For promoters and comedy-night hosts
Comedy open mic sign-up. Fair slots. No whiteboard.
Free comedy open mic app with lottery or first-come sign-up, set notes on the signup form, and a live running order. Every comic gets a fair shot.
Lottery or first-come
Hit Randomise for a true lottery sign-up in front of the room, or leave it first-come for a classic new-comic open mic.
Set notes on signup
Comics tell you clean/blue, new material, stool, trigger warnings — captured at signup, not at the door.
Fair 3-minute-ish slots
Tell The List your night length; it divides the stage time across whoever actually turned up, so no-one's set gets cut to 90 seconds.
QR code check-in
Print the QR once. Every comic scans and signs themselves in — no arguing with a doorperson over a clipboard.
No app download
Runs entirely in the browser. Comics don't need to install a thing to get on the bill.
Weekly night? Use a Series
Stable QR across every week, fresh lineup each time. Print once, run it for a year.
Comedy nights have a specific fairness problem that other events don't. Every comic you book tailors their set to the time you've told them. Promise them seven minutes, give them five on the night, and half their material doesn't land. The List is a free comedy open mic sign-up app that takes the guesswork out: it tells you exactly how long each comic has based on how many people actually turn up, and shows the same running order to the room.
When comics sign up they can drop in a line about their set — new material, clean or blue, trigger warnings, whether they need a stool — so you're not asking eight people at the door. Mid-night arrivals are handled cleanly: their name joins the list, the plan adjusts, and everyone downstream sees the updated slot times on their phone.
Need to prove to a comic that the running order wasn't stacked? Tap Randomise and reshuffle the list live — it's effectively a one-tap lottery sign-up, the same convention big clubs like Helium and New York Comedy Club run for their own open mic lotteries. Want to drop the strongest closer into the headline slot? Drag them into place. Everything's visible, nothing's hidden on your clipboard.
It's free, it doesn't need an app, and the data disappears two days after the night. If you run a weekly or monthly slot, use a Series — the QR you print stays the same every month; each night spins up a fresh running order.
10 comics across a 90-minute open mic night
Typical run-of-show
- 1Split into 2 halves of 45 minutes each.
- 25 comics per half → ~8 minutes each including applause breaks.
- 3Each comic's set notes (clean/blue, new material) saved on signup.
- 4Swap the closer into the headline slot with one drag.
- 5Comics see the same slot length you do — no nasty surprises on stage.
Running a lottery-style open mic
Lottery sign-up is the fairness standard for new-comic open mics — used by rooms like Helium Comedy Club in Philadelphia, New York Comedy Club's free open mic, and Wiseguys. Comics add their name to a pool; a host shuffles the lineup in front of the room; the order is the order.
The List runs this natively. Open sign-ups on arrival, let comics add themselves via the QR, then tap Randomise when you're ready to lock the order. The shuffle happens live — comics see the re-ordered list on their phone at the same moment you do. No sealed envelope, no "trust us", just visible fairness.
If you prefer first-come-first-served, leave Randomise alone. The order stays as people signed up. Either works — the key is that comics see the same logic you're running.
Why 3-minute and 5-minute sets still need running-order maths
A "3-minute set" isn't 3 minutes of stage time — it's 3 minutes of material plus intro applause, walk-on, the host's bit, and the inevitable over-run. Ten comics with 3-minute sets on a 45-minute half isn't ten × 3 minutes, it's more like ten × 4.5 minutes with intros and breaks. The List accounts for that by dividing real available stage time across real performers, not hypothetical slot counts.
That means when the 11th comic signs up at 9:40pm, everyone's slot tightens by the right amount automatically. No mental maths at the bar, no comic walking off stage mid-punchline because you forgot to recount.
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posterposter.app →Questions hosts ask
Can I tell comics how long they've got before the night?+
Yes — but the real value is the live adjustment. Comics who arrive early see a longer slot; if a bunch of walk-ons turn up, slots shrink and everyone sees the new number in real time.
Can comics specify things about their set?+
Yes. The signup form asks for 'set notes' — clean/blue, new material, tech needs. You see it on your dashboard when you're running the night.
Does it support lottery-style sign-up?+
Yes. Leave sign-ups open, let comics add themselves via the QR, then tap Randomise to shuffle the order in front of the room. Comics watch the lineup reshuffle on their phones in real time — visible fairness, no sealed envelopes.
Is the order fair if I run a regular night?+
Yes. Tap Randomise and the list reshuffles in front of the room. Or drag people into order — but visible in the same way to every comic, so there's no hidden favouritism.
Do I need to make accounts for each comic?+
No. Every comic just scans the QR you share, enters their name, and they're on. No email, no password, no app.
What about weekly or monthly nights?+
Use a Series — a stable QR that survives between events. You print it once, stick it near the door, and spin up a fresh night in one tap each time.
What happens to the sign-up data after the night?+
Everything auto-deletes 48 hours after the event. Names and set notes don't linger on a server somewhere. UK GDPR-friendly by default.
Ready in 10 seconds.
Tap the button. Share the QR. That's it.
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