First Mic

Ira Cross
  • 5.0 (8)
  • Comedy Interviews
  • Updated Weekly

A show where comics talk about their first time on stage.

  1. 6d ago

    Sometimes You Just Aren't Funny. It's Not the Algorithm | Cam Steele

    Cameron Steele only started doing stand-up to get better at his radio job. Six years later: 200K on TikTok and a Michael Jackson parody past 1.7 million views. Before comedy, Cameron was the night guy at WZIP, the University of Akron's student-run station — 7 to 10 PM, 2017 to 2020. "I was your drive home." Somebody told him stand-up would make him sharper on air, so his first open mic happened in the student union coffee shop, by the Starbucks. He wasn't serious about it. His station manager, Chris Keppler, was the one who noticed people were actually laughing. His first paid set came later at Versified Expressions in Akron, where Anthony "Amplified" Evans handed him fifty dollars and let him rock out. Then his mom told him to get on TikTok. If you're wondering how to go viral on TikTok, Cameron gives away the playbook: check your analytics and post when your followers are online, write captions for search, ride trending sounds, stay on current events, and leave a video up when it flops — his million-view Michael Jackson bit did 1,000 views on day one. He also covers how he handles hecklers (get there first), the note Nef Johnson gave him that fixed his impression bit, and the hardest thing a comic must accept: sometimes it isn't the algorithm.   Filmed at Rehab Tavern in Columbus, Ohio. Comics — what's the one video of yours that flopped and then took off months later? Tell us in the comments.   🎙️ Follow Cameron Steele: Instagram: @cameronsteelecomedy Facebook: Cameron Steele YouTube: Cameron Steele Comedy TikTok: Cameron Steele Comedy 🔗 First Mic is part of the Indie Comedy Collective: YouTube: youtube.com/@IndieComedyCollective Instagram: @indiecomedycollective   #FirstMic #standupcomedy #columbusohio

    Sometimes You Just Aren't Funny. It's Not the Algorithm | Cam Steele

  2. Aug 20

    The Guy Who Runs Your Open Mic Bombed at Zeno's Too | Lukas Mateus

    Should you move to LA to do stand-up comedy? Lukas Mateus did, and came back. He bombed his first open mic in a Columbus basement with exactly one friend watching. Ten years in, Lukas is 40, works at a grocery store, hosts the Tuesday open mic at Rehab Tavern, and has never once posted a headshot with eight tour dates on it. He's fine with that. Here he breaks down what actually changes when you leave: in LA you pay for nearly every mic, so everybody stays, watches, and networks, and at the Hollywood Improv a booker sits in the back with a laptop keeping a file on every comic who goes up. In Columbus you can do a mic for free, spend five bucks, and have a great night. The trade-off is stakes. Nothing is on the line here, and he thinks that's simultaneously the scene's best feature and its ceiling. He also flatly refuses to give advice, which turns into the best advice any comedian has given on this show. If you're weighing your own first open mic: expect to bomb, expect to not remember it, and expect the recording to sit on your phone for a decade before it's any good. That is the job. What is the smallest crowd you have ever performed for? Tell us in the comments. First Mic is filmed at Rehab Tavern in Columbus, Ohio. 🎙️ Follow Lukas Mateus: Instagram: @bloodxshower X: @bloodxshower Podcast: Just The Essentials 🔗 First Mic is part of the Indie Comedy Collective: YouTube: youtube.com/@IndieComedyCollective Instagram: @indiecomedycollective #FirstMic #standupcomedy #columbusohio

    The Guy Who Runs Your Open Mic Bombed at Zeno's Too | Lukas Mateus

  3. Aug 13

    He Forgot the Safe Word for Kicking Out a Heckler | Jesse Pimpinella

    How to deal with hecklers, from a comic 14 years in: Jesse Pimpinella befriends them first, then lets the whole room turn on them. Jesse's real first mic was at 18, in the back of a Belleria pizza shop in Cornersburg — the Youngstown Comedy Syndicate, one show a week, Fridays only. Bomb in Columbus on a Monday and you fix it Tuesday. Bomb in Youngstown on a Friday and you wear it for seven days. Before that it was an eighth-grade talent show, a high school lock-in, and a punishment stoop at Catholic school recess where a kid who'd taped a Ron White special worked out a tight five on a captive audience. Fourteen years on he has two specials streaming on Roku, two albums that hit #1 on Amazon, and the story of phoning Amazon to report the chart as broken. He also made zero dollars the night he filmed — camera crew paid, lights paid, curtain guys paid, club paid, ticket money kept by everyone but him. His advice for anyone circling their first open mic: write down on notebook paper why you're doing this, and keep that paper for the rest of your life. Recorded at Rehab Tavern in Columbus, Ohio, one week before Jesse plays the Columbus Comedy Festival. What's the best heckler handle you've ever watched live? Drop it in the comments — Jesse said he's answering every one. 🎙️ Follow Jesse Pimpinella: jessepimpinella.com   🔗 First Mic is one of the shows under the Indie Comedy Collective banner: YouTube: youtube.com/@IndieComedyCollective Instagram: @indiecomedycollective   #FirstMic #standupcomedy #columbusohio

