Rules for the Qualifying Rounds:

  1. There will be four qualifying rounds (see home page for times and dates).
  2. 18 local teams will be selected at random from the submissions recieved by October 30th. 6 of these local teams will be assigned to each of the Tuesday night qualifying rounds. The selection will follow Cagematch on October 31st.
  3. 6 out of town teams will be selected at random for the slots on Friday, November 29th at midnight. If there are fewer than 6 out of town teams, the remainder of these slots will be filled with local teams. The selection will follow Cagematch on October 31st.
  4. On each night, we will pick three audience members out of a hat to be the 7th, wildcard team. Audience members can put their name into the hat as they come in. Audience members who are already part of another team are not eligible to be in the wild card drawing.
  5. Each team will perform for 10 minutes (and exactly 10 minutes) in one of the qualifying rounds. Each qualifying round will have up to 7 teams competing.
  6. The panel of judges will consist of 3 preselected judges, drawn from the New York comedy and theater scene and 1 randomly chosen judge from the audience.
  7. Each judge will give each team 3 scores on a scale of 1 to 5: A score for Technical Merit, Artistry and Comicality. The scores are then averaged to give the team's Composite Score.
  8. The teams with the two highest Composite Scores in each qualifying round will advance to the semi-finals on Saturday night, Thanksgiving weekend.
  9. Teams will be assigned to a qualifying round randomly. Out of town groups will be assigned to the last qualifying round on Friday, November 29th.
  10. The running order for each qualifying round will be determined by a random drawing at the top of the show.
  11. Should a team win a slot in the semi-finals, all three members of that team must show up or they will be disqualified.
  12. In the event of a team being disqualified, the team with the next highest score from that qualifying round will advance to the semi-finals.
Rules for the Semi-Finals:
  1. There will be two Semi-Final shows which will take place on Saturday, November 30th at 7:30pm and 9:00pm.
  2. In addition to the 8 winners from the qualifying rounds, the four finalists from last year automatically qualify for the semi-finals, should they choose to enter. The team must be the same 3 people. No substitutions are allowed for returning finalists.
  3. Each Semi-Finalist will perform for 10 minutes (and exactly 10 minutes).
  4. The panel of judges will consist of 3 preselected judges, drawn from the New York comedy and theater scene and 1 randomly chosen judge from the audience. The preselected judges will be the same for both Semi-Final shows. A new audience judge will be selected for each semi-final.
  5. Each judge will give each team 3 scores on a scale of 1 to 5: A score for Technical Merit, Artistry and Comicality. The scores are then averaged to give the team's Semi-Final Composite Score. (There is no carryover of scores from the qualifying rounds.)
  6. The three teams with the highest Semi-Final Composite Score (over both shows) will advance to the Finals.
  7. The running order of the teams for the Semi-Finals will be determined randomly.
  8. Should a team win a slot in the finals, all three members of that team must show up or they will be disqualified.
  9. In the event of a team being disqualified, the 4th place finishing team will advance to the finals.
Rules for the Final Round:
  1. The Final Round will take place on Saturday, November 30 at 10:30pm.
  2. Each finalist will perform for 20 minutes (and exactly 20 minutes).
  3. The panel of judges will consist of 3 preselected judges, drawn from the New York comedy and theater scene and 1 randomly chosen judge from the audience.
  4. Each judge will give each team 3 scores on a scale of 1 to 5: A score for Technical Merit, Artistry and Comicality.
  5. A team's score will determined by the following formula: 1/4 * Semi-Final Composite Score + 3/4 * Final Composite Score.
  6. The running order of the teams for the finals will be determined by their rank from the Semi-Final Round, starting with lowest ranked team and ending with the top ranked team.
  7. In the event that a finalist is disqualified, the 5th place finisher from the preliminaries will perform in their place.

Prizes:

  1. First prize for the tournament will be $200. 2nd prize will be $100. 3rd prize is $50.
  2. Also, teams which make it to the finals this year will be guaranteed a slot in next year's tournament, should it take place.

Other Rules:

  1. You may register with one team only. 
  2. Each team (with the exception of returning finalists) can name one alternate to take the place of one of their members, should they not be able to perform. This substitution must take place before the begining of the qualifying rounds. No substitutions or additions are allowed once the competition begins.
  3. If two (or more) of the original three players are missing, the team is disqualified and an alternate team may be chosen.
  4. Each team must pay a registration fee of $15 cash, to be paid on the first night that they compete. The ticket price of the wild card team members, serves as their registration fee.
  5. The tournament official reserves the right to bar teams from the competition.
  6. Teams can be disqualified for unruly, disruptive or unsportsman like behavior.
  7. Teams must check in at the theater 15 minutes before the beginning of each round. If they are not there, they may be disqualified and or replaced by an alternate team.