NYC Open Mic Report: Where and When Mics Run
By Adam Malev ยท
Comediq currently lists 418 comedy open mics across New York, the Hudson Valley, Los Angeles and Austin. 128 of them are free, the most common price is five dollars, and Wednesday is the busiest night.
Those are the headline numbers. The breakdown underneath them is more interesting, and it says things about the New York comedy scene that are hard to notice from inside it.
Where the open mics are
There are 302 open mics across the five boroughs of New York City. They are not spread evenly.
Manhattan has 192. Brooklyn has 90. Queens has 17. Staten Island has two. The Bronx has one.
That is not a gentle gradient. Manhattan has nearly two thirds of every open mic in the city, and Brooklyn has almost all of the rest. A comic living in the Bronx has a single mic in their borough and a subway ride to everything else.
The free mics are where the mics are not
This is the finding that surprised me most, because it runs opposite to what you would expect.
Manhattan has 192 open mics and only 24 of them are free, around 12 percent. Brooklyn has 90 mics and 33 are free, around 37 percent. Queens has 17 mics and 14 of them are free, which is 82 percent.
So the borough with the fewest open mics has, by a wide margin, the highest proportion of free ones. The borough with the most charges for almost all of them.
The reason is structural rather than sinister. Manhattan mics are concentrated at dedicated comedy clubs with rent to cover, and those clubs charge for stage time. Queens mics run at bars, coffee shops and community spaces that are giving away a quiet weeknight rather than selling a product.
For a comic on a budget, that changes the calculation. The cheap stage time is not in the places with the most stage time.
When the open mics run
Open mics listed on Comediq by night of the week:
Wednesday has 80, Tuesday 77, Thursday 71, Monday 62, Friday 49, Sunday 47, and Saturday 32.
Midweek dominates. Tuesday through Thursday accounts for 228 of 418 mics, which is around 55 percent of everything in three nights.
Saturday is the worst night for stage time by a long way, with 32 mics, and only five of those are free. That makes sense once you remember who open mics are for. Weekends belong to booked shows with paying audiences. Rooms are only available to comics when nobody is paying to sit in them.
If you can get out one night a week, make it a Wednesday. If you can get out three, Tuesday through Thursday gives you the most choice and the most free options.
What this means if you are starting out
Build your week around midweek nights, because that is when the rooms exist.
If cost is your constraint, look at Brooklyn and Queens before Manhattan. The free rooms are concentrated there, and 72 of the 302 NYC mics are free in total.
If you live in the Bronx or Staten Island, accept early that you are travelling. There is no local scene to build a habit around, and pretending otherwise just leads to going out less.
Frequently asked questions
How many open mics are there in NYC?
There are 302 comedy open mics across the five boroughs currently listed on Comediq. Manhattan has 192, Brooklyn has 90, Queens has 17, Staten Island has two and the Bronx has one.
Which NYC borough has the most free open mics?
Brooklyn has the most free mics by count, with 33. Queens has the highest proportion, with 14 of its 17 mics free. Manhattan has the most mics overall but only 24 free ones.
What night has the most comedy open mics?
Wednesday, with 80 mics listed. Tuesday has 77 and Thursday has 71. Midweek accounts for more than half of all open mics.
What is the quietest night for open mics?
Saturday, with 32 mics, only five of which are free. Weekend nights are given over to booked shows rather than open mics.
Are there open mics in the Bronx or Staten Island?
Barely. The Bronx has one listed open mic and Staten Island has two. Comics in those boroughs generally travel to Manhattan or Brooklyn.
How much do NYC open mics cost?
The most common price is five dollars. Across all 418 mics listed, 128 are free. Many of the rest ask for a one drink or two item minimum rather than a cash fee.
Browse the mics
You can see every open mic by borough or by night, with the cost, sign-up method and start time for each one, and filter to free mics only.