Comedy Cellar (MacDougal Street)
This is the most famous comedy club in NYC. It has solid line-ups which are displayed on its website seven to ten days in advance. It is also the club most likely to have a big name comedian e.g. Louis CK turn up unannounced (sometimes more than one!). If you have a strong objection to the addition of an unannounced act (Louis CK is again a good example) the club state that you can leave quietly at no cost (I assume this doesn't include your drinks bill).
All cell phones and even smart watches are sealed in envelopes before entering so I haven't got an uptodate drinks list but they are not overly expensive. Note that this policy applies to all the CC venues. The key thing about this club is you MUST book in advance. If it’s a mid-evening weekend show, you should be thinking about booking three or four days before. However there’s no reason NOT to book in advance as they don’t take anything other than your name and email address! They do operate a standby list if you miss out on reserving a space. Note that ticket prices go from $14 to $25 depending on what show you’re attending (though charity events are sometimes more). You stand in line around the block before going in so if it’s raining, take an umbrella.
Although it's a good size for comedy, its shape isn't ideal. It's wide and shallow so very few people are directly in front of the stage and you're nearly always twisting round awkwardly in your seat. The seats are also extremely closely-packed which may discourage many from attending. Another drawback is that it's a victim of its own success. People who aren't particularly into comedy come here to "tick off" a New York institution, so the crowd is always terribly comedy-savvy.
Last visited Jan 2022.
Comedy Cellar (Village Underground)
The Comedy Cellar opened a sister venue a few years ago just round the corner. Its line-ups are displayed on the same website and the reservation policy is the same. It’s been laid out to be almost identical to the original. Bottled beers are $6/7 including Coney Island IPA and wines are $12/13. Food counts towards your drinks minimum. It does differ in a couple of ways. Firstly although the line-ups are of similar quality, there is much less chance of a big name showing up unexpectedly (they always seem to go to the MacDougal Street venue). Secondly, it's a good bit bigger so is less of an intimate comedy experience, particularly if you're near the back. It pays to arrive earlier here to ensure you get allocated a decent seat. You don't normally have to queue up outside.
Last visited Feb 2020.
Comedy Cellar (Fat Black Pussycat Lounge)
Not content with hosting up to eight shows a night at weekends across their MacDougal Street and Village Underground venues, the Comedy Cellar empire expanded still further, initially taking over the large back room in a busy pub (sometimes abbreviated to FBPC) immediately above the Village Underground.
What’s notable about the venue is that it’s significantly smaller than its siblings (just 71 covers) and the seating is more casual and actually faces forwards (seating in MS and VU can often be orientated at 90 degrees to the stage resulting in you having to twist round). Overall it’s a more intimate comedy space and it's also worth noting that you can ask the person checking you in for a particular seat if you have a strong preference for where you want to sit. They have a good range of competitively-priced drinks. Draft beers go from $5 (Bud Lite) to $8 (Brooklyn IPA) and bottles are $6-7. Wine (4 white, 3 red) is $11-12 per glass or $40-44 per bottle and Prosecco is $14.
Last visited April 2023
Comedy Cellar (Fat Black Pussycat Bar)
As of late 2021 the "large back room" (see above) had been officially labelled The Lounge and the bar area of the now no longer "busy pub" is an entirely separate performance space called The Bar (for purposes of clarity when looking at their website). As with the Lounge, it's a much better space for comedy with most seats enjoying a good view of the small stage. The drink selection is identical to the Lounge).
Last visited Jan 2024
Note that the Cellar have bought the old McDonalds restaurant at the end of West 3rd St (maybe 100 yds from the FBPC) and will be opening that as at least one new venue in 2025.
Eastville Comedy Club (Brooklyn)
Established in 2008 and formerly located in Manhattan's East Village, this used to have a reasonable reputation with a decent standard of comics appearing, despite the room being slightly oddly-shaped and the drinks range failing to excite. They were also known for famous drop-ins - I was only an occasional customer yet saw Jim Gaffigan and Amy Schumer turn up unannounced. In April 2018 they closed that location and relocated to custom-built premises in Brooklyn (near the Barclays centre). The room is a slightly better shape than the old one but the ceiling seems quite high (assuming that they could have dictated a lower one be put in place during the refit). The walls (and the floor I think) are tiled meaning that when the metal chairs are moved it makes a fair amount of noise.
The beer range has improved (PBR is $6 but most are $9/10 and that's for cans and bottles). Wines are $12 and cocktails mostly $15.
Joining their mailing list used to get you free or discounted tickets tickets but I've not seen so much of that lately. I don't know if it will become a permanent policy but they've been advertising that there is no "two drink minimum". This is very unusual for NYC clubs (bar shows are less fussy) and won't make any difference to me but could be useful for some. They still automatically add a gratuity of 18% to the check and then apply a cheeky rounding factor to make it up to an even amount (so important when everyone is paying by card!). They then generously offer you the chance to add a further gratuity on top of that.
Last visited - we turned up in July 2022 but declined to go in.
Open since 2012, this was my favourite venue. However in June 2018 they announced that they were closing and would relocate to larger premises. After several false starts they finally opened in July 2019, close to Union Square.
