If you haven't done so already, watch Road Comics: Big Work on Small Stages. Produced by Susan Seizer (who is also the charming interviewer and host), it deals with stand-ups working the circuit in the Midwest.
Susan is an anthropologist at Indiana University, an all-around bud, and the first person to cite my work in peer-review, which grants her the academic equivalent of some kind of voodoo binding charm and / or prima nocta privileges. Go to Stigmas of the Tamil Stage to look at her previous work on the 'Special Drama' theatre tradition of Southern India
Watch the trailer. The film is available online, or you can download a copy for the price of a tweet. So don't be an asshole: go get your own copy.