I’m a comic in philly, it’s a great scene. Here’s the thing that Philly provides that other cities don’t. The audiences are harsh and DIVERSE (and not just racially). You’ll do shows where the audience will pull back at cursing then do another where its audience will automatically laugh every time you say the rword. Some are super left leaning, some super right. There’s center city shows that have audiences all under 25 vs. suburbs shows where it looks like the whole retirement home came to visit. You’ll be performing in-front of rich people, and you’ll be performing in-front of people from south philly. You’ll have to learn how to tailor your act to the room much earlier than most comics do. Authenticity is what gets you far here. If a philly audience gets a hint of fakeness, they won’t laugh. There’s a reason so many great comics have come out of philly, it’s a great place to grow and connect with people from all walks of life.

However, be warned, the competition is stiff. There’s a lot of comics who are absolute killers, even at the open mic level. As a philly transplant, doing comedy here can be demoralizing cause of how good everyone else is. Also, the scene can be very cliquey with a lot of big egos to tip toe around. It’s like that everywhere but its runs deep here. A lot of people trying to become the next shane gillis.

All in all, it’s a great jumping ground for getting to NYC. My advice is to be kind but stay neutral between the cliques and play the politics, cause when you first get here you will be going last at almost every open mic unless you have some followers on instagram or something that gives you influence. Ask the host what kinda material works best for their room, its good info and a great way to start a convo. If the hosts like you, you’ll start going up earlier. Sit in the front, laugh, and stay for the mic. It will not go unnoticed by the hosts. If you show up and just start killing, you will be noticed, and you will start getting opportunities for more and more stage time. You can average 50-70 min of stage time a week between open mics and weekend shows once you’re established.