Your tight 5 is one the most important sets you’ll write, no matter how experienced you are as a standup. In the beginning, your tight 5 will get you noticed; it’s like a gateway drug for netting those first few gigs. As you progress throughout your career, you’ll develop many more tight 5 sets, which you can use to apply to festivals and give bookers a sense of your style if they don’t know you. Your tight 5 is one of the best arrows to have in your quiver, and a building block to longer sets. It may seem intimidating now, but don’t be afraid to work on those first five minutes until it’s where you think it needs to be. 

The beautiful thing about standup comedy is that it’s an ever-growing artform that pulls in and caters to new audiences constantly. There is absolutely a place for your point of view, even if historically you haven’t seen folks like you onstage.

It sounds trite, but standup is supposed to be joyful. I have found it tremendously important to invest in ways to keep standup fun for myself: workshopping with friends I trust, going to mics and shows that I like, or even taking a break to focus on other hobbies.

Open mics can be horrible, full stop. Yet the truth is, it doesn’t have to be this way. Open mics are important, I won’t dispute that much. But there are other ways to grow. If you, like so many of us, find yourself hesitant to attend mics, just know you’re not alone. In an ideal future, we all work together to change the culture around mics. But in the meantime, hopefully these tips help.