Ian Bagg is a Canadian native who made it big in NYC ending up on Late Night, The Tonight Show, and The Late Late Show. Bagg has appeared in films like The Cradle Will Rock, MVP 2, and MXP. He has two half-hour specials – Comedy Central Presents and HBO’s A Comics Climb – and a one-hour special on Showtime. Ian was a fan favorite and placed in the Top 5 on Last Comic Standing. His latest digital release Conversations is available everywhere. Ian also hosts his own podcast, Ian Bagg Bought A House.
Wiseguys Open Mic is a weekly showcase of Utah's best up-and-coming performers. Each show is a hilarious mix of professionals working on new material, amateur comedians working on their chops, and first-timers being thrown in the mix.
Wiseguys Open Mic is held every Wednesday at 7:00pm at our Downtown SLC club. Doors open for seating at 6pm. Must Be 21+ w Valid ID to Enter.
How do I sign up?
Please email wiseguysopenmic@gmail.com and request a spot on the next open mic. You may submit one email request for yourself only up to one week before the next scheduled open mic. You may not request a spot several weeks in advance of the night you'd like to perform. Anyone interested in performing on Open Mic night must send in an email request; there are no longer sign-ups the night of the show. If you are selected to do a spot, we will respond to your email. It is up to you to check your email.
If you are a comic visiting from out of town, please email us and we will try to make room for you. All performers must be aged 21 or older.
How will I know if I'm on the show?
We will respond via email to everyone who will be on the open mic no later than 6pm the Tuesday before open mic. If you are selected, feel free to invite friends and family to come watch and support your performance. Admission is $5 for audience members and free for performers. It is your responsibility to check your email to see if you've been selected.
What if I'm not chosen to be on the show?
We do our best to give everyone an opportunity to perform but we can't always squeeze everyone on to the show because of high demand. If you are not selected to perform, keep sending in email requests. Be persistent and patient (and nice) and we will make sure you have an opportunity to take the stage. If you’re not selected, please come to the show and support anyway. Your support of the other open mic performers is noticed and appreciated and won’t hurt your chances to be selected for a future open mic.
Stand-by List: If any spots become available at 6pm on Open Mic night, then a stand-by list will be made available for performers who aren't already scheduled for that evening. There are no guarantees that a stand-by list will be available each week and will be determined at 6pm if there is any available room to add performers on to the show.
*A certain number of open mic slots are made available to touring professional comedians. If you are wondering whether or not you’re a touring professional, you’re probably not a touring professional. (Keep working hard and you’ll get there though)
I'm on the list, now what?
You must check in at the front desk no later than 6pm otherwise your spot will be forfeited and given to someone waiting on the standby list. No-shows are less likely to be given future performance opportunities at open mic night.
All scheduled performers get 3 minutes on stage. Please stick to your time. Show order is random and determined by that evening's emcee. Be sure to watch the countdown clock! Respect the time, audience, and other comedians.
Please stay out of the staff's way as they are very busy. Stay clear of the aisles. Also, you should order from a server and tip them. It's the right thing to do and good karma.
Open Mic is used as a starting ground for many comics, as well as a place to practice new material for veteran comedians. Some jokes may kill, others may bomb, but it's always a good time. Be sure to support those appearing on stage; it's not as easy as you think! Sit down and watch the show from an empty seat in the showroom. You never know...you might learn something!
Since taking 4th place on Last Comic Standing’s 8th season, Joe Machi has been busy touring the United States as a headlining stand-up comedian. He has performed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and has become a regular on Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld on Fox News. Joe also won the 2013 NY Comedy Festival’s Funniest Comedian Competition, and the 2010 NY Underground Comedy Festival's Emerging Comics Competition.
You can take the boy out of the trailer park, but you can’t take the trailer park out of the boy… Stand-up comedian Dusty Slay grew up on Lot 8 of a mobile home neighborhood in Opelika, Alabama, and his observational comedy and eternally optimistic outlook is peppered with ironies: growing up poor, a love for both hard-core country and classic rock, a career history peppered with jobs like waiting tables and selling pesticides, and what counts as fashion-forward thinking in his world. The trucker hat, long hair and mustache, flannel shirt and oversized glasses aren’t affectations to cultivate a stage persona as the B-side of a 1970-something Bob Seger single—it’s just Slay.
