It’s no surprise that legendary and famous comedians come with their major breakthrough, and start their careers in big cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. But big cities have their own huddles and challenges, that cannot be ignored. For young comics, coping with the high cost of living in these formidable cities, and thirst in a crowded market can be as difficult as nailing a jelly to a tree.
Fortunately, many small towns around the world, especially the United States are developing comedy and attracting serious business. Whether you are ambitious despite struggling as a stand up comedian or belong to a comedy fanbase, these unexpected cities are a great place to enhance your comedy skills and start your fan-following.
Needless to say, doing stand-up comedies in New York and Los Angeles is a special experience. Comedians living in these two cities show a high level of talent, the quality of career growth and the venues is incredible. Every night brings a handful of comedy experiences to acknowledge by any thriving comic. These cities are full of great comedians you know and young artists you will soon meet.
In other words, it is any comedy geek’s dream come true. However, as an aspiring comedian and looking at the past decade, there are a lot of more opportunities to grab from almost every city apart from big names like New York and Los Angeles, where you can find an amazing comedy clubs but with equal amount struggle.
So where is the best comedy in the United States and the world?
Austin, Texas
Austin is famous for live music performances, plus there are some interesting comedy shows in town. Citizen and national both of these comics share the stage, and the venue is as vibrant as the resident of the city. Texas’s capital is a great place for a comedian to perform with its smart and dynamic crowd.
People are brilliant and give their utmost attention to the comedian in the room. The performance in Austin in regard to comedy is quite successful. In addition, considering that people take comedy as a pure source of entertainment in the city, it is clear that the audience appreciates any new comic with open arms.
Barbecues, fried chicken, killer music venues and all the sunshine festivals make this city a home for smart and art-loving people. The annual Moon-tower Comedy Festival proves that this town is full of comedy-lovers. Cap City Comedy Club situated in north of the city, is an appealing club where great local comedians like Martha Kelly, and basketmouth worked daily, giving more reasons for it to be in our top list. Adding lots of powerful local comics, who boost each other to create creative and amazing materials resulting in giving us a killer show.
Denver, Colorado
This Mile-High city is known for its outdoor adventures and stunning craft beer scenes, but it’s also a great place to watch live comedy shows. There are many local comics here and frequent clubs to specialize in Denver’s unique type of humor, that will leave the audience in the fits of laughter. Having a quick trip to 5280Comedy website gives you a comprehensive list of Denver’s best open mic sessions, showcases and podcasts. The city also has famous clubs like Denver Improv and Comedy Works Denver, that are packed with comedy loving crowd. These clubs not only provide showtimes to the industry’s favourite comedians, but also provide weekly open mic for those who want to have their spot in these top-notch clubs.
We can certainly say that this wonderful city, probably has the best comedy clubs of the country like, Comedy Works. The downtown club near the populated trafficking area, Larimar Square, is where the comedians dream comes true. Wende Curtis was promoted from a cocktail waitress to a host in downtown Denver, becoming one of the club’s most respected names. Here, dozens of modern classic albums, such as Dave Attell, Greg Giraldo, Nick Thune, and Natasha Leggero, have been recorded, and while these well-known successful comics occupy the headlines, rising stars can do the same on New Talent nights.
In addition, Colorado’s law against weed being so relaxed makes all the hotel rooms across the city packed with people, who are already laughing from the pits of their stomach on the jokes circling in their heads. Denver is a city where people want to live, and their amount of happiness is quite high compared to other cities in the United States. It’s easy for these brainy people to laugh out loud, and live their best lives.
Boston, Massachusetts
In Beantown, there are 38 comedy clubs and as compared to the size of the city, that’s not shabby. In addition, Boston has ImprovBoston and Improv Asylum. ImprovBoston does a lot of work, besides hosting shows and performances, they also offer improvisation and sketch writing courses. Boston usually rings the bell of historical walks along the Charles River and tricorne hats, but the city’s love of comedy is second to none.
The city’s best comedy clubs include ImprovBoston and Nick’s Comedy Stop and running shows outside the city’s borders like Laughing Liberally (Somerville’s progressive comedy show) and Artisanal Comedy at the Dorchester Brewing Company. These shows come with the strong support from Boston Comedy Chicks Collective and have the privilege of hosting Women in Comedy Festival, which attracts celebrities such as Gina Yashere and Tig Notaro, plus local talents from around the city. In addition, Boston is the birthplace of legends like John Pinette, and additionally hometown of Steven Wright.
With so many comedians making an appearance from Boston, it’s still a great place to watch live stand up performances. Boston dates back to the 1980s and has long been known for its stand up comedy shows. Famous comedians such as Jane Garofalo, Conan O’Brien and Louis CK spent most of their comedy era on the scenes of Boston.