    He Forgot the Safe Word for Kicking Out a Heckler | Jesse Pimpinella

  4. Aug 6

    Columbus' Best Open Mic Is Inside a Strip Club | Terrance TheGawdshow Davis

    Terrance "ThaGawdshow" Davis signed up for his first open mic in Columbus and left before going on. The second time, he didn't get a vote. A comic he knew texted him to come watch her set. When he walked in, she told him she'd already put his name on the list. The only material he had was a throwaway line he'd made up over pizza an hour before. It flopped. He went to another mic the next night anyway. That's the start of a run that became the 670 East Show, a co-produced night for 400 people, a Funny Bone slot during the comedy festival, hometown showcases in Mansfield that sold out in under 48 hours, and a monthly comedy night in the one room in Columbus nobody thought comedy could work in. If you've ever thought about trying stand-up and talked yourself out of it, this is your episode. Terrance is blunt about what actually happens at your first open mic: the barrier to entry is genuinely low, the other comics are more welcoming than you're expecting, and your first set is supposed to be bad — the point is whether you come back. His one writing rule: don't dumb it down. Write to your own intelligence level and let the audience come up to you. Also in here — getting left on read by a booker and deciding to book himself, a guy who paid $50 to get into a $12 show, and the single best heckler comeback we've had on this show. Comics: what happened at YOUR first open mic? Tell us in the comments. 🎙️ Follow Terrance "ThaGawdshow" Davis: @thagawdshow on Instagram, TikTok, Threads, Facebook and Bluesky (spelled out on camera: T-H-A-G-A-W-D S-H-O-W — see Flag 2) 🔗 First Mic is one of the shows under the Indie Comedy Collective banner: YouTube: youtube.com/@IndieComedyCollective Instagram: @indiecomedycollective #FirstMic #standupcomedy #columbusohio

    Columbus' Best Open Mic Is Inside a Strip Club | Terrance TheGawdshow Davis

  5. Jul 30

    The Heckler Had a Microphone Too | Andrew Rudick

    Andrew Rudick knows how to deal with hecklers because he used to be one — he heckled his own best friend at his first open mic. Andrew's first mic was a music-and-comedy open mic at Baba Budan's, a long-gone divey bar on the University of Cincinnati campus. He went up, thought he killed, bombed. The second time, the friend he'd heckled threw a banana at his face on stage as payback — biggest laugh of the set. Fifteen years and a touring career later, his honest answer on hecklers: appear calm even when you aren't ("we're both actors"), win the room before you try to shut anyone down, and remember that you have a microphone and they don't. Then Andrew tells the story where all three rules collapsed — a Cincinnati Police Department "Real Men Wear Pink" benefit at a casino, where the drunk MC heckled him through his own DJ mic and had to be separated from him by other cops. He still had 15 clean minutes left to do. Plus: why Cincinnati is the most central city in America to tour from, what Geoff Tate taught him, Pat McGann on crowd work, how Maria Bamford pays her openers out of pocket, and the established comic whose only advice to a brand-new Andrew was "Quit" — then came back ten years later asking Andrew for advice. Filmed at Rehab Tavern in Franklinton, Columbus, Ohio. Comics: what's the worst gig you ever said yes to? Tell us in the comments. 🎙️ Follow Andrew Rudick: Instagram: @andrewjrudick Website: andrewrudick.com 🔗 First Mic is part of the Indie Comedy Collective: YouTube: youtube.com/@IndieComedyCollective Instagram: @indiecomedycollective 📅 Catch Andrew live: Aug 21–22 — headlining Comedy Plex (Oak Park, IL / Chicago) Aug 28 — headlining Commonwealth Comedy Club, Cincinnati (two shows) Aug 29 — headlining the Columbus Comedy Festival, 9:15 PM at Seventh Son Sept 17–20 — Asheville, NC Sept 25–26 — headlining Comedy Corner Underground, Minneapolis

