Wallyhood is pleased to introduce our special guest blogger and comedian, Barbara Sehr.
When was the last time you thought about standing up in front of your neighbors and throwing out a punch line or two? There’s a word for that — a comedy open mic.
Murphy’s Irish Pub, has become a proving ground for live comedy every Sunday evening at 8 pm. The home of Wallingford’s Irish spirit(s), hosted a gaggle of comedians in its very first regular comedy open mic on July 10 (Murphy’s hosts a music open mic every Wednesday evening at 9 pm). A comedy open mic allows professionals and amateurs to work their way to the dream (or nightmare) of spending every single night of their life preparing for that call from a late night TV producer.
An open mic means quantity, not always quality, rules the day. Last Sunday, at the very first production, nearly 30 comics lined up for the opportunity to get at least a few members of the audience to break into a laugh. Some succeeded in breaking into a sweat. Many others brought the house down with laughter. On this night, we were blessed with three national headliners, coming by to try out their lines without the pressure of a Saturday night paid comedy club environment where the audience hears only their absolute best. This open mic is free, and the audience enjoys itself as they can hear jokes told for the first time ever.
Comedy is hard work, as I have learned. As host of the evening’s festivities, I must plan the evening’s program, and warm up the audience with my own opening monologue. I’ve performed comedy for more than six years, and every show, and every audience is different from the other. I still remember my very first time on stage on a Martin Luther King Day at Seattle’s Comedy Underground, when I stood up and pronounced the words, “I want to be judged not by the contents of my underwear, but by the character of my humor.” The words were meant to answer the common perception that women in comedy are “not funny.” The audience responded well, and I continue getting comedy fix after comedy fix. Like many others in Seattle’s blossoming comedy community, I am addicted. I am not yet, a real comedy professional, but I have actually played one on TV — in Canada, at least.
Murphy’s Irish Pub is an ideal location for a comedy open mic. It is a grand facility, brightly inviting to neighbors and strangers from far, far away. It is located at the center of an eclectic neighborhood between Dick’s Drive-In and Archie McPhees, the laughs are as nearby as Wallingford’s erotic bakery, and as distant as one comic’s discourse on her Iranian mother.
This week, come to be entertained. Perhaps next week, you’ll come to take a taste of your first dime bag of comedy addiction. See you at 7:30 pm, Sunday, for sign-ups.
Murphy’s is a Wallyhood sponsor.