After years of helping to keep the city’s scene alive with shows at bars and restaurants, Club Comedy Seattle is bringing a new stage to Capitol Hill’s 15th Ave E in a dedicated, comedy-first venue.

When you are starting a fully dedicated club — even after months of pandemic and uncertainty for area performers — people ready to tell jokes will find you, Club Comedy’s Rick Taylor tells CHS.

“We really don’t know what we’ll find,” Taylor says of the city’s performers and appetite for shows. “But when you open a club, people start to show up.”

For now, Taylor is keeping the soon to open club under wraps, trying to build a bit of anticipation toward a hoped-for opening at some point this month.

But, when it opens, he’s promising the “nicest, most well-appointment comedy club in Seattle.”

The transformation of the former Starbucks and, later, ice cream shop into a Capitol Hill comedy club comes after months of pandemic challenges and the loss of key Seattle venue the Comedy Underground. The project is also taking shape as Seattle’s audiences for live performance are beginning to come back. There is an appetite for entertainment, Taylor says.

There is also opportunity for the club. After years of working in conjunction with food and drink venues, the new life for Club Comedy Seattle going out on its own could also mean a more profitable existence for the business and the artists it supports.

“The key difference is not being 100% dependent on the door,” Taylor said. The club now owns its own destiny for the total entertainment package — laughs, food, and drinks. The plan is beer, wine, and spirits plus a light menu of small plates to accompany the shows.

Not that Taylor and husband Chris Ferguson are food and drink rookies. CHS reported on the couple way back in 2012 as the comedy producers built a scene around Broadway Thai restaurants. That Thai connection brought the club to 15th Ave E when Bites of Bangkok opened in 2018. Taylor says shows in the Thai joint in the former Bagel Deli space were going well until COVID-19.

“The pandemic messed that up,” Taylor said.

But the challenge also opened up the opportunity. Now Taylor and Ferguson are getting ready to unveil a new version of the longtime club — in a real, honest to goodness club.

When it opens, the Club Comedy nights will happen to echo the schedule of Cafe Racer, another new Capitol Hill venue dedicated to local performers but ready to seize the opportunity of Capitol Hill’s busy weekends. The plan is to be open around five or so nights a week with Thursday, Friday, Saturday headliners, Sundays as a grab bag mix of monthly shows, and Wednesdays for open mic.

Taylor says open mic nights are a critical part of the scene — a chance to bring new people in and involve new communities, diversity, and new energy.

“Comedy is pretty divided right now on people who say they want to have a safe space, and people who are more traditionalists and say everything is funny,” Taylor said. He wants Comedy Club Seattle to have as strong a mix of diverse acts as it does a mix of national headliners and local favorites.

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While he might someday book himself for a focused set, Taylor says his time is mostly dedicated these days to helping Ferguson run the business. Still, he says, when the new club opens, you’ll find him on the stage sometimes on Wednesday nights, part of the open mic crowd.

“It’s good to go up at the open mic and do what you’re supposed to do in front of the kids in the community,” Taylor says, “Set a good example.”

Club Comedy Seattle next act, then, is also part of his work to keep the city’s scene alive.

“There are some community, some comedy traditions that need to be carried on,” Taylor said.

Club Comedy Seattle is planning to open in coming weeks at 328 15th Ave E. You can learn more at clubcomedyseattle.com.

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