“There’s still a lot of jokes to come. I looked at everything as experience,” he says. “Let’s not get mad about it, let’s enjoy it.”
Just this year, at age 36, Slay has become the youngest comedian to ever perform at the legendary Grand Ole Opry Stage in his adopted hometown of Nashville. He’s notched three appearances in front of “my people” at the Holy Land of country music in less than six months and has also been tapped to host CMA Festival’s Forever Country Stage in June to keep fans laughing between appearances by the biggest stars in country music.
The breakout comedian’s Comedy Central Stand-Up Featuring premieres May 16, and he is also set for a second appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon this summer. He’s also primed to appear live at Comedy Central’s Clusterfest 2019 in San Francisco, all continuing the momentum from previous sets on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Last Comic Standing, andLaughs on Fox;regular stints on The Bob & Tom Radio Show; and a host of live appearances across the country.
Dusty was just picked as one of 2019's Top Comics to Watch by Variety Magazine.
Comedian/impressionist Marcus (NBC’s Last Comic Standing) and comedian/musician Guy Seidel (winner of Utah’s Funniest Person) are a comedy duo unlike any other. Both nationally touring headlining comics, the two friends have come together to combine their talents into an unbelievable Musical Impression comedy show that literally has to be heard to be believed. Spanning decades, this incredible show pays tribute to the best voices, songs and artists from all genres from the last 50 years and can performed at any rating level from squeaky clean on up!! The two comics conceived and wrote the show because of their love for all music. Their eclectic taste and vast knowledge also lead to great discussions on their new and extremely popular DirtPod podcast. A funny take on all things music, the DirtPod has already gained a rabid following and dedicated fan base. Whether live on stage together, or behind mics in a studio, these two are a hilarious duo unlike anyone else out there.
Pound for pound, Brad Williams is the funniest comedian in the country right now, and has become one of the most in-demand comedians working today.
Williams has parlayed that success into a multitude of stand-up television experiences, including Live at Gotham, The Tonight Show, Dave Attell’s Comedy Underground, and Jimmy Kimmel Live. His first one-hour special, Fun Size, was the highest rated on Showtime, and a year later, he followed that up with his second special, Daddy Issues. Most recently, Williams recorded a new half-hour special for Netflix’s upcoming stand-up comedy showcase The Degenerates.
An accomplished actor, Williams has appeared on numerous TV shows, including FX’s Legit, Sam and Cat, Mind of Mencia, Pitboss, and a recurring role on the Hulu original show Deadbeat. He has also had memorable roles in a plethora of movies, including Little Evil and the Netflix original Christopher Guest film, Mascots.
In addition to stand-up and acting, Williams has become a dynamic on-air personality. His podcast with Adam Ray, About Last Night, is a mainstay on the iTunes charts. He is also a regular contributor on KROQ’s Kevin and Bean Show in LA, as well as Adam Carolla’s podcast, The Adam Carolla Show.
Brad’s ability to make humorous and inspiring observations on disability, relationships, sex, and race are consistently winning over audiences and proving anyone can overcome their shortcomings.
Being one of 13 children, Arvin Mitchell is no stranger to crowds. Born in St.Louis with 9 sisters & 3 brothers made food seem like a myth at dinner time. After being disciplined by his mother in front of a full class of his peers, Arvin had no choice but to do standup, because his butt hurt so bad after that, he couldn’t sit down. Mitchell’s creative & and explosively silly comedy has kept him in demand in more arenas than one!
With an array of impressions, stories, gestures and faces, Arvin’s memorable performance is sure to please. As the former cohost of BET’s Club Comic View, Arvin has been featured on Kevin Hart’s “One Mic Stand”, Tony Rocks “The Funny Spot” as well as entertaining our troops abroad. Nominated as one of NBC’s Stand Up for Diversity top comics Arvin continues to tour colleges, clubs, cruise ships & churches.
In 2019, Arvin become one of the newest cast members of the comedy web series hit STUDIO C.
