This is a work in progress about the journey of being an open mic comedian in Portland, OR.

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It in no way is the entire scene but only the parts I've seen over the last couple of years while filming, producing, and becoming a part of the scene myself.

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This is what I've seen and lived.

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Documentaries should be honest and truthful and provide transparency where conflicts exist so that the viewers will understand and be able to interpret. This documentary is directed by someone who isn't apart from his subjects being documented.

 

I am one of them.

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And I'm one of us.

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I had to become one of them, but I was already one of us.

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Who's us? You are really.  You are what I call one of the "normals" if you don't do stand up. I was one of you but then I started doing comedy, now I am one of them. I'm always half-deranged thinking about how to make someone else laugh.

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That's comedy.

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I've been doing it regularly for three years now.

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It's why this whole thing got started. I was one of us, a normal, and I went and did an open mic.

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The comedy was great but the community was something special. I tried to convince someone else to document it but they said no and told me to get a camera and capture it. 

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So I did. 

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Now I am editing. Still filming too. It will be done when it's done and ready when it is ready. 

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Doing standup is dope, I think because it is also incredibly difficult to do, but anyone can try.

 

I am a CPA/CIA who was recently the Audit Director of a tribal government and casino in Grand Ronde, OR for almost two years.  

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That was difficult. Very difficult. Still easy compared to being a good comedian. Not even a great comedian, mind you. Not a touring comedian. Not even a passed regular at the local comedy club good. 

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Just being a good open mic comedian.

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Making a room of strangers laugh for three minutes of the ideas you are presenting to them, is more difficult than getting the two degrees, three professional certifications, and time working for audit firms, national banks, Fortune 500 companies, tribal government, and blah blah blah. 

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Doesn't mean poppycock at an open mic or comedy show.

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I am three years in and believe I am getting to the point I can handle a room as a host for an entire show. My own hour? Hell no, but I can handle my business as a host and probably a feature at this point. Not the best, but I can handle it.   

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When I got started and began to hit the mics, I thought it looked like the coolest club I've ever seen. Like pirates or the modern day version of being a really good line cook or chef de partie in a pro kitchen. That's the only way you get in with other really good line cooks and chefs. You have to be one of them. To be one of them, you have to earn it. 

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Think you're funny? Here's a mic, you have three to seven minutes to prove it. It's very hard to do. 

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We work out at dive bars, restaurants, breweries, wineries, rented studios, and whatever other random place so that we can get a shot at being booked, or killing at Helium's open mic and Portland's Funniest Person competition.

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What I am trying to say after all of that is that we are peers. I will inherently have biases that I must try to correct, or accept, because I cannot be all things, but I try to get it right on balance. 

 

I am nothing without my credibility. Not my credit score. My credibility. These are two entirely different things. 

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As a documentary filmmaker and a member of this scene and I love it very much and I want to leave it in a better place than I found it and I think telling the story from my perspective will do that and make you curious to learn more, catch a mic, and see that comedian you thought was funny at an independent show soon.

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We like to say that a rising tide lifts all ships.

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I am an adamant about supporter of this comedy scene, all of it, for better or worse and always, always for the funniest, best ideas to win the argument and kill the crowd.

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I believe in free speech.

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You can say anything you want, but how you say it makes a huge fucking difference.

 

Portland, and the PNW, can be a hard place to figure that out, so it makes its comedians better at crafting a joke.

 

Just like great wine comes from vines that have to work hard, great comedy comes from comedians who work hard.  

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I am telling the story of trying to find your voice and your audience as a comedian. I have risked telling this story, my way, the way I see it. It may not be from the most unique perspective, but it's from one of sound principles that tries to treat everyone else how I would want to be treated, because of reciprocity.

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This is the true story as I have captured ​Portland comedy and my experiences pursuing comedy in one of the best scenes in the nation, and the world.

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The Rose City. Portland, OR, USA.

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-Sean Murphy aka @pdxcomedydocumentary

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Background photo is PDX born and raised comedian Lucas Copp who hosts one of the best open mics in Portland, in my opinion, at Montavilla Station on Tuesdays where I filmed the open mic for about a year and where first I became a part of the scene.