Standby for connecting flight
I'm flying DTW-LGA-DCA with a long layover at LGA. I wanna go standby on an earlier lga-dca flight. Where do I request to be on standby for the connecting flight? When I check in at DTW? Or at the gate in LGA? (I don't want to pay for confirmed standby.) Sorry if this question is basic, but I've never done it before.
Thanks.