
Material should be relatable to a college-aged audience and appropriate for that audience.
KP Comedy’s page ↗ · checked 10 November 2026
Clean, college-appropriate material on video, at least 5–8 minutes of it, with your strongest material first.
A clear professionally edited video of at least 5-8 minutes of clean COLLEGE APPROPRIATE MATERIAL
(please put your strongest material in the first 90 seconds)
GP College Entertainment’s page ↗ · checked 10 November 2026
At NACA, a committee of students and professional staff chooses the acts that showcase, and each act has ten minutes on stage.
Showcasing acts are selected by a committee of students and professional staff
Both types of showcases feature established and up-and-coming artists performing for 10 minutes each.
NACA Membership’s page ↗ · checked 10 November 2026
At this stop you’re building and testing the act, not sending it: the agencies and associations ask for a finished, clean college video and kit, which is the next stop. For now, watch campus shows, test clean minutes in mixed rooms, and list the schools near you that book stand-up. 62 places to send a submission, on the Career Atlas →
Nobody pays you at this stop: you’re building the act. The costs are your own: stage time, travel to mixed rooms and a good recording. Keep them small, and keep the receipts.
Write it down before you spendRoad Maps: the Math of a Gig, with your own numbers · Get Paid, Get Back: the deal in writing · The IRS on gig work ↗
Fill in what you know once: it fills every note below and stays on this device. Anything left blank shows in [brackets], to fill in by hand.
Subject: Your comedy night on [The show's date] Hi [The events office or board], I'm [Your name], a stand-up comic from [Your home town]. I'm building a clean act for colleges, and I'd like to see how a campus show runs. Is your comedy night on [The show's date] open to the public? If it is, I'd be glad to buy a ticket and watch from the back. Thank you, [Your name]
Hi [The host's name], I'm [Your name], from [Your home town]. I'm working up a clean set for colleges and want to test it in front of a mixed crowd. Could I have [Your set length, in minutes] minutes on [The show] one night? I'll keep it clean and on time, and I'd be grateful to hear afterward which lines landed and which didn't. Thanks, [Your name]
1. Who will be in the audience: students, first-year students, families, staff? 2. What's the event: a comedy night, welcome week, a late-night program, a lunch-hour show? 3. What language, subjects and audience interaction are off limits? 4. How long is my set, and who else is on the bill? 5. May the show be recorded, and by whom? 6. Who is the staff adviser for the event, and who signs the contract?
Tick each piece when you have it: the day goes in your passport with it. The passport keeps your whole career's record on this device, to download, print and review once a year.
Nothing yet: your status changes and ticks appear here, each with its day.
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The buyers' rules are quoted from each buyer's own page, checked on 10 November 2026. A buyer can change its rules at any time, so read its page before you send anything.
By D.O.C. Editorial. This is one stop of the Stand-Up Career Atlas: colleges & campuses, stop 1 of 5. It's a way to plan, not a promise of bookings: it gives no expected years, its only figures are the ones buyers and venues publish on their own pages, and the buyers' rules are theirs. For how campuses book stand-up, read How do comedians get college gigs?.
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