The Community Paper

Orlando’s open mic nights provide platform for up-and-coming comedians


A comedian walks into a bar … This could be the start of a bad joke, or potentially even a good one. That is the risk one takes when going to bat at an open mic night.

Stand-up comedy is a form of entertainment that can be explored in as many different ways as there are individuals performing it, and the vastness of possibilities is obvious when attending an open mic. Here in Orlando, open mics are fairly easy to come by, as are the amateur comics who flock to them week after week. 

people on stage

Ross McCoy hosts an open mic at Bull and Bush. (INSTAGRAM.COM/ELROSSGRAM)

Whether they kill (which is, for some reason, good) or bomb (which is, for obvious reasons, bad), the experience of doing stand-up comedy at an open mic night has long been an essential part of the healthy development of a comedian’s career. With the sign-up sheet mostly made up of amateurs still working out their style, there’s a good chance you’ll see something you’ve never seen before — for better or for worse.

Some of our city’s longest-running open mics have been around for over a decade and have produced fruitful careers like that of “America’s Got Talent” finalist Preacher Lawson and “Late Night with Seth Myers” writer Jeff Wright.

For comics who have been around for a while, the development of a five-minute open mic set used to be the first step in the lengthy journey to becoming a pro, but social media has opened up other avenues. Orlando comics like Sean Philipe and Heather Shaw have found massive success on TikTok, bypassing the traditional route entirely.

Ross McCoy has been the host of the Bull and Bush’s Wednesday night open mic since 2019 and in the comedy scene for more than 10 years. He said that while an internet following can expedite the rise to success, open mics still serve a purpose to the working comic.

“I don’t know what the path is now, and I don’t know that open mic-ing is vital,” McCoy said. “But you can still go to an open mic any day of the week and find out if a joke works — I know that. You can think of a joke that day, write it down, flesh it out, and you can go to an open mic and figure out real quick that it makes people laugh — or it doesn’t.”

Aimee LeCours is a local comedienne who has frequented Orlando’s open mic circuit for the last three years to test out new material.

“It’s a good, necessary evil, like going to the gym,” LeCours said. “Like, when you go to an open mic, it’s work. It’s hard, hard work, especially because it’s not always going to be a fun crowd.”

woman at microphone

Aimee LeCours performing at an open mic night.  (SARETH NEY)

That’s something to consider as well when deciding where to bring fresh material: Will the room be receptive to it? 

“There’s been times I was like, ‘OK, am I not funny, or am I not just around the right crowd?’ You know what I mean? The cool thing about our scene,” LeCours said, “is that it is much better than when I first started, as far as different voices. There’s a lot more diversity now than there was five years ago. But the thing is, in Orlando, you can get a lot of stage time. Like, any room you go to, you can usually get up, and you can do up to three rooms a night. You can’t do that in LA. You can’t do that in New York.”

Is it possible, though, to make comedy your career — to quit your day job, so to speak — without leaving Orlando?

“If your goal is to only be on Netflix, then you might have to go to LA,” LeCours said. “But, if your goal is to be a working comic, you can be a great working comic here. There’s lots of [local comedians] whose sole income is comedy shows. There’s enough clubs for you to work every single night within or on the outskirts of Orlando.”

With venues like Savoy, a gay club in Ivanhoe Village, jumping on the open mic bandwagon, there certainly is a platform for every kind of up-and-coming comic that Orlando has to offer.

Visit OrlandoComedy.com for more info about Orlando open mics.

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