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A real deal comedy club has an undeniable pull. Brick walls, tight tables, a microphone just inches from the front row—these details deliver something deeper than a cheap laugh. They provide a transportive escape.
When the Comedy Cellar opened its Las Vegas location at the Rio in 2018, it faced a unique challenge: how to bring the feel of its iconic New York club across the country without losing its edge and soul.
Seven years in, the club has clearly met that challenge, boasting nightly shows with a rotating cast of all-star comics while staying true to the original with that low-lit, brick-lined basement vibe and stained-glass signage onstage.
Mark Cohen, longtime comedian and emcee of the Vegas club, still remembers opening night. “It was quiet. I don’t think it was that busy, but the show was incredibly strong,” Cohen says. “It was just amazing how they transferred the Comedy Cellar vibe from New York to here.”
Since the ’80s, Comedy Cellar has built its reputation on trust rather than flashy names—though it’s bred plenty of those as well. When you attend a gig at the Comedy Cellar, you’re going to see a comic at their best.
“In New York, most of our shows are sold out before we even announce the lineup, because they trust our brand,” says owner Noam Dworman. “If somebody’s funny in New York, they’re funny in Vegas.”
Dworman inherited the Cellar from his father, Manny, and he’s notoriously hands-on and diligent about keeping the quality high. But running another location from 2,500 miles away? That’s a different beast.
“It’s very challenging to run a place the way I like to run a place, which has a lot of attention to service and customer satisfaction,” Dworman says. “I decided that it was the wisest thing to really partner with a casino. They’re in the hospitality business and would take care of the day-to-day challenges that I would risk if I was not able to check on it myself.”
In light of the property’s new multi-phase renovation, Dworman says he’s “optimistic about the new regime at the Rio” and eager to keep booking the best comedians who will familiarize folks with the Comedy Cellar brand.
Vegas crowds, a majority of them consisting of visitors, aren’t always comedy-savvy.
“A lot of our crowd comes in knowing what they’re going to get,” Cohen says. “Sometimes they’ve never even been to a comedy club before … it takes them a couple minutes to go, ‘Oh, we can laugh at that.’”
But the city’s catching on. “The comedy scene has doubled or tripled since we opened,” says Dworman. “There’s more and more clubs and local comedians who are very funny … it’s an exploding scene there.”
There’s a wealth of comedic talent gaining momentum and how they’re going about it is changing.
“[Comedians] are coming up differently. They’re not coming up in the clubs like I did,” says Cohen. “So they don’t have that muscle of dealing with the live audience as much.”
“If they’ve only seen comedy on social media, they’re pleasantly overwhelmed by the live experience,” Dworman adds. “It’s much more visceral than seeing it on a phone.”
But Cohen, who’s spent countless days at the club, gets it.
“I want the show to be good no matter what,” he says. “I’ve had bad sets, obviously, but I always try to make sure that the show is good.”
Because at the Cellar, whether it’s New York or Vegas, every set counts.
COMEDY CELLAR Nightly shows at 7 & 9:30 p.m., Rio, comedycellar.com.
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