    The Heckler Had a Microphone Too | Andrew Rudick

  6. Jul 23

    Embrace The Suck | Ty Moore

    Ty Moore's first open mic ended with a headliner running on stage and taking the mic out of his hands three minutes in — and honestly? He was relieved. Twelve years later, he hosts Bobo's, the Monday-night comedy open mic at Cafe Bourbon Street, one of the most beloved stand-up rooms in Columbus, Ohio. On this episode of the First Mic podcast, Ty tells Ira Cross the whole origin story: getting cut from Ohio State's Fishbowl Improv thirty minutes after the audition, signing up late at the Scarlet & Grey Cafe (now Threes) and going up after midnight on $3 Miller Lite drafts, and the May 27, 2014 set that finally made comedy stick. If you're wondering what to expect at your first open mic, this is the honest version: the list fills early, you might not go up until 12:10 AM, and it's fine to suck. Ty's rule for every new comedian — "Embrace the suck. Learn from the suck." — might be the best advice this show has aired. And his real answer to how to deal with hecklers: match their energy, keep the crowd on your side, and aim the roast back at yourself before you aim it at them — illustrated by a country-club gig and a heckler named Princess. Filmed at Rehab Tavern in Columbus. Comics: what time did you finally go up at YOUR first mic? Tell us in the comments. 🎙️ Follow Ty Moore: Instagram: @tysnotfunny X/Twitter: @tysnotfunny Catch him hosting the open mic Mondays at Cafe Bourbon Street, and Tuesdays at The Attic Comedy Club for Two for Tuesday. 🔗 First Mic is part of the Indie Comedy Collective: YouTube: youtube.com/@IndieComedyCollective Instagram: @indiecomedycollective

    Embrace The Suck | Ty Moore

  7. Jul 16

    Comedy Ruined My Life | Zach Harley

    A fight broke out at Zach Harley's first open mic — and the bartender brought out a wooden bat. The Columbus comic tells the whole story on First Mic. Zach spent over a decade behind microphones before he ever tried a joke on stage: high school play-by-play in Parma, country radio in Akron, then producing morning news in Columbus — including associate-producing his college's Boston Marathon coverage on the day of the bombing, as a freshman. When they offered him the biggest paycheck he'd ever seen to run a whole station, he said no. He'd rather tell jokes about his lazy eye to 10 people. His words. Instead: a couple years as a teacher's aide (until a joke got him fired), then a first open mic at the Shrunken Head that ended with bartender Trish pulling a wooden bat on a heckler while Ty Moore muscled the guy out the door. Almost five years later, Zach manages Hashtag Comedy Club's free Friday open mic in the Short North (10:45 PM) and burns brand-new material every week at Ty's Café Bourbon Street mic. Wondering what to expect at your first open mic? This episode is the honest version: Columbus mics are free (New York often isn't), you'll feel great on stage and cringe about it five years later — and Zach's advice for new comics is simple: pick who you want to listen to, and don't listen to anybody else. What happened at YOUR first open mic — or the wildest one you've ever watched? Tell us in the comments. 🎙️ Follow Zach Harley: Instagram: @zachharley 🔗 First Mic is part of the Indie Comedy Collective: YouTube: youtube.com/@IndieComedyCollective Instagram: @indiecomedycollective

    Comedy Ruined My Life | Zach Harley

  8. Jul 9

    She Broke the Funny Bone Open Mic's #1 Rule. Now She Runs It | Nickey Winkelman

    Evergreen query targeted: "what to expect at your first open mic" — answered directly in paragraph two. Nickey Winkelman has done stand-up for 20 years and never left Columbus, Ohio — on purpose. Her first open mic? Eight minutes at a UCSB variety show at 19. That's over the line at most mics. At her first Columbus mic — the 2006 Funny Bone contest where Kenny Mock also did his first Columbus set — she went over her time again and got THE talk from Rick Tempesta, the famously tough comic who ran that mic for years. He put her through anyway, with a warning she never forgot. Twenty years later, Nickey co-runs that same Funny Bone open mic with Jesse Pimpinella, and this episode doubles as the etiquette class every new comic needs. If you're wondering what to expect at your first open mic: stick to your time, watch for the light, respect the staff, and be a good audience member — Nickey breaks down the unwritten rules she once broke herself. Ira and Nickey also get into dropping out of theater school in Santa Barbara, getting sober back home in Clintonville, booking Shadowbox Live's Up Front Stage with Jimmy Mak ("Tuesdays with Mak and Winks"), her Go Bananas headlining debut in Cincinnati, and why "Is this enough?" might be the healthiest question in comedy. Catch Nickey at the Columbus Comedy Festival, Aug 27–30, on the FemaleAF showcase with Amber Falter — schedule at columbuscomedyfest.com. 🗨️ Nickey needs your help: what was the video rental store on Indianola in Clintonville called? Drop it in the comments. 🎙️ Follow Nickey Winkelman: Instagram: @NickeyWink  🔗 First Mic is part of the Indie Comedy Collective: YouTube: youtube.com/@IndieComedyCollective Instagram: @indiecomedycollective

    She Broke the Funny Bone Open Mic's #1 Rule. Now She Runs It | Nickey Winkelman
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5
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

A show where comics talk about their first time on stage.

Information

  • Creator
    Ira Cross
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    39
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025
  • Show Website
    First Mic