Your first five is five original minutes you can say without a screen, time with room for laughs, and change after an audience has heard it. Write it, rehearse it against the clock, read how two nearby mics sign comics up, and choose the one bit you most need to test.
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.
You’re here if…
Writer, just starting: the first five
You have ideas, notes or a few jokes, and no set yet that you’ve timed out loud.
You haven’t done a mic yet, or you’ve done one or two and want a set you can rely on.
No audience has heard most of your bits, so you don’t yet know which one gets the laugh.
The next thing you want is a first mic, with five minutes you know cold.
These are the tests the next stop’s rooms set in their own published rules: the open mics’ own pages. Tick each one when it’s true for you.
0 of 5 true
The playbook
17 steps in 3 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.
Choose your start
From the Career Field Manual: Choose your starting point. In the D.O.C. book:
topics 1–20 and 435–455.
01
Choose your starting point · start-01
Write down why you want to perform stand-up
Done when One sentence you can revisit after a rough night.
Set lengths differ: Laugh Factory Hollywood’s lottery gives 2 minutes, and Lafayette Comedy’s tips say 4 to 5 is usual. Write the length down before the night.
Done when Written signup details or event listing.
Habits, not a timetable: the atlas has no stopwatch. Keep these going, and the proof for this stop builds
up week by week.
Write when you said you wouldTen minutes is enough: one premise and one new punchline, in your notebook.
Say it out loudRun the five aloud, standing and without a screen, and time it with room for laughs.
Cut one lineTake out one word or line the joke doesn’t need.
Watch a micSit through one full open mic, and note how sign-up, the light and the host work there.
Read the rules againRead one mic’s sign-up page again before you plan the night: rooms change their rules.
Study one comicWatch one set by a comic on your list, and write down one thing to try.
What buyers check
In their own words
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.
A club company’s advice to new comics
BARK Entertainment, first mic
For a first open mic: material written down and planned, a check-in with the host well before the show, and the mic stand moved out of the way.
Have a plan for the material you want to do.
Find out who is hosting the open mic and check in with them well in advance of the show.
Walk up to the mic, pull the mic out of the stand, move the stand to the back of the stage, step up to the front of the stage and start telling jokes.
A Tuesday open mic with sign-up in person and a random lottery: 2 minutes each, and comics asked to come with their strongest material.
Performers are selected through a random lottery, with each selected comedian receiving 2 minutes of stage time to showcase their best stand-up comedy material.
We encourage performers to treat their time on stage as an audition and come prepared with their strongest material.
Places that publish how a new comic gets in, each checked on 10 November 2026. Save one to your booking
desk to keep its status, a follow-up date and a note. 62 places in all, on the Career Atlas →
Published routeTulsa, OK · Open mic · Form
Bricktown Comedy Club, open mic
Sign up online between the 1st and the 15th for the next month’s open mics, or arrive between 6:00 and 6:50 PM for one of three walk-in spots.
Worth knowing. An open mic is stage time, not a paid spot.
Published routeOklahoma City, OK · Open mic · Form
Bricktown Comedy Club, open mic
Open mics on Tuesdays and Wednesdays: sign up online between the 1st and the 15th for the next month’s, with the lineup emailed on the month’s last Wednesday, or arrive between 6:00 and 6:50 PM for one of three walk-in spots.
Worth knowing. An open mic is stage time, not a paid spot.
Published routeBrooklyn, NY · Open mic · In person
EastVille Comedy Club, open mics
Open mics through the week: comics sign up in person, arriving 30 minutes early, first come, with the lineup set on the day; five minutes a comic, varying with the lineup’s size.
Worth knowing. No email or phone sign-ups, and a one-drink minimum for comics. An open mic is stage time, not a paid spot.
Nobody is paid at this stop, and writing a five costs nothing but time. What a mic asks of a comic is the venue’s call, and its own page is the place to read it: EastVille Comedy Club’s, for one, sets a one-drink minimum for comics. Where a page doesn’t say, ask the host before the night.
Read or ask before you go
How sign-up works, and when it opens and closes
How many minutes you get, and how the light works
Any cost to perform: a fee, a drink minimum or a purchase
Whether you may record your set
When to arrive, and whether comics stay for the whole show
The room’s rules for comics and its code of conduct
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.
Your details
A note to a mic’s host
Subject: Your open mic on [The night you're going]
Hi [The host's name],
I'm [Your name], a new comic in [Your home town]. I've read the sign-up rules for [The mic and its venue], and I'd like to do the mic on [The night you're going].
One thing the page doesn't say: [The one question its page doesn't answer]
Thank you,
[Your name]
Your set list card
[The mic and its venue], [The night you're going]: [Your set length, in minutes] minutes
Intro for the host: [Your name], from [Your home town]
Open: [Your opening bit]
Then: [Your second bit]
Then: [Your third bit]
Close: [Your closing bit]
At the light: go to the closer.
Questions to ask before your first mic
1. How do I sign up, and when does sign-up open and close?
2. How many minutes do I get?
3. Where's the light, and when does it come on?
4. Is there a cost to perform: a fee, a drink minimum or a purchase?
5. May I record my set?
6. Do comics stay for the whole show?
7. Who's hosting, and where do I check in?
Your proof
Proof for your passport
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.
The evidence
This stop is done when you have
Your status
First stage-ready five
On your record
Nothing yet: your status changes and ticks appear here, each with its day.
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.
The D.O.C. bookThe playbook's book topics, matched to the book's contents on 10 November 2026.
About this roadmap
By D.O.C. Editorial. This is one stop of the Stand-Up Career Atlas: the common start,
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 a five-minute set is built, read
How to build a five-minute set for stand-up.
