Pass Tha' Mic is a multi-episode comedy discovery series — filmed live before a studio audience — built to identify, amplify, and launch the next generation of transformative comedic talent.
The title says everything. This is a handoff. A consecration — a torch passed deliberately, and with great weight, from one of comedy's most enduring giants to the voices that will define what comes next, while honoring the living tradition of urban comedy excellence that has shaped American culture for over three decades.
A curated showcase, not a competition. The Evaluators — Martin Lawrence, Jo Koy & Leslie Small — review submissions on merit against the Six Discovery Criteria.
Community support (shown here) identifies the one PTM Community Discovery spot; it is open to all on equal terms and can’t be purchased.
Top 5 of the official standings. Composite = the mean of all six criteria (each 0–100), averaged across Martin, Jo Koy & Leslie Small. “3 / 3” means all three have weighed in.
The Top 24 comics are chosen on the same six measures that define a headliner.
A voice that is genuinely their own.
Holding a room without a safety net.
A point of view nobody else can replicate.
Where they're going, not just where they are.
Specific in origin, universal in impact.
Make a room feel — not just laugh.
Submissions are closed — thank you to everyone who entered. We're reviewing now, but the 24th spot is still up for grabs: the PTM Influencers choose it, and that vote stays open until August 17th.