Comedy etc. II

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  closed - I mean - it was something fun to do close - too bad

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  Posted on 12.02.12 Lance L.

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  I've been to several comedy shows here, and last night, I was in one!
  
  They have some awesome improvisation shows that attract a nice crowd. The show is clean, and a whole lot of fun. The show is very interactive, and the actors are really hilarious.
  
  Open mic night is Wednesday night, and it's a blast. There was a great crowd, and fifteen comedians. I went up for the first time ever, and everyone was very supportive. It's such a nice show, and everyone was having a great time. The waitress, Jennifer, was really working hard to make sure everyone had a great time. The MC was very funny, and the comedians were excellent.
  
  I highly recommend either of these shows, and also recommend trying your hand at stand-up comedy. It's a great venue to venture out of your comfort zone!

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  Posted on 02.09.12 Barbara K.

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  A couple things could be easily fixed, without costing anything that would make the experience much better.  Our expectations were not high, recognizing it's a comedy club in metro-east St. Louis.  It's inside a Ramada Inn, again set the expectations low.  Nothing wrong with the place itself, the tables and chairs are outdated but not a big deal at all.  They start out by playing a 10 minute clip of old comedy bits from TV Shows, commercials, movies and while some were funny they were very old with many older than 20 years.  That itself isn't a big deal but the quality of the video was bad.  The worst of all though was the sound quality as it was turned up so loud it was cracking.  You could see some in the crowd cringe when that happened, almost unbearable for my wife.
   
  Regarding the comedians I know on any given night you could catch a bad comedian or one of his game so my 2 stars is related to the place itself.  The MC was bad and that's putting it politely.  I'm sorry I know the MC is probably just starting his comedian career but starting out by joking about gays and abortion is not the best route, especially abortion in what is mainly farm country full of conservatives.  Sorry I forgot the opening act's name but he was not good either.  He jokes mainly involved throwing out the f word which isn't good enough.
  The main comedian, Dan Chopin, the reason for us going, was awesome.  His jokes were great, ones that anyone from 18-70 would appreciate.  You could tell he's been doing this for a long time.  He made the night and would definitely see him again.

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  Posted on 07.10.11 Michael C.

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  Not that this area is overflowing with comedy clubs... but this place should probably be taken more notice of by anyone who likes to laugh.
  
  Comedy club reviews have to be broken down into two parts:
  1. the place itself: the wait staff, the drink list, the bathrooms, the seating, the atmosphere, if it was clean, all the things a bar review would be based on basically.
  2. the comedians: Not that a comedy club review can necessarily be solely based on the quality of the comics themselves, but it does show what kind of acts the place attracts, and if no one you have ever heard of wants to play there, it is likely not the funniest place to spend a Saturday night.
  
  Part 1:
  The biggest downfall, it is in a hotel.  So if you are parking and wandering around looking for the entrance past the TGI Fridays that is also in the hotel, and wondering where you are going... you weren't the only person to have ever done this.  Because I did it.  The signage basically could only be worse if there was no sign at all.  Then you wander up the stairs and around the corner and walk in.  They have someone show you to your seats, and if you are lucky enough to be VIP (I honestly don't know how this happened to me) you get to sit right next to the stage/piece of floor that is raised one step up.  
  
  The seating seems pretty good.  Typical, nothing fancy.  Your waitress comes around maybe twice during the show.  I didn't actually order anything, so I can't comment too much on this, except that I have not been to a club yet that can get paying for these things down to a science, so there is always the weird shuffle at the end trying to reconcile tables and receipts.  The bathrooms suck.  There are never big enough bathrooms for venues like this.  It's b/c of the building code, where can I review the IBC? It seemed pretty clean, nothing in your face saying that its not.
  
  Part 2:
  Saw a show here when Harland Williams was headlining.  The two guys before him were ok.  The first guy I think worked there, and is a start up, the second I assume was an up and coming comic with a few small shows under his belt.  He got a few good laughs, but I think he was spent by the end of his set.  
  
  The great thing about a good comedy club, is when comedians interact with the audience members that are basically within reach, and having never been called out in a show before, this was a big night for me.  I hope there is a recording somewhere, because I was laughing so much I can't really remember what all the jokes at my expense were, but I know they were funny.  And I think the venue's set up lends itself to this rather well. Harland Williams took this to town.  He was making fun of everyone.  I am not sure he wasn't drunk, but I had never seen his act before, so maybe he is just that way.
  
  At the end the comedians kind of milled about in the back and the lobby area, which is another worthwhile piece of real-estate, because it makes it easy to meet one of them or shake a hand if you had a really good time.  And buy cheesey t-shirts and books to have them autograph.  I did not do this, but plenty of people did.  
  
  Overall, I think this place is on comic tour cycles, so watch the calendar. But do remember that you are in basically rural Illinois, and the crowd generally reflects that.

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  Posted on 03.20.11 Kimberly N.

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