Do you like your comedy in a dark basement with no windows, dangerously steep stairs, and a seemingly hazardous relationship with fire? Great news: Comedy Corner Underground is so fucking back.
After 20 years of laughs, the club closed its doors this past August when the landlord opted not to renew CCU’s lease. Tributes were held. Facebook posts were a-plenty. And, for a minute, it looked like a pillar of the Minneapolis comedy scene had toppled for good.
That lasted for like, four months.
This week, the new Comedy Corner Underground rides again—but still in a basement!—at Whitey’s Old Town Saloon. Owner Bob Edwards says the hunt for a new space started almost immediately after he had accepted that the old space would soon be no more.
“I think you’re an idiot if something fundamentally changes and you don’t take pause and think, ‘Did I like doing this? Do I want to continue doing it? Was the juice worth the squeeze?’” he says. “I had that thought for about four hours, and then I knew this was always going to be a thing.”
After looking at 17 possible venues, Edwards says that Whitey’s checked all of the boxes.
“The ceilings are low. The acoustics are good for laughs. The capacity [approximately 65 people] is about the same as the old space,” he says. “It’s maybe a little too nice compared to what I’m used to, but you can really hear the room.”
This Friday is the club’s soft launch, as they open their doors again for their once-regular open mic starting at 10 p.m. The show is free, and Edwards hopes people give him a little grace for his first night back.
“I want to open it up and get, like, 30 people down there. That way it’s only 30 people thinking, ‘What the fuck is going on here?’” he says, laughing. “I prefer having a soft open because I can be like, ‘Hey buddies. Sorry it’s so weird here right now, but at least you know me. Can you tell me what went wrong?’”
Next weekend, the club will celebrate its proper grand (re)opening with four shows by Twin Cities favorite (and very famous movie star) Chloe Radcliffe. The calendar is already filling up beyond that, too, including Chris Maddock and Ben Katzner pulling a double-headliner set for New Year’s Eve.
Even though the CCU’s sign on the building’s stairwell is new, Whitey’s has actually been hosting comedy shows in the basement for a while, under the tutelage of local comic Ronny Sharts. When Edwards approached the bar about moving into the basement, he made it clear he intended to work alongside Sharts, as opposed to trying to replace his efforts.
“The stuff Ronny is already doing there, bringing in newer comics on the scene and teaching them to build a professional show, is right in line with CCU’s mission,” he says. “That’s why I wanted to work together and let him continue to run the shows that he’s developed in that space.”
While it might take a little getting used to, Edwards says he believes the new CCU will definitely carry on the same history and legacy of the old location, and of Edwards himself.
“Most clubs don’t make it 20 years,” he says. “Having a track record that long makes it seem like I’m not a total idiot.”
CCU Friday Night Open Mic (soft launch)
Free; 10 p.m. Friday (duh)
Whitey’s Old Town Saloon
400 E. Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis
