Yep that’s right tonight’s show at El Cid is a real competition. After much debate we finally decided that tonight would be real, mainly because it’s more fun that way. Here’s the rules:

Garage Comedy Presents Boston vs Chicago

RULES:
1-Each player (or duo) receives five minutes of stage time starting after their introduction, when they are present on stage.
2-Laughs garnered during an introduction are not counted for either side.
3-All points are added up as a total for the entire team.
4-In the event of a tie each team will line up and do one-liners in a sudden death round.
5-Players are not allowed to blatantly ask for laughs or applause.
6-Teams are allowed to laugh for each other although if they are the only ones laughing the laughs will not count as a partial laugh.
7-Laughter from the hosts does not count for points.
8-Laughter from the crew does count for points.
9-Teams are not allowed to interfere with the other team while they are on stage.
10-Teams are allowed to interfere with their own team mates.
11-Any laughter that takes place during a player’s five minutes will be counted in favor of the player on stage regardless of the source of laughter. This includes laughs garnered from: the hosts, the player’s team, the opposing team, and happenstance.
12-In the event of technical difficulties (or drunken heckler difficulties) the clock will be stopped until it is fixed. Laughter garnered while the clock is stopped will not count.
13-“laughter” from the chat room does count. Viewers at home are counted as part of the main audience. We will take the 6 second delay into account when calculating the laughter.
14-All measurements of laughter are rough estimates done by three crew members from the upstairs sound booth.
15-All noise responses from an audience whether negative or positive including “woos” and “boos” are counted as laughter.
16-Points are still counted if a player goes over his time. (although there is a penalty for going over)
17-stage time does not roll over. If one player takes less than five minutes that time is lost and can not be given to one of his team mates

POINTS:
1-Every partial laugh gets 1 point. Partial laugh- less than ½ the crowd.
2-Every full laugh gets 5 points. Full laugh- more than ½ the crowd.
3-Every applause break gets 5 points. Applause break- more than ½ the crowd clapping (otherwise it will be calculated as a partial laugh)
4-Every standing ovation gets 10 points. Standing ovation-the entire audience must stand and applaud. (with the exception of the hosts and crew)
5-Every laugh from Tobin or Gilberto gets 5 points.

PENALTIES:
1-Minus 5 points if a player blatantly asks for a response from the audience.
2-Minus 10 points if a team interferes with the opposition while the clock is running.
3-Minus 5 points if a player puts down the audience.
4-Minus 5 points (per minute) for every minute a player goes over his time.