Event lets young comedians air talents
By Daily Bruin Staff
July 22, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 ALICE LAM Comedian Nosmo King performs
last week for a crowd at Westwood Brewing Company’s Tuesday comedy
night.
By Jessica Moss
Daily Bruin Contributor
A new breed of fresh and quirky comedic talent is being
cultivated in a local Westwood bar.
At 8:00 on Tuesday nights, tucked away in a small space above
the patio at the Westwood Brewing Company, a group of young
aspiring comedians gather to air their latest material.
Brew Co. manager Lora McLeod says the event provides a
comfortable forum for comedic exploration.
“It’s good for the students who are in acting or
theater. It’s good practice for them. They can get up there
and do their thing without cost to them,” she said.
Last September, while seeking a new venue for his show, club
promoter Vance Sanders walked into Brew Co. and found that their
old Tuesday night show had ended. Since then, the current show has
become an increasingly popular event on the comedy circuit.
“There are not that many open mics where there is a real
audience. It’s a real show even though you are just
performing for other comedians,” he said.
Comedian Chris Hardwicke attributes the popularity of the event
in part to Sanders’ efforts and also to word of mouth within
the comedy community.
“There is sort of a snowball effect. Â The more people
that come, the more they are going to go tell other people about
this open mic thing. And that is going to get more
people,” he said.
Participants in the open mic-style event are selected by
lottery.
“I pull 18 names, ostensibly six performers per hour and
then I work in two people an hour for three minutes,” Sanders
said.
The style of comedy at Brew Co. is different from that of
traditional comedy clubs, according to Hardwicke.
“You do a club and typically people like really lowest
common denominator kind of stuff,” he said. “If you try
to do that here, it would not go over too well.”
Sanders said the participants, some of them regulars, work hard
on their material and try to be original.
“Everybody that comes really tries hard. They are always
writing. They are always doing new material and experimenting. Its
very exciting to see what people are going to do,” he
said.
COMEDY: Westwood Brewing Company’s open
mic night is every Tuesday at 8 p.m. The restaurant and bar is
located at 1097 Glendon Avenue in Westwood Village.
