Comedy Works is a stand-up comedy club with two locations in the

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

metropolitan area. The downtown club opened in September 1981 and is located in Larimer Square in Denver. The south club, which opened September 2008, is part of The Landmark development in

Greenwood Village The City of Greenwood Village is a home rule municipality located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 15,691 at the 2020 United States census. Greenwood Village is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO ...

History

Originally known as the Comedy Shoppe, owners George McKelvey (the "Godfather" of Denver's comedy community), Doug Olson, and Edd Nichols renamed the venue Comedy Works in 1981 and moved it to a basement space of the Granite/Graham-Clayton building in Larimer Square. In September of that year, Comedy Works became the first nightclub in Denver to have professional comedy on a full-time basis. Since then, Comedy Works has grown to include the south club in The Landmark neighborhood which features a restaurant, a lounge, and a ballroom. Over their histories, the two clubs have featured comedians such as Colorado-native

Roseanne Barr Roseanne Cherrie Barr (born November 3, 1952), also known mononymously as Roseanne, is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She began her career in stand-up comedy before gaining acclaim in the television sitcom ''Roseanne'' (19 ...

(who started her stand-up career at a 1980 Comedy Shoppe open-mic night),

Jerry Seinfeld Jerome Allen Seinfeld ( ; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. As a stand-up comedian, Seinfeld specializes in observational comedy. Seinfeld gained stardom playing a semi-fictionalized version ...

Ellen DeGeneres Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American former comedian, actress, television host, writer, and producer. She began her career in stand-up comedy in the early 1980s, gaining national attention with a 1986 appearance on '' ...

Chris Rock Christopher Julius Rock (born February 7, 1965) is an American comedian, actor, and filmmaker. He first gained prominence for his stand-up routines in the 1980s in which he tackled subjects including race relations, human sexuality, and obse ...

George Lopez George Edward Lopez (born April 23, 1961) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is most known for starring in his self-produced ABC sitcom '' George Lopez''. His stand-up comedy examines race and ethnic relations, including Mexican ...

, and

Lewis Black Lewis Niles Black (born August 30, 1948) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy routines often escalate into angry rants about history, politics, religion and cultural trends. He hosted the Comedy Central series ''Lewis Black's ...

. Several comedians have recorded CDs at the Larimer Square location including

Kathleen Madigan Kathleen Madigan is an American stand-up comedian and TV personality. In addition to her stand-up comedy performances, she is a regular guest on a variety of U.S. television programs. Early life and education Madigan was born in Florissant, Misso ...

(''Shallow Happy Thoughts for the Soul'' in 2002),

Dave Attell David Attell (born January 18, 1965) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer best known as the host of Comedy Central's '' Insomniac with Dave Attell.'' Early life Attell was born in the New York City borough of Queens to a Jewish fa ...

('' Skanks for the Memories'' in 2003), and Josh Blue (''Good Josh Bad Arm'' in 2005).

Ownership

Current owner Wende Curtis started as a

cocktail waitress A cocktail waitress, colloquially known as a bottle girl, is a female server who brings alcoholic drinks to patrons of drinking establishments such as bars, cocktail lounges, casinos, comedy clubs, jazz clubs, cabarets, and other live music ven ...

at a now-defunct

Fort Collins, CO Fort Collins is a home rule municipality in Larimer County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The population was 169,810 at the 2020 census, an increase of 17.94% since 2010. Fort Collins is the fourth-most populous city in Color ...

Comedy Works location.Denver Magazine
!--ARCHIVE LINK POINTS TO INFINITE REDIRECT LOOP...--> After graduating from

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University Syst ...

, Curtis became a manager for the Fort Collins location, later managed a

Tampa, FL Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the county seat of Hillsboroug ...

Comedy Works, and turned around that club in the process. She later returned to Denver in 1993 to run the Larimer Square location. In 2001, with the parent company facing financial difficulties, Curtis and two partners bought the business and by 2003 she had bought out her partners.

Other businesses

Comedy Works Entertainment is the booking arm of the business. Under the leadership of Mike Raftery, the company produces comedy concerts in larger venues around Denver and the state of Colorado. It also serves in a management capacity for comedians, including Josh Blue.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Comedy Works
website Comedy clubs in the United States Theatre in Colorado Tourist attractions in Denver