Every second and fourth Tuesday of the month, laughs, drinks and jokes fill the air at Revolution Cafe and Bar during their bi-monthly stand-up comedy open mic nights. Serving as the only stand-up comedy venue in the B-CS area, Revolution’s open-mic nights typically attract amateur comedians and comedy fans alike.
The open-mic night started in February 2016 by local comedian, “Olly iConic” in an effort to bring comedy to Bryan. Olly, who hosts the open-mic nights, said he was visiting the bar’s musical open-mic night when he realized that it was just the place to introduce a stand-up event.
“It’s a perfect place because this is different,” Olly said. “It’s cut off from all the places where comedy has failed for us. It’s kind of like an Austin embassy in that it’s completely different.”
A typical open-mic event sees anywhere from 20 to 60 guests a night and encourages anyone interested in performing, regardless of experience, to sign up. Justin Honeycutt, one of Revolution’s bartenders, has watched the bar’s open-mic performances evolve since first being introduced over a year ago.
“We already do poetry, we already do music and we already do art. [Comedy] is just another extension of art,” Honeycutt said. “We get a pretty wide range of people from people leaning left [and] people leaning right.”
While the bar will continue to keep its stand-up performance nights bi-monthly, it still hopes to increase popularity for the open-mic event, eventually hosting various comedians from around the state and even country.
“What we’re hoping to do is bring more professional comedians to town,” Honeycutt said. “And maybe do something like, on a friday night where I’ve got people from Austin or Dallas or anywhere in the world.”
With no age restriction for attending the comedy event, Revolution is open to all Bryan- College Station residents interested in watching live comedy. Nutritional sciences junior Christian Neilsen, who recently attended an open-mic event, said that the open-mic night showcases creativity.
“It seemed like there were a lot of artistic views in there, a lot more creativity in there,” Neilsen said. “The simple fact that they have an open mic night just opens up the idea that they’re creative because it’s a venue for local comedians.”
The open-mic at Revolution Cafe and Bar allows tough conversations to be exchanged through jokes and creates an open environment for opinion sharing through the art of comedy. With the open-mic nights growing in popularity, students have the opportunity to watch creative displays of opinion.
“I feel like there’s a culture of college students that can surround themselves around this idea,” Neilsen said. “Because I feel like comedy can definitely be a way to draw people together, especially people of the same age group.”