True to their word the whole operation has enlarged significantly. They now have two rooms and a much bigger dining space (about which Bill Burr half-jokingly scolded them). The upstairs room is a glass-enclosed area off the restaurant. The stage is a decent height and size and seating isn't too crammed together. Downstairs is probably about double the size and feels more like a comedy club.
They appear to have followed Eastville's example and moved to a "no drink minimum" policy, which is refreshing. In the show rooms they have four draft beers around $9, bottles/cans from $7 to $10 and six white and red wines each, at $14-18 per glass and $50-70 per bottle. Cocktails are $17 and sparkling wine starts at $14/50, but you can spunk upto $150 if someone else is picking up the check.
Note that there's a wider range of drafts (around 11) in the restaurant so don't be shy about picking up your first beer there and carrying it into the performance space.
Their line-ups are solid and, as before, tend to be published a little further in advance than the Cellar. The premium weekend shows are $25-30 but they've retained their zero-cost Frantic Monday show (9pm) and they also now host Big Jay Oakerson's Legion of Skanks podcast record (book early for that). They have a mailing list and will very occasionally offer free tickets on the day to shows that need an audience. I've also heard that people dining in the restaurant may get comped in but if you're eating there you probably have show tickets already.
Chris Rock has dropped in to the new location, as has Bill Burr (at least twice). They've hosted several shows for "The Smoking GOAT" i.e. Chappelle with ticket prices going from $200-250.
Recently (Mar 2024) they have been running popups in the St Marks Comedy Club and also in Miami. The latter is prior to opening a full-time venue so makes sense but the former is a very strange location for them to expand into.
Last visited Jul 2024.
Supposedly going since 1989, their midtown/Gramercy location is a small-ish room with a decent shape and layout - seats mainly face directly towards the stage. Based on my only outing so far the line-ups are a little inconsistent in quality but there's enough to hold your attention. Their ticket prices are, let's say, firm. As of Feb 2024, a Saturday night show was priced at an eye-watering $45. To that you can add $4 tax and $8.22 service fee, taking us to north of $57. On top of that, don't forget you have a $20 minimum spend per person and there will be tax and (an automatically-added) tip on that.
When you compare them to their peers, the Cellar is charging $25 for a Saturday night with no service fee and your mandatory two drinks will not reach $20 if you're on beer. Likewise the Stand has a show at $30 plus $5 service fee and there's no drink minimum.
After Eastville Comedy Club relocated to Brooklyn they took over their space and that became their second venue (referred to as "East Village" on their website). They've remodelled it slightly but it's basically the same space. Bottled beer goes from $10-13, wine is $13-15 and cocktails are $16-18. Even water will cost you $6. Again, there's a $20 minimum per person.
On my only visit to the Gramercy location we managed to source tickets on Groupon and I would definitely check there before committing to the website prices. At the time of writing they were offering discounts for Gramercy of 40-50%.
I've occasionally seen tickets to their late afternoon Sunday shows advertised for free on Eventbrite. They are usually listed on the day of performance. If you were available and fancied some pre-dinner stand-up then that might be an option.
Last visited Jul 2024.
The entry for this venue is slightly complicated as there is currently a lot going on.
Their original, modestly-sized room opened on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in 1986. It had a slightly threadbare feel to it but put on decent bills most of the time. As with Eastville it weirdly seemed to pull in some stars. Admittedly a while ago (2004) Chris Rock rehearsed his material for presenting the Oscars across several nights and Jerry Seinfeld used to drop in, though since then he may have cooled on the venue. John Oliver did a few nights there in June 2023.
In February 2024 they announced that they would be leaving their UWS location and opening TWO new venues. The first, at Bond 45 in the Edison Hotel (near Times Square), opened in March 2024 and the other would be at 66th/Broadway (no date announced). The New York Comedy Club is taking over the original location (there's no opening date at the time of writing). The NYCC has form for this - they previously moved into the old Eastville location on the LES when Eastville moved to custom-built premises in Brooklyn.
I enjoyed their original room and was a fairly regular attendee of Monday Night Mob that they used to host. With the best will in the world I won't be rushing to a Times Square comedy club but the prospect of their new Upper West Side space holds considerable appeal.
Their website needs some updating. All the shows listed are for the Bond 45 room but the FAQ still refers to their old location.
The drinks list is available here, though you'd have to ask if this is definitely the list for the new venue. This is another place where the check seems to mount up. Note that there's a $18 per head minimum which could be a problem if you're on soft drinks.
Last visited (the old location) Sept 2023.
It's a LONG time since I've been at Gotham so I don't have much of an insight. They'll often have a single big name at the weekend and bill shows on weekdays. They do publish their weekend bookings months in advance which helps with planning if you're particularly keen on that individual. I'll try to get along soon to fill this entry out a bit.
It's supposed to have been in the same location (Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen) since 1975. The pleasant ground floor “Red” room is a good space with a surprisingly big stage. The “Main” room downstairs is larger (about 200 capacity) with most seats laid out at right angles to the stage. I’ve only attended an open mic in the Red room so can’t comment on the proper shows but I’ve been warned away from them by one NYC comic and the reviews on Tripadvisor don't make good reading. Also the website tends not to specify exactly who will be performing and that always makes me nervous. I like to know who I’m going to see. Beers are mainstream and pricey – $10 for a bottle of Heineken is as “craft” as it gets.
