How To Get Booked On More Shows In 2025

Okay, 2025 is going to be your year. You are finally going to take stand up comedy serious and push harder, write more and get booked way more often. I really think you can do it. That is why I am writing this today. Before I break down how to get booked on more shows in 2025, I need you to handle the writing part. If you want to feature or headline more you need to have the jokes to do it. Be honest with yourself and review your 20 minute set and review your 45 minute set. I know the only way to get better at featuring or headlining is actually doing it. Get out there champ!

How To Get Booked On More Shows: Don’t Burn Bridges

I am about to give you advice in this blog that has taken me over 15 years to really figure out. Before we get too deep into it. Reminder, when you reach out to bookers, comedians, club owners, and steak houses to tell your jokey jokes you NEED to have the time you are saying you have. You NEED to be kind and professional. You NEED to show up on time and treat the staff with the same kindness you treat the booker. All of this matters, if you do not think the staff or booker and owner all talk about you after the show you are crazy. Of course they will talk about you and the event.

They will tell friends, family, other venues about you as a person and also about your comedy. Treat them all with kindness and make sure you understand what is expected out of you.

Great Video and Headshot

This step is skipped by so many comedians. Congrats, you now know who to stand out in the comedy scene this will help you get booked on more shows. Have a really nice video of your set. I know this feels impossible sometimes. But its new year and new you, so booked some local shows that have a hot crowd. Or put together your own showcase with bunch of funny friends and you all pitch in to have a professional come and film the show. Sometimes all the stars will align perfectly and you will get that hot tape.

Here are a few tips to get a good video.

1. Buy a nice camera with a good zoom and film it yourself
   This will take practice and skill and can be hard to pull off. But if you are like me and love cameras and learning something new this is possible. You should also invest into a solid shotgun mic. I think you can not really go wrong with any shotgun mic from Comica. I think they make quality mics at an affordable price.
2. Find someone that films comedy shows often.
   Highly suggest this one! They might even know of shows that will be a good way to get a video. Like local showcases or venues that they often film. If you are are the west side of the USA, I would give Heavy Feathers a call. They have filmed everyone in the business and are true professionals. They also helped create my tv show The Big Laugh on Amazon Prime. 
3. Run the set a lot of time before filming. I mean a lot!
   Run the set at open mics, local shows, anywhere that you can. Sure you know your jokes but you need to know them in that order without thinking about it. I used to really get uncomfortable performing when I knew it was the time I was filming it. Because normally I riff some and I play around in my set. Later I learned a happy medium of being playful but also staying on task. But I had to get comfortable with that set.
4. Harshly judge the set and video
   This is the first time many bookers are going to see you. How is the first two minutes? How is your pacing? Also, how is the audio? How is the lighting? This all seems silly but honestly I have HAD SO MANY silly comments from bookers. Recently had a booker watch a tape for a booking and just replied with notes such as “Why does he hold the mic like that? Did he learn that in a comedy class?” I have been holding mics for almost 20 years. I did get the gig, but holding the mic distracted him so much he might have missed some punchlines.

Having a few professional photos of yourself is incredibly important.

If you do not have any professional headshots this might stop you from getting gigs. There has been some really important gigs in my career that needed headshots that were certain sizes and quality. I could not imagine replying to those bookers saying “hey sorry I have a couple of iPhone photos on Facebook you can use” I think they would silently book someone else. That might sound extreme, but it is a possibility.

I have written a whole blog on advice with headshots and I even show my current headshots I am using. I recently moved to Seattle and will be taking some new ones. I do still look like my headshots and love using them but I feel updating every couple years is important.

Road Dogs

In your city or state there is comedians that are road dogs. They are howling at the moon and chugging energy drinks leaving a bar gig. You might be saying “Zack not in my scene!” I promise you they live there. You might not see them at the local chuckle hut or open mic but they exist. For many years I was the road dog in Phoenix. I lived there but I was traveling the country in my 500 dollar car, telling my jokes at any bar or winery that would let me. I was doing this too much and would pop up at open mics in phoenix and people would be like “you new?”.

Reach out to these road dogs. Offer to buy them a coffee and pick their brain. Get friendly with them, they will forever be a great resource. They will tell you shows and bookers to avoid. They will tell you horror stories and also tell you about life changing gigs. You need to soak up all this info.

If you are friendly with a road dog, pitch the idea of opening for them. Tell them your goals in comedy and that you just want to perform more and get better at comedy. They might have some upcoming gigs that you would be a great fit for. But before asking you have to be friendly. Because while you are blabbing on about wanting to do that next gig, they are thinking “can I spend 12 hours in a car with this weirdo?”

Facebook Groups (I know, I know)

Okay, I know Facebook is a trashcan. It is full of bots and grandmas liking Ai photos. But oddly for some parts of America Facebook groups are very active and great way to get booked. Almost every comedy scene has a Facebook group. Some are completely horrible and just a way for people in the scene to argue. But there are some that post looking for openers, features and headliners in the area. Join your local area and maybe join some groups of scenes that you are wanting to travel to. This is a great starting point to add a few dates to your calendar.

