Sunday, October 12, 2008

the dead zone

Has laughter fallen victim to the economy? Knoxville's only stand-up comedy club appears to have closed. The big sign on the front of The Comedy Zone has been taken down. Their schedule shows nothing after October 4th, although I think the sign may have actually come down before then. Their phone has been disconnected and their website now redirects you to their parent company in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before it occurred to me to try calling the phone number myself, I searched unsuccessfully online for verification of the closing from the News Sentinel's Bottom Line blog or any other website. I did find that they were behind on their city business taxes. Maybe the reason they closed is because I'm the only one who even remotely cares.

Einstein Simplified used to perform at The Comedy Zone once a month. Even though we had a bad timeslot, we would draw a decent crowd when the manager included us in their weekly Metro Pulse ad. Unfortunately for us, that manager got promoted and moved to another city. His replacements were not as diligent about advertising our shows. When the staff seemed surprised to see us show up for our monthly gig, we knew it was time to end our arrangement.

Nevertheless, I thought the Comedy Zone was a good room. About a year ago, my wife and I went to see Pat Godwin there. We had previously been there to see Ralphie May and a benefit show full of headliners. When a small fire broke out at the club, I thought it was hysterical that it happened to be during a hypnotist's show.

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6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

want to know the truth? Call the parent company

10/12/2008  
Blogger overtly trite said...

I noticed the sign down I hope it's not closed for good we had finally gone for the first time about a month ago and really had a good time

10/13/2008  
Blogger Amelia said...

I noticed this last weekend. I was hoping they had just moved to a different building in Knoxville, but you've brought the bad and truthful news. Hope Einstein Simplified starts performing somewhere on Saturday nights again.

10/13/2008  
Blogger Frank Murphy said...

I just drove by and saw that a new sign has gone up on the old Comedy Zone building. It reads: "Side Splitters Comedy Club."

This will require some further investigation.

10/23/2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Frank!
Come on over to the new Side Splitters Comedy Club!

1/30/2009  

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