Chris Franjola is a writer/comedian who can currently be heard hosting his highly successful podcast, Cover To Cover With Chris Franjola (over 1500 5 star iTunes reviews & Top 50 iTunes Comedy podcasts) also he’s a frequent contributor on Heather McDonald’s wildly successful podcast, Juicy Scoop. Chris can currently be seen as a regular panel guest on Lights Out with David Spade on Comedy Central & Fox’s hit gameshow, Punchline. Chris was also a writer and a regular performer on E!’s hit show “Chelsea Lately" for 8 years. Together with the talented writing staff, Chris wrote over 1500 episodes while performing on the show more than anyone else beside Chelsea Handler and Chuy. During his time on the show Chris created some of the shows most memorable characters like Gay Caveman, Bieber Man, Johnny Depp, Seventeen Magazine Players and many more. He also starred on the critically acclaimed scripted comedy series “After Lately,” which aired for three seasons on E!, he was the host of the Sons of Anarchy aftershow Anarchy Afterword, airing live on FX. Last year Chris released his first comedy album "The Shallow End" which received rave reviews and stayed in iTunes Top 10 Comedy Albums for 5 weeks. Earlier this year Chris could be seen as a contributing panelist on The Josh Wolf Show on CMT and Funniest Fails on Fox. When he isn’t busy writing and acting, he’s performing stand-up on the road, headlining venues all over the country. Before Chelsea Lately, Chris wrote for other shows, including Family Guy, the MTV Video Music Awards, and the original Chelsea Handler Show.
Comedian Kellen Erskine has appeared on Conan, Jimmy Kimmel, NBC's America's Got Talent, and the Amazon Original Series Inside Jokes. He has garnered over 30 million views with his clips on Dry Bar Comedy.
In 2018, Kellen was selected to perform on the coveted “New Faces” showcase at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal--comedy's most prestigious event. Kellen was named one of TBS's Top Ten Comics to Watch in 2017, and he performed at the TBS New York Comedy Festival. Kellen has been a finalist of both the San Francisco International Comedy Competition and the Great American Comedy Festival. He has also performed at the Bridgetown, Big Sky, and Boston Comedy Festivals.
In February of 2018 Kellen made his late night television stand-up debut on TBS’s Conan.
Dan Soderis a New York City based comedian and actor who’s best known as ‘Mafee’ on the hit series Billions on Showtime.Dan’s first HBO comedy special, Son of a Gary, premiered in December 2019 and is streaming now. His previous special, The Standups premiered on Netflix in 2017 and his first hour-long stand-up special, Not Special, premiered on Comedy Central in 2016.Other credits include: Comedy Central’s Half Hour, Conan, Inside Amy Schumer, and @midnight.Dan also hosts Sirius XM’s The Bonfire with Big Jay Oakerson, every Monday through Thursday at 6PM ET on Comedy Central Radio.
Josh Wolf is a comedian, actor and NY Times Bestselling author best known for his work as a round table guest and writer on E!’s Chelsea Lately and After Lately. He has become one of the most sought-after personalities in comedy, headlining stand-up comedy tours across the nation.
Josh starred on and hosted CMT’s first original late night comedy series,The Josh Wolf Show, which aired for one season. He has written on numerous sitcoms including Yes, Dear, Will Smith’s All of Us, Cuts, and Dads in Parks. Wolf appeared on the fourth season of NBC’s Last Comic Standing and has had recurring roles on television series like My Name Is Earl and Raising Hope. He is also a recurring guest on ESPN’s SportsNation. Wolf hosted Shark After Dark, which aired during the ultra-popular “Shark Week” on The Discovery Channel, as well as Discovery’s late night series Naked After Dark, which recapped each episode of the hit series Naked and Afraid.
Additionally, Wolf has published a book, titled It Takes Balls: Dating Single Moms and Other Confessions from an Unprepared Single Dad, through Grand Central Publishing. Funny and brutally honest, the book detailed Wolf’s adventures as a struggling stand-up comedian, while juggling being a single parent in Los Angeles.
Wolf continues to perform stand-up comedy tours nationally and internationally.