Extra tip: Ask your road dog friend about some shows you see looking for comics in the groups. They most likely have done that show or worked with that venue.

Emails Emails Emails

Create a Gmail account for your comedy. Well you said you were going to take it serious this year! Then use that email to reach out to bookers, venues, road dogs, and anyone else. Booking gigs is a lot of sending emails and following up on emails. Here are some tips for sending an email

1. Keep it short. No one will read your long email. 
   Keep it on topic and try to keep it to one paragraph. Think about last time you got a long email. How did you feel? Did you read it?
2. Give all the info needed for them to make a decision. 
   Some bookers will disagree with this. But I feel I have gotten more responses once I started thinking this way. I will tell them why me, when, and a video to prove I am not horrible.
3. Follow up! Follow up! 
   There has been many venues or bookers that booked me after I sent 3 or 4 emails to them without hearing a response at all. Remember, they are getting hundreds of emails and booking months of shows. You sometimes just need to follow up and be kind. They may have thought they wrote back but forgot to hit send or your past emails just got completely missed. That is okay, you are not getting booked right now, so you have the time to follow up. But if you spam them with emails they will never book you.

What should an email look like?

Okay let me give you a starting point.

Hey, I am [name]

First off, I love your venue. I would love to be considered to host [insert dates] I think I would be a good fit with [ insert comedian that is headlining that date] I have been performing for [insert years or use this space to mention credits] Thank you so much for your time

Here is a video link
[link]

Thank you
[name]

Quiet Mouths Don’t Get Fed

For longer than I would like to admit when I started doing comedy, I couldn’t get booked as much as I would like. My calendar was pretty empty, sure I wasn’t the funniest in the local scene and I was pretty shy. But finally one day I was truly fed up seeing others get on cool shows and perform all over the valley. So I messaged a local booker that I looked up to and said “hey how come I never perform on your shows?” He wrote back and simply said “You never asked”

I was shook, comics are ASKING to be on shows? My young dumb brain couldn’t handle this new piece of information. I started asking everyone, and my calendar started to look less embarrassing. This is most likely something you already learned to do. But I wanted to remind you to ask for what you want.

Sometimes bookers or venues have no idea that you are interested. It is not that they don’t like you comedy but they have tons of people asking but you never have. Remind them that you love what they do or you love the venue and if there is ever an opening you will be right there baby!

How To Nail The Re-booking.

There is only 12 months in a year. There is only so many venues in your area. There is only so many weekends. There is only so many bookers. You will need to build these relationships so when the next gig pops up you are in their contact list. When you first start headlining or featuring this is going to be tough. You will have bad gigs, you will completely bomb. You will bomb so bad that venue will pretend they never booked you in the first place. Ask any successful comedian, they will have stories about this.

Once you get the training wheels off and you start handling your set and actually getting solid laughs. You should be thinking about re-bookings. Few tips to make this happen.

1. Be friendly to everyone.
   As mentioned earlier in the blog, people talk. They will talk about your comedy, your vibe, your personality.
2. Thank you gifts. 
   When possible I try to give venues thank you gifts or letters. I will give them something from my merch table or I will give them a simple thank you letter. I know booking is hard and I know running a venue is wild. I want to remind them that I really appreciate the stage time.
3. Showing up early
   Many times I have shown up early at a bar gig or some kind of chuckle hut and see there is something they needed help with. Maybe it is setting up chairs or adjusting the PA system. Being their early and being a friendly face is sometimes all it takes. A recent gig I showed up and the owner was setting up mic and mic stand and I was just chatting. It was a great chat about the road and other comics we both know. Before the gig even started he said “Hey, you free next week? We had someone drop out”
4. The quick follow up 
   This one is more of a use your best judgement. Sometimes after a gig you are hanging out with the show runner and you feel it could be the right time to say “Hey I loved this. Can we pick a date 6 months from now for me to come back?” If that moment doesn’t come, try sending a thank you email day or so later and throw in that same question. You don’t wanna wait to long, they will forget how kind you were or how you showed up early.

Final Thoughts On How To Get Booked On More Shows

Comedy is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. You have to wear so many hats to really grow your career. Early on I started putting together my own shows because no one would book me. I learned so much about performing and contracts and sound equipment. Later all those skills would lead to me creating my own TV show that is on Amazon Prime “The Big Laugh”. That show has changed my career by opening so many doors.

If you are struggling to get booked on more shows in your scene. I highly suggest starting your own monthly show or look into booking some small bar gigs on the road. It will make you a better comic I promise you. It will help make your calendar look less sad. It will teach you about the other side of booking. It will make you learn marketing. It will make you grow as a person and a performer. Get a few friends together and hit the road. Or reach out to local comics you truly enjoy and book them at your new monthly gig. 2025 is going to be your year, I can feel it.

Thanks for reading my blog about how to get booked on more shows in 2025. Feel free to check out my TV Show or read more blogs I have written about comedy.

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Thank You!