| Comedy Cellar | |
| Location: | Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Type: | Comedy club |
The Comedy Cellar is a comedy club in Manhattan where many top New York comedians perform, sometimes referred to as the "Harvard of comedy clubs".[1] It was founded in 1982 by then stand-up comedian, and current television writer/producer Bill Grundfest.[2] It is located in Greenwich Village on 117 MacDougal Street between West 3rd Street and Minetta Lane.[3] Above the club is a restaurant called The Olive Tree Cafe to which it is connected, where many of the comedians hang out after performing.[4] The club is owned by Noam Dworman, who inherited it from his late father Manny in 2003. It is being booked by Estee Adoram, who has developed the club's talent for nearly four decades. The businesses share the same menu, kitchen, and staff as the Olive Tree Cafe.
The Comedy Cellar, like The Comedy Store, uses a showcase format, as opposed to a headline format like most clubs. A show will consist of between five and seven comics performing sets of roughly 10 to 15 minutes each. Each week consists of three to six shows a night on Sunday through Thursday and ten shows each Friday and Saturday, between both the original room and the larger Village Underground around the corner.
Notable Comedians started with stage time at the Comedy Cellar, going on to become legends, such as Louis C.K.,[5] Dave Chappelle, Amy Schumer, Ali Wong, Dave Attell, Andrew Schulz, Todd Barry, Judah Friedlander, Colin Quinn, Kevin Hart, Jim Norton, Jeff Ross, Jon Stewart, Ray Romano, Darrell Hammond, Michael Mittermeier,[6] Rich Vos, Nick Di Paolo, Artie Lange, Greer Barnes, and Marc Maron.
Popular established comedians frequently perform at the Comedy Cellar, including Dov Davidoff, Mark Normand, Ryan Hamilton, Robert Kelly, Harrison Greenbaum, Sherrod Small, Keith Robinson, Eric Neumann, Gregg Rogell, Nikki Glaser, Ben Bailey and Andrew Schulz.
Celebrity comedians Aziz Ansari and Jon Stewart started their comedy careers at the Comedy Cellar, and both continue to occasionally perform there. Other celebrity comics who have performed at the club include Sarah Silverman, Amy Schumer, Robin Williams, Patton Oswalt, Kevin Hart, Chris Rock, Patrice O'Neal, Bill Burr, and Matteo Lane.[7] Musician John Mayer has also been seen performing stand-up.[8]
Much of Jerry Seinfeld's 2002 documentary Comedian was filmed at the club, and it also can be seen in a 2006 Pepsi commercial starring Jimmy Fallon.
The beginning sequence of Louis CK's television series Louie shows him walking into the Comedy Cellar. Many scenes in the show are filmed in and around the Comedy Cellar and Olive Tree Cafe. Speaking with ESPN's Bill Simmons about the club on a Grantland podcast in June 2012, CK discussed playing shows at the Cellar to empty rooms in the 1990s, stating that then-owner Manny Dworman "kept comedy alive" by making comedians perform on empty stages, in an effort to lure in potential customers.[9] The club was also featured in Chris Rock's film Top Five, including a performance by his character, Andre Allen. It appeared regularly on HBO's Crashing, and is the home for Comedy Central's This Week at The Comedy Cellar.
In September 2015, the club launched its public-policy debate series with a debate on the Iran nuclear deal.[10] The debate featured professor and lawyer Alan Dershowitz and journalist Fred Kaplan, among others.
The New York Post regularly rates the Cellar as the best comedy club in New York.[11]
In March 2016, writers Jessica Pilot and Katla McGylnn wrote an oral history of the club for Vanity Fair.[12]
The club has been the location for comedians taping Netflix specials. Aziz Ansari shot his special Nightclub Comedian at the Comedy Cellar in 2021; Ray Romano recorded his special Right Around the Corner there in 2019; Dave Attell and Jeff Ross recorded their Netflix series Bumping Mics with Jeff Ross & Dave Attell at the club in 2018.
In 2018, the Comedy Cellar opened a third location at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas.[13]