Taylor Tomlinson is too funny to be 25. Her perspective possesses a degree of wisdom that’s typically earned with age. “Being in your twenties is like having a virus,” Taylor quips in one of her beloved standup acts. “You can’t do anything about it. You just have to wait till you get better.”
Focusing exclusively on Taylor’s old-soul clarity is tempting, but what makes Taylor stand out isn’t just that she seems too young to understand youth so well. It’s that she combines that vision with on-the-nose immediacy that can only come with still living in the moments being lampooned.
“I think that’s what comedians do: We’re funny in the moment,” Taylor says. “We’re just so self-reflective and narcissistic.” She laughs, then adds, “But I’ve always felt older than I am. That virus joke is similar to a lot of my material in the new Netflix special. It’s me being frustrated that I’m in a period of my life that everybody talks about like—"Ooof, yeah, that was hard. It was fun! But I wouldn’t go back for anything.”
When Taylor’s new hour-long Netflix special, “Quarter Life Crisis,” debuts on Feb. 25, 2020, she’ll add another red-letter win to her already impressive comedic resume. Performances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, CONAN, Comedy Central's Adam Devine's House Party, and Netflix’s The Comedy Lineup, as well as a top-ten finish in season 9 of NBC’s Last Comic Standing, have all endeared Taylor to a national audience. Variety Magazine named her one of the Top 10 Comics to Watch at the Just for Laughs Festival, and she’s a regular on What Just Happened??! with Fred Savage. Taylor has spent much of the last year filling clubs across the country on her own headlining tour.
Along with Delanie Fischer and Kelsey Cook, Taylor also co-hosts Self-Helpless, an iTunes Top 100 podcast that combines hilarious send-ups of self-help books, trends, and more with genuine explorations and buy-in from the hosts. “We are all constantly trying to better ourselves––we’re all perfectionists. Originally, we were like, ‘We’ll make fun of self-help, and it’ll be hilarious!’ But then, we found we actually agreed with things or found stuff that really helped,” Taylor says of the podcast.
Taylor is in her mid-twenties, but she’s honed her craft for more than a decade. The California native began doing standup at 16 after taking a class with her dad––and she never stopped. Churches, schools, and fundraisers were her first stages. When Taylor turned 18, she played every club in San Diego that she could. “When I started doing standup, it was the first time I felt comfortable with myself,” Taylor says. “I think people I went to school with were surprised––I was kind of quiet and introverted.”
Dating, friendships, our evolving relationship with technology and reality––Taylor skewers modern twenty-something life with self-deprecating precision. Raised in a conservative home, Taylor also prods Christianity and privilege with that same blend of distanced awareness and personal familiarity that defines her jokes about her age. “I’m a perfectionist. I’m not really a risk-taker––being a standup comic to me is already risky enough,” she says. “I don’t drink. I don’t party, and I never have. My mom died pretty young. I think when that happens when you’re a kid, you realize sooner than other people that you aren’t in a bubble. You lose that self-perceived invincibility a lot of young people have.”
Taylor’s Netflix special is the culmination of years of writing and performing, and it shows. The set is a masterful display of deft timing, crowd connection, physicality, and smarts. The material changed over the months that passed from pitch to performance, reflecting shifts in Taylor’s own life. “A lot happened over the summer of 2019,” Taylor says. “I ended up breaking off my engagement. It was a lot of growth in a very short period of time. It changed the hour a lot from what I had submitted back in February––and I think made it better.” For filming the special, Taylor chose the Aladdin in Portland, Oregon.
“I found out I got the special and enjoyed it for about 20 minutes, then I got really stressed and was pretty laser focused,” Taylor says, laughing a little. “You think you’ll take a break after you film it, but then you realize, ‘Oh shoot. I need a whole new hour of material––I can’t take a break!”
Taylor can’t stop now. But she wouldn’t want to, anyway. “I just don’t think there’s anything better than having a room full of people laugh at something you said. All I really want to do is be really good at standup––and continue to get better at it,” she says. “Saying ‘that’s all I really want’ feels insane because it’s so much to want.”
