Emceeing a show

This weekend at the sideshow festival, they have a pre-show and then the show.  The people from the preshow stay for the main show. The MC did the same two bits for the two shows.  I was kinda anoyed at that. To me that’s a lack of respect for your audience. Bring enough material to … Continue reading “Emceeing a show”

This weekend at the sideshow festival, they have a pre-show and then the show.  The people from the preshow stay for the main show. The MC did the same two bits for the two shows.  I was kinda anoyed at that. To me that’s a lack of respect for your audience. Bring enough material to fill the time.


Being the MC on a show is hard to do, especially a variety show.  You’ve got to keep it moving and you’ve got to fill time. A good MC will talk to acts before the show to get an idea of their set up and take down.  Based on that you’ll know what bits fill what spaces best.

An good MC is one of those things that you aren’t aware of, but when you see a bad one it’s obvious.  The key to MCing is talking to the acts, and watching them. That way if anything happens, you can reference it in between…or are prepared for a mess, props moving behind you and with time to fill.