talkmagic.co.uk

When I was in the band we'd quite often go to open stage gigs where we'd get given a slot and we'd just perform. They were a great way to practise new material in front of an audience and get spotted by new clients.

Now I was wondering if anything similar exists for magicians, I've had a quick google but can't find anything in my area.

A quick idea that may work.
I have in the passed been asked to perform some onstage magic at pub/bar gig nights. Basically I would do a 10-15 minute stage warm up before the first band goes on stage. I still do work for one or two of these evenings but I am just doing walkaround as I didn't get as much out of stage work.
I am finding that working at these events is great practice as most do not have the money to hire you but will usually give you a few free guest passes and a few few drinks tokens.
I love doing these not just for the practice but it is a good cheap night out. I do one hour of walkaround before the first band comes on and then I join my friends and have a cracking evening.

This is a good question, however I have not been able to find anything myself (Oxford area). My son does open mike nights at a couple of pubs and they are really well attended and well subscribed to by performers. I suspect that there would be a shortage of magicians to do a whole night but I had thought of approaching the organisers at these pubs to see if they would allow some of the musical sets to be interspersed with magic shows

yeah open mic nights are the sort of thing I'm thinking of, these are really common in the music world, we were always doing them at pubs and folk festivals.

It'd be great if I could find something like this for general variety acts.

comedy clubs often do open mic nights although they are notoriously ruthless.
Still, with a good routine coupled with some well thought out, funny patter it could work very well to your advantage. I mean, it would be a lot different to the usual observational humour or quick-fire gag routine.

Almost all comedy club do open spots, it's the first rung of the ladder for aspiring comedians. There are basically two kinds, 'open mike nights' and open spots. In the former, everyone on stage is an open spot and there is usually some kind of prize for the winner. Everyone in the audience knows that all the comedians are open spots. Regular opens spots, are usually the second of three comedians on the night. He, or she, will come on for ten minutes after the first act and before the break. Unless it is the comedian's very first gig, the audience will not be told that he is an open spot. Once you've done a few good open spots, you may if you are good enough be offered a 'half spot', which is still ten minutes but you get paid.

Anyone who wants an open spot simply phones up the club and asks for one. Depending on the club, you may have to wait up to six months. Smaller venues may get you a spot much sooner. It's worthwhile turning up early and speaking to compare in smaller clubs, if someone doesn't turn up, you might get on.