Who’s the funniest person in St. Paul?

That title will be awarded at a 7 p.m. show Tuesday, Sept. 3, at Gambit Brewing in Lowertown, the conclusion of a contest that’s been taking place all summer at the brewery’s weekly comedy open mic. The winner will be determined by an audience vote.

Every Tuesday night for the past 10 weeks, 10 standup comedians have brought their best jokes to the open mic, and audiences scored each set on a scale of 1 to 5. The performer with the highest average ranking each night — or two performers, in the case of one tied week — earned a spot in the finals.

The contest is organized by St. Paul-based standup comedian Jesse the Shrink (real name: Jesse Ellis), who founded and hosts the weekly open mic at Gambit. His stage name is apt; he works professionally as a therapist — a fact that influences his approach to comedy, he said.

“It’s been cool to see some of these comics (in the competition) feel welcomed here and encouraged, and then get better and better,” he said on a recent afternoon during a break between clients. “It’s taking my natural inclination as a therapist, really wanting to bring humanity into all this.”

In addition to the 11 finalists, the Tuesday night show will feature a pair of headliners: a musical comedian who goes by the name Lefty Crumpet, and Rudy Pavich, who’s opened for the likes of Adam Carolla and Kyle Dunnigan and who is set to record his first stand-up album at a show in a few weeks in Minneapolis. Pavich plans to give away some tickets for the recording to audience members at the Gambit finals.

As for the winner of the contest, they’ll be crowned the Funniest Person in St. Paul, of course, and also earn a paid appearance onstage at the inaugural Friday Night Comedy show on Sept. 6 at Gambit. That show’s lineup is all St. Paul, Ellis said: Headliner Jeff Pfoser, featured comedian Ali Horman, and Ellis as host all live here.

So what makes a person funny in St. Paul? With a slightly less established stand-up comedy scene here than across the river, Ellis said, perhaps it feels more accessible for someone to get up on stage and try telling some jokes.

“When I started this mic, there were a lot of comedians in the scene over in Minneapolis that weren’t coming — and that’s where I started to see some new people emerge that I’d never seen before,” Ellis said. “It fits into that idea of creating our own style of open mic over here in St. Paul, that allows people to come out and thrive.”

The weekly stand-up open mic at Gambit Brewing (141 E. 4th St., Suite LL2), which also features two pre-booked professional headliners, begins at 7 p.m. every Tuesday. You can sign up to perform at Linktr.ee/GambitBrewingOpenMic.

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