Since then, a massive comedy revolution has taken place, from national talent and locals to pop-up stores next to food trucks. Comedy Studio is a restaurant club with lots of comic’s breakthrough, and Nick’s Comedy Station is known for its stand up performances for people of all ages.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
What makes Minneapolis so funny to make it to our list? Well, it wouldn’t be wrong to say compared to residents of the city, many comedy clubs in Minneapolis best as it comes. If you have been to Minneapolis, you must have been to The Brave New Workshop Comedy Theatre, which has been picked as one of the longest improv groups in the United States. And if you are a foodie, you can book your reservations at Acme Comedy Company and Sticks Restaurant. The city also consists of a lively theatre performance, that assist with the discovery of the well-known Minnesota Fringe Festival.
As soon as someone names Minnesota, we feel a shiver run down our body by how cold the city is, but it’s much more than that. The comedians in Minneapolis are always up to make humorous jokes about the city’s chilly weather, and makes the room roar with laughter. The Twin City Comedy Festival, that usually held in October, is a must-visit place for comedy lovers.
National touring comedians will be featured at the Acme Comedy Club in Minneapolis, while Joke Joint Comedy Club in Saint Paul is a private bargain theatre. There are also ComedySportz venues in Minneapolis, in addition, Brave New Workshop has a themed comedy written in a satirical screenplay, offering a sense of humor in entertainment, provocation, and pop culture. The comedy shows of Minneapolis are full of talented people and delcious food.
New York City
New York is a great comedy hub, and you can find shows in all the five districts almost every night. While Chicago is an ultimate place for improv performances, New York City is the perfect place for stand up comedy. Here you can catch up with famous comedians on tour, as well as the rising stars that are popular in this city. Caroline in Times Square has been elevating laughter since it opened in Chelsea in 1982.
The New York Comedy Festival is held here, with a total of 300 seats capacity available. Other clubs in the city include Upright Citizens Brigade, Gotham Comedy Club, Dangerfield and Comedy Cellar. The Comedy Cellar is known by the cast member of Saturday Night Live, Seinfeld and many great movies actors that have received a piquant bite at the upper area of Olive Tree Cafe.
The unique list of comics performed there is a symbol of the legendary stand up comedy and offers a perfect show for live comedy performances. It gives the perfect combination of entertainment and coziness, by offering a low-cut ceiling and elbow-to-elbow seating arrangements, that evoke an amazing, warm and earthly laughter.
The Big Apple is even bigger when it comes to comedy. There are over 200 places to perform comedy in the city, and it’s no joke when people say that you can watch a different stand up show every night. New York still suffers from what we call too-many-resident disorder. New York is situated on 20th in the category of comedy club criteria. There’s a lot of debate about the best venues for comedy in New York, but the most demanding clubs include Caroline, The Stand, and Gotham Comedy Club.
Although Albany may not get praise for comedy in comparison to the Big Apple, it is the power source of local comedy on its own. In addition, to the FunnyBone Comedy Club, there is another club next to Saratoga Springs known as Comedy Works Club where you can see fan favorites and try out the open mic every Thursday night. In regards to local comics, Lark Tavern and Low Beat host open mic performances and are known to be encouraging of thriving up-and-comers.
Going International
Singapore and Malaysia
The young comedians flourishing in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore are very lively and vigorous, plus the street food is great. Since Kuala Lumpur is the city with the majority of Muslims, there is slightly a reduce chance of getting drunk audience and munching on some cheap street food after the show, can save couple of extra cash. This is an ideal place for comics, for those who wish to serve people from multiple nationalities and wish to save enough amount of money to subsist on while starting their comedian career.
Singapore and Malaysian audiences are mostly consisting of multilingual and multi-ethnic, which means you can interact with the crowd on different levels, particularly one on which they are most comfortable with. This will help you learn the material that best suits your audience, and let you grow on people around the globe.
Singapore, in particular, is a truly international city, and working there can make your acts and material universal. As we know, stand up comedy has gone through a cycle of ups and downs, because it is a pioneering form of art in the United States, and most major cities in the States have experienced this boom and bust cycle many times.
This theory is as true as it can be for United Kingdom. Capturing any city before it hits the rock bottom, gives you another opportunity for more performance time, more paid work, and shows filled with comedy lovers. As we all heard that, “laughter is the best medicine” and most of us want to have a good laugh on our vacations. The annual LOL Fest and Kuala Lumpur International Comedy Festival (KLICFEST) are where the Malaysia’s best comedy performance scenes take place, which is slowly growing with active venues and open mic nights.
In the pure sense of entertainment, you don’t want to miss the forefront seats of one of Singapore’s best comedy clubs. In addition to regular night shows, these comedy performances also contain local and international comics all around the world. Their concerts and gags have taken them to larger venues such as theatres and stages, that also comes with their perks.
Across the United States and the world, there are many great places comedians can grow and perform comedy. This is not to say that a small town or city not on this list will not be a good place to start. The truth is to start whenever you are and get onstage. Tell jokes on the sidewalk with a mic and speaker (it worked for Chappelle) or perform at your local theater, bar, or community center. Doing stand up comedy isn’t about where you perform as much as it is about performing. Get up on stage and get those laughs.