Drew Lynch captured the hearts of America with his Golden Buzzer performance on Season 10 of America’s Got Talent. Audiences across the country fell in love with his charming wit and genuine vulnerability.
Since, Drew has appeared on IFC’s Maron and Conan, and amassed over 2 million subscribers on YouTube. Drew was born in Indianapolis, grew up in Las Vegas, and currently lives in Los Angeles with his dog Stella.
In addition to headlining comedy clubs across the country, his one-hour comedy special, Did I Stutter?, is currently in post-production.
Whitney Cummings is a comedian, writer, and actress who has performed in stand-up specials for both HBO and Comedy Central.
Best known for creating and starring in the NBC series Whitney, Cummings was also the co-creator and co-writer of the Emmy-nominated CBS comedy series 2 Broke Girls and was an executive producer on the ABC revival of Roseanne.
Her first book I'm Fine… and Other Lies is available wherever books are sold and her film directorial debut The Female Brain is available for streaming.
On the big screen, Whitney was recently seen in Unforgettable. Past feature film credits include The Wedding Ringer, Made of Honor, and The Ridiculous Six. Whitney has appeared in such TV series as Undateable, Workaholics, Maron and the Comedy Central Roasts, which have solidified her presence in comedy television.
Comedian Shuler King was born Frank Williams III in Sumter, South Carolina. He knew at an early age that he was destined to be an entertainer especially since he was the kid known for cracking jokes. King grew up in a traditional 2-parent household in the Bible Belt of the South, where Faith, Hard Work and Education were the foundations of what his parents imparted on him and his two siblings. Comedy is his passion, but he has taken a rather unusual path to get to where he is thus far.
He graduated from the University of South Carolina with a B.A. in Media Arts where he joined The Mighty Illustrious Zeta Zeta Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated. In 2013 he graduated from Gupton Jones Mortuary College with a degree in Mortuary Science. When he isn’t on the road performing at comedy clubs and special events across the country, King works as a licensed funeral director and embalmer in Georgia and South Carolina at his family’s funeral business in South Carolina. He wants to keep his family’s business and legacy alive. He’s probably the only Comedian/Funeral Director on the comedy circuit. King has opened for some of the most notable and talented comedians and comediennes in the industry. He credits his parents strict yet loving upbringing, his harsh surroundings growing up and the state of the country today with giving him his comedic style, which he describes as RAW. King says “Comedy isn’t about being happy all the time. Comedy is just as much about pain that people endure. When you hear 20,000 people in an arena laugh at a joke it’s because they all can relate to experiencing that same pain”. His comedy career began while he was a Freshman in college, after he took the stage for the very first time at the NCO Club on a military base and the rest is history. King is one of the most energetic rising comedians in the business. Although the comedy business can be very tough and filled with ups and downs, King credits his unwavering Faith in God as the calming force in his life which keeps him pushing forward. His hilarious videos he posts on his social media have quickly become fan favorites. His recent video post about Donald Trump went viral and was even played on a UK television show. The future is bright for King. For more information about his comedy shows go to his website www.ShulerKing.com and follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @ShulerKing.
Comedian Big Jay Oakerson has been a stand out at comedy and music festivals around the world for the last two decades including Just For Laughs, Comedy Central’s Colossal Clusterfest, the New York Comedy Festival, SXSW, Moontower Festival, North By Northeast, and Mayhem Festival, among others.
Oakerson has appeared on multiple television shows including his first one hour special, Live at Webster Hall, which premiered on Comedy Central in 2016. More recently, Jay released his own half-hour special on Netflix which premiered in 2018 as part of the hit series The Degenerates. He is the host and creator of the all crowd work show What's Your F#$king Deal?!, which streamed on NBC’s Seeso. Other appearances include FX’s Louie, IFC’s Z-Rock, The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon, as well as Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer, The Comedy Jam and This Is Not Happening.
Jay has recorded three albums, An American Storyteller and two volumes of The Crowdwork Sessions, all of which are available on Comedy Central records. When it comes to podcasts, he is currently the co-host of The Legions of Skanks, The SDR Show, and The Bonfire with Big Jay Oakerson and Dan Soder.
Special Event
Ages 21+
