MSP market about to get crowded?

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on March 9th, 2009

Word on the street is that Rick Bronson’s House of Comedy is opening soon in the spot formerly occupied by Knuckleheads on the fourth level of the gargantuan Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. Bronson already runs a comedy club, The Comic Strip, at a similar mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. To the best of our recollection, Knuckleheads closed in 2004.

The Minneapolis metro area already has two clubs– One downtown (Acme Comedy Co., which has been at its current location for at least 15 years) and another south of the city (The Joke Joint, which opened in Spring of 2007).

We just performed at the Joke Joint last month and we were delighted with the changes that proprietor (and comedian) Ken Reed (and wife, Becky) had made to the space. Our Valentine’s weekend engagement saw some packed and enthusiastic houses. (Read our glowing account of that weekend here.)

The Joint is in the Ramada Mall of America. Which is about 2,000 feet from the Mall of America (thus, the name of the hotel). Regarding the impending opening of the new club, the Joke Joint released the following: “Competition is always good and we look forward to more comedy in the Twin Cities. We welcome our new neighbor to the south.”

The Twin Cities market has come a long way since the days when the Hansens ran the Comedy Gallery which, according to their moribund website, provided a “launching pad” for comics such as Joel Hodgson, Lizz Winstead, Jeff Cesario and Tom Arnold. (The site states that there’s a Gallery in a Holiday Inn in St. Paul, but their schedule stops at Dec. 26-27. Hmmm…)

In Friday’s St. Paul Pioneer Press, an article by Frederick Melo profiled local comic (and United Airlines pilot) Mike Orensteen. Orensteen created MinneHAHA Comedy Club, which is not actually a venue located in a physical building, but more like a floating show using revolving acts that occasionally produces shows in the ‘burbs. The article ended with this:

Orensteen hopes the MinneHAHA Comedy Club will be a monthly regular at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center, which alone would be an achievement. But he’s also got even bigger plans brewing.

His goal is to launch something he says is sorely missing from the Twin Cities suburbs: a restaurant and comedy club, with Burnsville or Bloomington looking to be prime candidates. He’s still looking around, and laughing all the way.

from → News • 0 Comments - Let's discuss! • Print-Friendly • Back To Top