Weekend Owner of Carolines?

Bryan Kennedy trotted out of a dressing room at Carolines comedy club in Times Square on a recent night wearing a black-and-white striped shirt and a whistle around his neck.

“I’ll be your host this evening,” said Bryan “and your referee.”

For the past three years, Bryan has presided over March Comedy Madness, an annual show-a-thon patterned after the basketball tournament staged by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

With a decibel meter in his hands, Bryan hustled onstage and looked out at a raucous crowd ready to take part in a different sort of March Madness.

At Carolines, 64 comedians from the New York area are placed in brackets, with top picks going to those who have turned in strong performances in previous tournaments. Each hopes to advance, round by round, to the finals, where the winner will be rewarded with the opportunity to headline at Carolines for an entire weekend.

“For lesser-known comedians, getting a chance to headline here can open up a lot of doors,” said Liz Miele, 23, a comic from Pennington, N.J., who reached the Final Four last year. “Everyone knows what’s at stake.” "The contest can open up a lot of doors,” she said.

Before calling to the stage the comics whose names were bracketed on a large board behind him, Bryan worked the crowd with some of his own material. “NASA launched its Kepler spacecraft to search our corner of the galaxy for other Earth-like planets,” he said. “Aboard the spacecraft were 2.9 million people looking for jobs.”

Soon after, Tracie Jayne was pining that many of her relationships had come to an abrupt end. “I’ve been left at the altar,” she said, “and given up for Lent.”

Josh Spear tried to impress women with his academic credentials: “I’m single, ladies,” he said, “two and a half college credits, come and get it.”

And Kevin McCaffrey took aim at those who consider hunting to be a sport. “It’s not a sport if both teams don’t know they’re playing.”

Two at a time, the comedians walked on stage and delivered what they hoped was their best material. Bryan , who blew his whistle at the two-minute limit, stood between contestants after their routines and asked the crowd to cheer loudly for the one they would like to see advance to the next round. The decibel meter did the rest.

Paul Brighton of Audition Portal says the competition is "a great launching pad."

Calise Hawkins, 29, of Jersey City, used her 2-year-old daughter as material. “I still can’t believe I’m somebody’s mom,” she said. “I’m very excited about it, especially tonight, just to be away from her.”

“My strategy during the shorter sets is to try and come off as very likable, very clean, and to try and get the crowd on my side,” said Rob O’Reilly, 24, who has been to the finals twice in the past two years. “As a comedian, you want to reach the later rounds so that you have more time to mess with the audience, and more time to be funny.”

Ryan Reiss, 29, of Manhattan, joked about his bed. “My girlfriend said she would like to sleep away from the door because if the boogeyman comes, he’ll get me first. I said that’s not realistic at all. I’ll sleep by the door, that way, if there’s a fire, I’ll be the first one out.”

With each passing round, the comedians get more time to tell jokes. In the first round, the field of 64 had one minute each. By the second round, a field of 32 had two minutes. Those who advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, on Wednesday, had four minutes. At the Final Four on Tuesday, semifinalists — Ms. Hawkins among them — will get seven minutes each, and the remaining two comedians 10 minutes to decide the championship.