How to be the table the room loves.
Comedy clubs are not complicated. You paid to hear the people onstage. The rest of the room did too. Have a drink. Eat something. Laugh too loud. Have a great time. Just don't decide halfway through the show that everybody came to hear you.
The basic rule: don't become part of the show unless the comic makes you part of the show.
Nobody needs a 40-page rulebook before seeing stand-up. Most people are perfectly capable of going into a room, sitting down and enjoying themselves. This page is for the handful of things that can wreck a show for the comic, the staff and 200 people who had nothing to do with your third tequila.
Rooms differ. Age limits, recording rules, seating, minimums, late entry and re-entry can vary — check the club's own rules before you go. D.O.C. can help you know what kind of show you're walking into (Plan a Night and the Club Directory link each room's own site); the venue decides what happens inside its room.
Before you even sit down
A little homework saves a surprising amount of stupid later.
Know what you're buying tickets for
You don't have to walk into a comedy club blind. Look the comic up on SUCDb first: who they are, what kind of comedy they do and the ground they usually cover. Maybe they're exactly your kind of funny. Maybe they're not. That's useful to know before you spend the money.
It matters even more when you're the one bringing everybody else. A date, your parents, coworkers, your church friends, your 22-year-old nephew and your 78-year-old mother are not automatically the same audience. If you're inviting people, give them some idea what they're walking into.
Don't buy tickets to somebody's show, refuse to learn anything about their act, then act shocked when they do their act.
Crowd work is not permission to heckle
You watched a bunch of crowd-work clips online. Good. What those clips do not mean is that the audience is supposed to yell things whenever it feels like it.
If the comic asks you a question, answer it. If they keep talking to you, keep answering. If they move on, you move on too. You are not now the co-headliner.
The comic talking to the crowd ≠ the crowd talking whenever it wants.
Once the show starts
This is where adults occasionally forget things they learned in elementary school.
Staying in the room
Most clubs would rather keep a paying customer than throw one out. If you're being removed, there is a fair chance you worked pretty hard to get there.
First comedy show?
You really only need this much.
Quick test: is this heckling?
The comic looks directly at you and asks, “What do you do for a living?” What should you do?
Laugh when you want. Don't laugh when you don't.
If the comic talks to you, talk back.
Just don't
make 200 people listen to you instead of the person they paid to see.