New York Comedy Club is opening a new location on the Upper West Side
There’s always room for new comedy clubs in NYC, especially when it comes to businesses that have already proved their worth in countless laughs—which is exactly what the folks behind New York Comedy Club have done in midtown Manhattan since 1989 and the East Village in 2018.
Emilio Savone and Scott Lindner, co-owners of the company, are now gearing up for the launch of their third Manhattan location, this one on the Upper West Side at 236 West 78th Street near Broadway. The duo will effectively take over, revamp and rebrand the existing Stand Up NY comedy club.
Although an official opening date announcement has yet to be made, a press release mentions it will coincide with the club’s 35th anniversary.
“Each neighborhood has its own culture and its own vibe and its own kind of residence,” Lindner tells Time Out in an email. “The space became available to us and they reached out to us and it just made sense because we’ve done it before: take an existing comedy club that’s been there for a really long time and revitalize it.”
There will be a few key differences between the Upper West Side location and the other clubs, starting with the acts on stage. “Right now, the plan is to lean a little more towards headliner shows,” reveals Savone in an email. “We’re engaged in those conversations now.”
The actual vibe inside will also be “slightly different,” he says.
“Our Gramercy club is very intimate. If you want something a little more gritty, go to the East Village,” says Savone while also mentioning the brand’s more “suburbian” location in Connecticut. “We view the Upper West Side venue as a king of hybrid of it all. It’s still going to have that New York energy but with a polished feel.”
The owners are also acutely aware of the landscape that they are working in, one that is now intricately connected to the world of social media. “The biggest change in the NYC comedy world in the last few years is access to online streaming,” mentions Lindner. “Having a tech infrastructure at the comedy clubs in order to stay competitive with comedians needing content [is important]. We record every show, from start to finish, with three cameras and provide the video to our comedians.”
Despite the devotion to all things online, the owners recognize that human contact and face-to-face laughter are the very basis of the industry, especially in a city like New York.
“There’s a few things you have to do when you’re in New York City, and one of them is to go to a comedy club,” says Savone. “If you don’t, you really have missed out on something special.”