Modified On October 5, 2004
A 20-year comedy club is dark, due to the suprise sale of the restaurant above. The Richmond Comedy Club, an institution in Richmond for two decades, is no more. Owner Anita Fletcher says she’s fielding offers for re-locating and she stresses that the closing is definitely not her decision. She said that the Matt’s owners gave no advance warning of their decision to sell and she’s not happy about cancelling all those bookings.
In business since 1984, the club’s location (six hours south of NYC) made it attractive to many New York-based comics. Many comics from Baltimore, D.C. and Philadelphia were regulars there. The low ceiling, funky atmosphere and often rabid crowds made it a raucous comedy room.
We had a special attachment to the gig. It was Traci’s first real road gig. And Brian’s late Aunt Mary (a Richmond resident for over 50 years) saw him perform there, and “I once persuaded a one-eyed man, in the middle of my set, to let me hold his glass eye in the palm of my hand!” Good times!
As far as we know, the closing of the Richmond Comedy Club will not affect the operation of the summer-only Nags Head, NC, Comedy Club location. We’ll keep you posted if/when Fletcher opens up a new Richmond location.