Flying to a Martin Amini Show: Which Cities Are Worth the Trip
Not every tour stop justifies a plane ticket. A city-by-city honest breakdown of which Martin Amini shows are worth flying in for — and which aren't.
Every week somebody in my DMs asks "is it worth flying from X to see you?" The honest answer is: it depends on the room and the city. A show is a show, but some of these rooms pair with a weekend that justifies the flight, and some don't. Here's the unsentimental breakdown, because I'd rather you come once and have the trip land than come three times and resent the hotel.
Worth flying for: DC (because it's the home room)
If you've never been to Room 808, come to Room 808. Fifty seats, BYOB, it's the room I built, and there isn't a version of it anywhere else on the tour. DC is also a weekend city — museums are free, the Metro works, the food scene has quietly gotten excellent, and the neighborhood around the club has a real dinner map. You can build a full three-day trip around one 90-minute show and not feel like you padded it.
Flight tier: almost anywhere east of the Mississippi can do it as a weekend. West Coast, you're burning a Friday and Monday for travel, so build in an extra day. See the DC weekend itinerary for the scaffolding.
Worth flying for: New York (but only for a specific kind of fan)
New York rooms are different. The audience is more critical, the clubs are smaller and weirder, and the weekend around the show is basically unlimited. If you like New York the city, a comedy show there is just an excuse to be in New York. If you don't like New York, the comedy alone isn't going to convert you.
I'd say fly in if you already have New York on your life list. Don't fly in purely for the show — you'll have a better time at a home-market stop.
Worth flying for: Los Angeles (for the Comedy Store context)
LA shows sit inside an ecosystem. You can see a set at a club Friday, a set at a different club Saturday, and walk the same street both nights. The city itself is harder than DC or New York — you need a car, the venues aren't clustered, and nobody's "walking to dinner." But the comedy density is real, and you might catch drop-ins nobody announced.
Flight tier: worth it if you're combining with a vacation, not as a standalone.
Probably not worth flying for: mid-market solo stops
I love playing mid-market rooms. They're some of my favorite shows every tour. But as an out-of-town fan, if a city has one comedy night, one dinner, and you're back at the hotel by 10:30pm, the math on the plane ticket doesn't work. Catch that same show when it routes through a bigger city near you, or drive it if you're within five hours.
The rule I'd use: if the city has fewer than two things you'd do on a non-comedy weekend, don't fly in. Drive, or wait for the next tour.
Worth flying for: the international dates
UK and Australia shows are different because you're committing to an actual international trip either way. If the tour hits Amsterdam, Brisbane, or a UK date, and you've wanted to visit anyway, the comedy show gives the trip its shape. That's the best version of fan travel — the show is the anchor, not the whole reason.
For international: book the flight around the show date, give yourself three extra days minimum, and treat the comedy as one evening of a bigger trip. Otherwise you're jet-lagged at the venue and you won't remember the set.
The hidden tier: second-time tour cities
A handful of cities see me twice a year. Those are worth flying for if you missed the first run — the second pass usually has new material that hadn't been written yet in the spring. I wrote about which cities those are and why in the repeat-cities piece. If your hometown isn't a double-pass city, a flight to a city that is doubling up can be a smart move, because you're getting the newer hour.
The honest math on cost
People plan the flight and then wince at the rest. A two-night DC trip with a midweek flight is genuinely doable under $600 including ticket, hotel, and food if you're not fussy. A weekend in LA for a show is closer to $1,200 minimum. New York is between them and entirely dependent on the hotel.
Compare that to resale ticket prices for a sold-out local show. If resale is charging $400 for a local seat, you are $200 from flying somewhere and getting a face-value primary ticket plus a weekend. Fans don't run this math often enough. It's frequently cheaper to travel to the show than to scalper-buy the hometown one.
The part nobody asks but should
The real question isn't "which city is worth the flight." The real question is: do you want a show, or do you want a trip? If you want a show, wait for the tour to come close. If you want a trip, pick the city where the rest of the weekend holds up regardless of who's on stage. DC does. New York does. LA does. International dates do. Everything else, drive if you can and fly only if you're already traveling.
And if you're on the fence, sign up for the tour mailing list. New dates drop three to four months out, and the better flight deals line up with booking the ticket the week of the announcement — not the week of the show.
The red-eye question
Fans ask about red-eyes constantly. Should you fly out after the show? Usually no. A 90-minute comedy show on top of a travel day plus a 1am flight means you land home at 6am destroyed. The extra hotel night is worth it nine times out of ten. The exception: a Sunday show when you have work Monday and the alternative is a 5am Monday flight. Red-eye Sunday is sometimes the right call. Red-eye Saturday almost never is.
If you're going to red-eye, eat light before the show, skip the second drink, and pick a seat on the flight that lets you sleep. A $40 seat upgrade beats a $200 second hotel night if you actually sleep.
Solo vs. group trips
Solo fan travel is the underrated version of this. Most people who fly in for a comedy show are in groups, and groups are inherently slower — more people, more opinions on where to eat, more time getting everyone to the venue. Solo you can move at show-pace. Book the aisle seat, eat at a bar, arrive at the venue at doors, leave when the show ends. You'll see more of the city in three days than a group of four will.
If you're debating whether to wait for a friend to be free or just go alone — go alone. The show is the same show either way. The trip is what changes, and solo trips are better for concert tourism than most people admit.
The frequent-fan pattern
A subset of fans fly in for two or three shows a year. That's not the audience I'm writing this for — they've already done the math. But if you're thinking about becoming one of those fans: the economics get better, not worse, the more you do it. You learn the hotels, you learn the flight patterns, you build up points, and the per-trip cost drops. The first trip is the most expensive. The third is a weekend. See the sold-out alternatives piece for how to stay plugged in when your home-city show sells out fast.