The NYC Underground Comedy Festival in association with Ha! Comedy Club and New Media Comedy has announced the Mentorship Competition. Starting May 29th, comics will be in competition at Ha! Comedy Club on a weekly basis. The winners of each week will compete head to head for two nights during the NYC Underground Comedy Festival.
Two winners will be chosen, one male and one female. The winners will receive two spots each per week at Ha! Comedy Club, and a monthly mentorship meeting with a veteran comic or industry person provided by the festival for a full year! After 12 meetings discussing writing, performing and the industry, and with over 100 spots, the winner will be ready for the grand prize: a special industry show in the 2009 festival.
In addition, the shows will be taped by New Media Comedy, and the contest winners may be included in festival compilations. Select performances may also be distributed via New Media Comedy.
The goal of the Mentorship Contest is to provide new talent a crash course in comedy. At the end of that crash course, the festival producers hope to have developed two rising stars with the experience, and information they need to make their mark on comedy.
The contest will run every Thursday night at 7:30pm starting May 29th. The finals are October 8-9 at Ha! Comedy Club during the festival. The winners must be available to perform on Saturday, October 11.
Eligibility Requirements
To be eligible, you must be able to perform in the NYC area on a twice-weekly basis. You can not have made a paid appearance on television as a stand up comedian. You cannot be signed to a manager or an agent for stand up comedy. You cannot have featured or headlined at any recognized comedy club. You must be legally able and willing to execute a performance waiver.
The Shows
Each preliminary event (May 29 to October 2) requires each comic to bring (4) four paying audience members. Reservations must be made in advance, and seating will be limited.
Preliminary spots are 5-7 minutes. The finals are a strict five (5) minutes.
Voting and Winner Selection
The preliminary events are done solely by audience voting. Each audience member gets a card when they enter the room They must vote for two comics. At the end of the night, while the headliner is on, the votes are collected and counted. The top male and the top female go on to the finals.
The Finals: Again the audience gets a vote, but not the sole vote. Their vote counts for 25 percent of the tally. Ha! Comedy Club, and The NYC Underground Comedy Festival will both also have a rep on hand to cast votes. Each of those reps’ votes will count for 25 percent. Finally, there will be an industry person judging, and their vote will count for 25 percent as well.
In case of a tie, the audience vote is the tie breaker.
One final note, the female winners of the preliminary rounds will compete in one final, the men in another. There will be one male and one female winner for this contest.
Prizes
The NYC Underground Comedy Festival will provide 12 monthly meetings per winner with mentors. Mentors will be either industry professionals, or national touring comics with TV credits. Each comic will have three mentors: one for business, one for writing, and one for performing, and you will meet with each one quarterly.
Ha! Comedy Club provides two spots per week per winner. The spots will be at set times. The club reserves the right to change the spot times with proper notice. If the comic cannot make a spot on a particular week, or if a scheduled show is canceled for any reason, the club may or may not be able to change your spot for that week. All spots are unpaid and the duration of the spot is at the sole discretion of the club, however the Festival will speak to your mentors on a quarterly basis and will advocate for the comic to progress as they prove themselves worthy.
The NYC Underground Comedy Festival will include the two Mentorship Contest winners in a special industry showcase at the 2009 NYC Underground Comedy Festival provided they receive a positive report from their mentors.
New Media Comedy will record all preliminary rounds and the contest finals. The winning comics will receive a DVD of their performance. Should NMC chose to market the clip, the artist will receive a percentage of the revenue generated by the clip. All performers must sign a release in order to perform.
For more information, contact the NYUCF at NYUCFinfo@aol.com.
