Portsmouth calibrates between Seacoast tourist transience and Rockingham County year-round permanence. Congress Street rooms fill with summer visitors chasing harbor-town charm, while Downtown hosts the locals who actually live here. Islington Street draws the neighborhood energy. South End and West End add the residential layers. The comedy here reads the tension between seasonal tourism and year-round community. Open mics become the space where both identities converge. Comics who grasp Portsmouth's dual rhythm find audiences relieved someone recognized the city keeps its colonial-port soul while the tourists flood Market Square each summer.