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.jpg) Comedy Cellar entrance | |
 Interactive map of Comedy Cellar | |
| Address | 117MacDougal Street |
|---|---|
| Location | Manhattan,New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 40°43′48″N74°00′01″W / 40.730131°N 74.000403°W /40.730131; -74.000403 |
| Owner | Noam Dworman |
| Type | Comedy club |
| Opened | 1982 (43 years ago) (1982) |
| Website | |
| comedycellar | |
TheComedy Cellar is acomedy club inManhattan where many top New York City comedians perform; it is sometimes referred to as the "Harvard of comedy clubs".[1]
It was founded in 1981 by then-stand-up comedian, and current television writer and producerBill Grundfest.[2] It is located inGreenwich Village on 117MacDougal Street between West Third Street andMinetta Lane.[3]
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.
Above the club is a restaurant calledThe Olive Tree Cafe to which it is connected, where many of the comedians hang out after performing.[4] The businesses share the same menu, kitchen, and staff as the Olive Tree Cafe.
The Comedy Cellar, likeThe 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 ten to fifteen 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 largerVillage Underground around the corner.
Notable comedians who started with stage time at the Comedy Cellar includeLouis 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, andMarc Maron.
Popular established comedians frequently perform at the Comedy Cellar, includingDov Davidoff,Mark Normand,Ryan Hamilton,Robert Kelly,Harrison Greenbaum,Sherrod Small,Keith Robinson, Eric Neumann,Gregg Rogell,Nikki Glaser,Ben Bailey andAndrew Schulz.
Celebrity comediansAziz Ansari andJon Stewart started their comedy careers at the Comedy Cellar, and both continue to perform there occasionally. Other celebrity comics who have performed at the club includeSarah Silverman,Amy Schumer,Robin Williams,Patton Oswalt,Kevin Hart,Chris Rock,Patrice O'Neal,Bill Burr, andMatteo Lane.[7] MusicianJohn Mayer has also been seen performing stand-up.[8]
Much of Jerry Seinfeld's 2002 documentary filmComedian was filmed at the club, and it also can be seen in a 2006Pepsi commercial starringJimmy Fallon.
The beginning sequence ofLouis C.K.'s television seriesLouie 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 withESPN'sBill Simmons about the club on aGrantland podcast in June 2012, C.K. 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 inChris Rock's 2014 filmTop Five, including a performance by his character, Andre Allen. It appeared regularly on HBO'sCrashing, and is the home for Comedy Central'sThis Week at The Comedy Cellar.
In September 2015, the club launched its public-policy debate series with a debate on theIran nuclear deal.[10] The debate featured professor and lawyerAlan Dershowitz and journalistFred Kaplan, among others.
TheNew York Post regularly rates the Cellar as the best comedy club in New York.[11]
In March 2016, writersJessica Pilot and Katla McGylnn wrote an oral history of the club forVanity Fair magazine.[12]
The club has been the location for comedians tapingNetflix specials.Aziz Ansari shot his specialNightclub Comedian at the Comedy Cellar in 2021;Ray Romano recorded his specialRight Around the Corner there in 2019;Dave Attell andJeff Ross recorded their Netflix seriesBumping Mics with Jeff Ross & Dave Attell at the club in 2018.
In June 2023, a video clip from the location showedJocelyn Chia making remarks about the retrospective effects of Malaysia'sexpulsion of Singapore and the missingMalaysia Airlines Flight 370 in an audience interaction during a stand-up routine, performed at Comedy Cellar in New York City, became viral on social networks.
In 2018, the Comedy Cellar opened a third[clarification needed] location at theRio Hotel in Las Vegas.[13]