What's so funny?

I laugh at my own jokes.

So, that's why I can't be a stand-up comedian. It's the only reason, really, despite having written one of the jokes in local Matt Wires' routine. He gives me credit and all, but I'll just stay in the crowd, giggling.

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What's so funny?

Comics are enjoying life in the spotlight.

To some, writing is the biggest part of stand-up. Wires has been writing a novel and says that writing jokes helps with his other, more serious stuff.

"I try to write something new every time I perform," he says, and that's just how he got involved in the local comedy scene: Wires came up with a joke, which centered around how a certain part of the male anatomy gets him in trouble, wrote it down, and got on stage shortly thereafter to try it out.

Open mic nights at the Tin Roof made his quick comedic decision possible.

Another local comedian of both improv and stand-up fame, Jason Groce started the Tin Roof's open mike night.

"One Sunday, I was drinking with the bartender and the owner. There wasn't a crowd, so I told them I could find a way to bring more people in. They told me to go up on stage and show them what I would do. I did, and it started from there."

Groce must have won them over with his one-liner style that's constantly compared to that of Mitch Hedberg and Zach Galifianakis.

"Curiosity killed the cat, but long before that bi-curiosity killed the cat's marriage."

"I was hanging out with Stevie Wonder the other day and said, 'That guy looks just like you,' and he said, 'I don't see it.' "

And he keeps going.

With its one-year anniversary next month, Tin Roof's open mic has grown from that first night.

With a usual crowd of around 80, the record of participating comedians is at 24. On Aug. 22, open mike night will turn into a roast of both its venue, the Tin Roof, and its founder, Groce.

A lot of local stand-up comedians started out at Theatre 99, taking its improv classes.

Ike Smalls thought for a while that he was the only comedian around.

"I really thought I was the only one here! We had the Comedy Zone, but then that went away. I finally met Marv H. through some people, and he thought he was the only person doing comedy as well. Then we met all the guys from Theatre 99."

Groce is in a comedy troupe, Strictly Business, comprised of him and two other stand-up comedians, Mark Szlachetka and Dusty Slay.

The men take turns performing a little stand-up, and then in true improv form, take word suggestions from the crowd and come up with a joke in 30 seconds.

Szlachetka, a Buffalo, N.Y., native, is a lover of stand-up.

"If a joke doesn't go over well, that's OK. Me and the audience, we're in this together."

Slay is all over the comedy scene in Charleston. He dresses like Elvis and hosts bingo night for local derby team, the Lowcountry Highrollers.

He talks about his childhood in his stand-up routine.

"I was known as the spoiled kid in the trailer park. It was because I had the least bruises. It was because my father only had one arm."

Charly Williams performs improv at Theatre 99 as well, but gets the majority of her laughs from jokes involving "Dateline: To Catch a Predator" and her young looks.

Smalls, known in the comedy world as Big Ike, finds solace in being funny.

"I've always struggled with acceptance, and have always wanted to be remembered as Ike: the funny guy who people like to be around," he says. "I like the attention. I guess it's something I was lacking in other areas of my life. I get love from comedy.

"A lot of my jokes are racially charged," Smalls says. "I'm a big, black guy, and my voice sounds like a white guy. I'll have a phone interview, and Big Ike gets the job every time. Then I walk in."

His favorite joke centered on race is about being told by an older lady that he looks just like an actor in a movie.

She doesn't know the name of the movie or actor, so after a couple of failed suggestions, Smalls finally asks her what happens in the movie. The scene in which his doppelganger appears involves helicopters and the Empire State Building.

Another local favorite, Shon Kennedy, uses the same subject matter.

She tells a joke about the day Michael Jackson died.

"I was sitting in this restaurant and a lady leans over and says, 'I'm on the phone with my husband and he just told me Michael Jackson died. I thought you'd like to know!' Oh, thanks."

Kennedy bases all of her jokes on such life experiences. "Life is comical, so I don't need to write it down."

She tells the crowd about her parents' marriage, how her father makes sure to always serve her mother half of what he's having.

At first, Kennedy thought it was a sweet gesture, but according to her father, it really just comes down to this: "If I want to enjoy my half of the apple, she has to get hers."

Kennedy says, "Stuff is traumatic for me until I share it with a bunch of people."

Then her mother's stint in the ICU, her own medical mystery and eventual Sarcoidosis diagnosis can just become a joke.

Comedy is sometimes the only thing that can get us through life.