Comedy Tonight
How The ATL’s Improv & Standup Scenes Are Putting Atlanta On The Comedy Map

By Brad Binkley

Atlanta’s collective laugh is starting to get a little louder, because the city’s comedy scene is growing like it never has before.  There was a time when local comedic talents could only perform sporadically due to a lack of quality venues, but lately an influx of comedy clubs, open mic nights, improv troupes and sketch shows have turned Atlanta into a city that can tickle your funny bone seven nights a week.

Where once The Punchline was the only reputable comedy club on the scene, these days the city’s standup comics are roaming around like a pack of funny wolves from an old Tex Avery cartoon. While The Punchline still draws top nationally-known talent, comedy clubs such as the Funny Farm, Laughing Skull Lounge and Uptown Comedy Corner are also bringing in big names who have performed on Comedy Central, HBO, and all the late-night talk shows. After serving as opening acts at those clubs for years, local comedians are now building their own buzz, bringing their hilarious talent to unexpected venues such as the Star Bar (which hosts a regular Open Mic Night), Smith’s Olde Bar (the Seriously Funny show), Relapse Theatre, Apache Café and, starting in September, even the Cheyenne Grill sports bar.

To put some icing on this comedy cake, the Laughing Skull Lounge recently hosted the first annual Laughing Skull Festival.  The man behind this festival, Marshall Chiles (owner of the Laughing Skull Lounge as well as the Funny Farm), sees Atlanta gradually gaining national respect in the industry.  “The industry sees Atlanta as one of the emerging comedy markets, and I’ve received great interest from managers and agents interested in coming to the next Laughing Skull Festival in hopes of finding the next breakout star.” 

If you’ve seen any comedy shows around town lately, you know it won’t be hard to find potential stars in Atlanta, with local comedians already popping up on radio, TV and film.  And when you have a local pool of talent richer than the pitching in the Atlanta Braves farm system, why not showcase it?  “Some of our best-selling shows are the Marshall Chiles & Friends shows.  I polled the audience and found that they loved the idea of seeing ten local comedians on each show,” Chiles adds.

But the standup scene isn’t the only area in which ATL comedy is starting to get some national love. The improv comedy scene here has spread like wildfire over the years since Laughing Matters, Dad’s Garage and Whole World Theatre helped introduce the city to the form. Atlanta audiences have totally embraced the spontaneous style based on audience suggestions, and now new theatres, troupes and talents are sprouting up like kudzu in the summertime.

Relapse Theatre, located on 14th St by Georgia Tech, has emerged as a major player on the scene, housing JaCKPie Theatre (which is rooted n Chicago-style long-form improv), 2 Girls 3 Eyes, Automatic Improv, Cineprov and other teams. PushPush Theatre, the Village Theatre and the Basement Theatre are all steadily building local followings, while The EARL’s monthly Catch 23 shows bring together the best local improvisers for a friendly competition. Annual festivals such as Georgia Tech’s Black Box Comedy Festival and Dad’s Garage’s World Domination Improv Tournament (both in September) even bring major players from the U.S., Canada and even Europe to Hotlanta for some seriously funny spontaneous silliness.

A lot of people in the local community think this is just a drop in the bucket of Atlanta’s potential as a major improv city. Josh Warren, co-founder of the Village Theatre and star of Atom.com’s cop show parody M’larky, says, “Atlanta resembles Chicago in the ‘60s, right before it became the improv beacon we know today. The more we all work together, the more successful the improv community as a whole will be.  Join us or be destroyed!” Warren adds with a laugh. 

Atlanta’s growth has not gone unnoticed:  Chicago’s powerhouse Second City– the improv and sketch comedy mecca that has produced myriad Saturday Night Live alumni– is entering its third year of joining with the Alliance Theatre to cast local improvisers in an Atlanta-based revue.  Second City cast member and JaCKPie Theatre improviser Amy Roeder also sees parallels between the Atlanta and Chicago scenes.
“Atlanta hosts festivals, just like Chicago.  Atlanta has audiences that support improvisation, just like Chicago. Atlanta has talented performers, just like Chicago. What we don’t have is the wind chill factor, and I think we’re all just fine with that,” Roeder says with a smile. 

The Atlanta comedy scene has come an awfully long way in the last 10 years, and the relentless momentum and bumper crop of rising talent should only serve to ensure that it keeps growing. As the city’s collective laugh continues getting louder, more and more comedians, improvisers and audience members are being drawn in the scene’s whirlwind of activity. So get out and see a show tonight, so you can say you saw these Steve Carells, Tina Feys and Dane Cooks-in-the-making before they’re Gone With The Wind.

COMEDY LINKS

ATLANTA STANDS UP
www.atlantastandsup.wordpress.com

AUTOMATIC IMPROV
www.automaticimprov.com

BASEMENT THEATRE
www.thebasementtheatre.com

BLACK BOX COMEDY FESTIVAL
www.blackboxcomedy.com

CATCH 23
www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=45510863388

DAD’S GARAGE THEATRE
www.dadsgarage.com

FUNNY FARM COMEDY CLUB
www.funnyfarmcomedyclub.com

JACKPIE THEATRE WORKSHOP
www.jackpie.com

LAUGHING MATTERS
www.laughingmatters.com

LAUGHING SKULL LOUNGE
www.vortexcomedy.com

THE PUNCHLINE
www.punchline.com

PUSH PUSH THEATER
www.pushpushtheater.com

RELAPSE THEATRE
www.relapsecomedy.com

SKETCHWORKS THEATRE
www.sketchworkscomedy.com

UPTOWN COMEDY CORNER
www.uptowncomedy.net

VILLAGE THEATRE
www.villagecomedy.com

WHOLE WORLD THEATRE
www.wholeworldtheatre.com

«HOME