Local comedian wraps on documentary "Open Mic'er"

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- Jason Pomietlasz has been doing stand-up comedy for over seven years. Since 2019, he has been taking a deeper look into the Buffalo comedy scene he loves, as part of his upcoming documentary, "Open Mic'er."

"When I tell people that I do comedy, they're always enthusiastic," Pomietlasz said. "And obviously, it is fun, but there are a lot of things that people don't see on TV [comedy specials] -- unglamorous stuff like trying to write jokes and going to open mics every night and having a lot of jokes bomb and just performing for other comedians -- the process."

Pomietlasz and Cameron Vitagliano, the film's cinematographer, met at an open mic the year before they started the doc. At the time, Vitagliano was recording local stand-up acts with the intent to develop a film.

Though Pomietlasz was initially reluctant to work with Vitagliano, since the young filmmaker was new to the scene and knew little about it, the pair eventually got together a year later. By this time, Pomietlasz was ready to tell a story and Vitagliano had more experience taking in Buffalo comedy shows.

They initially planned for the film to be a simple inside look at the local comedy scene, but Pomietlasz said the pandemic and its effects added much more depth to the documentary.

"We had a few pitfalls, a few slumps," Vitagliano added. "It was kind of touch-and-go for a while, but then after COVID slowed down, it kind of gave us this new interesting timeline to be shooting the documentary in and gave us a story."

Pomietlasz acknowledged the tragedy of the pandemic, and described its effects on the doc's production as "soul-crushing."

"We had to stop filming because no comedy was happening," Pomietlasz said. "Well, nothing was happening -- but definitely no comedy in the bars for a year and a half."

In time, Pomietlasz realized that the shutdown that had left him crestfallen helped set a better course for the film's story.

"We didn't have a strong narrative," he recalled. "I was a little full of hubris, because I was like, 'I'm funny, just following me around with a camera would be funny,' but that's not necessarily true. But COVID did give us a narrative to string through the film."

He also said taking a year and a half off from the project helped to temper his expectations and to decide what he wanted from the film.

"Everyone's journey is very unique -- like a snowflake," he said. "I just wanted to show the process of going to open mics four or five times a week, but then it turned into, 'What do you do when you're a comic and no bars are open, there's no place to do comedy?'"

As for finding other subjects for the documentary, Pomietlasz said most comedians are comfortable speaking to people, and therefore, those interviewed were happy to talk about their work and the scene, as well as just being included in the first place.

The documentary also addresses the idea that comics must move to a place like New York City or Los Angeles to succeed and questions whether or not smaller cities like Buffalo can prove to be fertile ground for aspiring comics.

Pomietlasz said the documentary, which has a 100-minute runtime, will be shown at a private screening in mid-June and hopes to have additional screenings of the film later in the year.