This basement club sits just along MacDougal Street from The Comedy Cellar. They have a very active street team attempting to sell tickets, usually for $20 each at the weekend which isn’t disproportionately high when you look at similarly timed shows at the big name clubs (they sometimes find receptive customers in those who have tried and failed to get into The Cellar). It will often be possible to haggle them down to (say) $20 for two tickets which can make you feel rather good about yourself. However IN MY EXPERIENCE the shows are not great and the Tripadvisor reviews are, again, far from effusive. It has the same owner as the Broadway Comedy Club.
Opened in October 2017, this venue is underneath a Californian restaurant called Playa Betty's on the Upper West Side of Manhattan (entry is via the restaurant). The stage is decent and it has a nice low roof. They've certainly had their share of famous drop-ins - Seinfeld has been there a couple of times and Bill Burr once.
Joining their mailing list will occasionally result in midweek offers like free tickets or free entry after eating. Their standard weekend entry seems to be $25 in advance or $30 on the door which is firmly priced but a recent line-up paired Gary Gulman and Monroe Martin which is pretty solid. They've also been flagging up when a famous drop-in might happen.
My first visit, early on, hadn't been a great success but in 2021 they reported that they were under new management. Around Jan 2022 they started advertising a new weekly show called Not Ripe Bananas, billed as "comedians working out new material, no cover, no minimum" and it was this that I went along to recently (see May 2022's blog entry). There are no staff in the room so you either bring your own drinks down from upstairs or order online via QR code. I imagine their weekend shows are more structured.
The last time we were in they were looking for $12 (plus tax plus tip!) for a draft beer which is painfully expensive so keep your eye on that if visiting.
Last visited June 2023
The Comedy Shop (formerly The Lantern Comedy Club)
Originally just an open-mic venue in the basement of a pub, this club has gradually upgraded itself. It's now a modestly-sized (25ish covers) separate room at the back of a Bleeker Street pub, running shows every night. There used to be no cover and a one drink minimum but it now appears to be $10 (tickets via Eventbrite) and one drink Sun - Wed and two drinks Thu - Sat.
On my only visit to their latest incarnation (when it was still free) I wasn't exactly wowed by the standard of comics and the one advertised big name (Sam Morril) was mysteriously absent. However you pay for what you get so you can't expect too much. They still run daily open-mics but I don't know if that's in the new ground floor room or the original basement space.
A recent check of their website had a lot of their shows marked as half price so perhaps they're struggling to attract crowds with their offering as is.
The Tiny Cupboard (Brooklyn)
Previously this space in the page was filled with an entry for The Creek and The Cave, a small, endearingly-weird setup outside of Manhattan which was mostly of interest to comedians and comedy geeks. Well guess what! Now that TCATC has relocated to Austin, we have a replacement that is possibly weirder and definitely further away from the main Manhattan-based NYC comedy scene.
Founded by Amy Wong and Matt Rosenblum in 2019, it started to use its rooftop space for comedy when the pandemic hit and has progressed from there. The rooftop is currently out of action due to safety concerns but I'm hoping to see something there in the future. Their main room is just off the sidewalk and there is another tiny room (known as The Mushroom) which boasts of being NYC's smallest comedy space, though visitors to Edinburgh's Fringe will doubtless have been in smaller.
The shows are pretty keenly-priced, especially if you book in advance and often include a free beer and/or slice of pizza. Tuesday evenings appear to be entirely free of charge and there's no drink minimum whatsoever. Everyone involved in getting this venue up and running deserves to be congratulated. I've only attended a show once (Nov 21) and while I enjoyed the experience, in all honesty this is probably not somewhere the average comedy fan needs to rush to. I will keep an eye on it though.
In December 2021 they won Best New Culture Spot in NYC in the Timeout Best of the City Awards, so that's a nice thing! Also I've seen Michael Kosta of the Daily Show listed as doing new material there so maybe it is on some peoples' radar.
Last visited Nov 2021.
Williamsburg Comedy Club (Brooklyn)
Over on the Oddities page of this site you'll see a (soon to be deleted) entry for Old Man Hustle Comedy Bar, a ridiculously small bar with comedy that used to operate on Manhattan's Lower East Side. In December 2019 they opened a second location, originally called "Old Man Hustle Comedy Club, in Williamsburg (formerly home to the Videology bar). The rebrand occurred in May 2024.
They appear to have several shows on each night with tickets (on Eventbrite) priced from $12 to $25 (though the published run times are only an hour). Owner Ed Farrell is often listed on line-ups. The last time I checked their two Monday nights shows were free to enter.
They have a happy hour in their bar from 3-7pm Mon-Fri. The showroom drinks are pricier, though they claim not to have a drink minimum. Draft beers (seven) are $9/10, cans are about the same and wine (only one of each) is $12. Cocktails are $15.
Last visited Jul 2024.