Last Friday I went to a comedy club at the suggestion of a friend. Said comedy club was called The Punchline, located in Sandy Springs. First things first, it was pouring buckets of rain and the ticket guy at the front window had no idea how to work the credit card machine. On top of that, $5.50 was added to the price of the $20 ticket for taxes and "convenience." I don't see what is convenient about standing in the rain for 10 minutes while this guy counted the credit card numbers on his finger. But, we finally made it in.
This is the type of comedy club where comedians earn their stripes. It is a pretty old and cheesy looking venue, but it's small size does make for an intimate experience between the audience and the comic. The headliner that night was Al Madrigal, a bit actor on the show "Gary Unmarried." I never caught the name of the comic who opened for him, but he was significantly funnier than Al. The opener picked on several members of the audience and had a filthy vocabulary, which always makes for good entertainment. He really had the audience in stitches. However, Al spoke so softly that the audience had to consciously quiet down to hear every joke. Foul #1. This routine mostly consisted of typical family/marriage humor and lacked any outrageous, new insights into the subject matter. Foul #2.
In spite of all this, we had a decent time. But, not if you take into account the fact that the waitress screwed up our drink orders several times and brought us gin and tonics so bland you couldn't taste any gin (I swear they used club soda, not tonic). On top of that, we ended up paying around $60 for 8 drinks between 2 people. Whenever I go to a bar, if the service is terrible, I at least expect good drinks. Big Foul #3.
Overall, I would recommend going to The Punchline only if there is a great comic with some proven track record headlining and you don't intend on getting drunk.
1 comment:
this is one of the most wack reviews I've ever stumbled upon. I was actually at every show that week, with regard to the club...it couldn't be more rich in comedy history and cool, the place doesn't even have a two drink minimum which almost every comedy club strictly enforces. They really only employ the best comics which brings me to Al, of all the comics I've seen there, he might be one of the funniest - his joke writing and delivery is very original which is hard to do when everything has been done. Dirty crowd work is reserved for road room hacks...this says a lot about an individuals taste. Let's just chalk this review up to bad taste.
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