Taylor at the club (Image: Club Comedy Seattle)
Two veterans of the Seattle comedy scene are looking for new energy and ownership for a Capitol Hill club.
15th Ave E? It’s kind of a funny place for comedy.
Husband and husband team Rick Taylor and Chris Ferguson opened Club Comedy Seattle five years ago on Capitol Hill’s 15th Ave E in a former Starbucks converted into a venue for stand-up performance that will now go dark if a buyer doesn’t emerge.
“We have spoken with some folks and organizations about a possible sale of the club and we were hoping that a serious buyer would be interested and be able to step in and pick up where we leave off,” they said in the announcement of the planned closure. “Although some of those talks continue, none of them so far have lead to a solid agreement. It would be great if the space could remain a boutique style comedy club that is invested in bringing new, diverse, and emerging talent to Seattle while staying deeply involved in helping develop the local stand-up community.”
Their last show is currently scheduled for Wednesday, July 15th.
The Capitol Hill comedy scene got a boost last year as Emerald City Comedy Club re-opened after a re-brand and overhaul of the Broadway venue in a partnership with the Tacoma Comedy Club. The club hosts a mixed schedule of local talent, open mics, and “a-list” acts — Michael Che of Saturday Night Live fame performed there in June, poking fun at Broadway and Capitol Hill, riffing on how the area manages to look simultaneously incredibly expensive and completely unhinged.
On 15th Ave E, Taylor and Ferguson started drawing comedy audiences to the quieter side of the Hill with shows in a Thai restaurant on the block but COVID-19 pulled the plug on that. When the former ice cream shop in the old Starbucks next to Smith became available, Taylor and Ferguson decided to give relatively quiet 15th Ave E some more nightlife energy.
Now their shows are coming to an end.
“We have always enjoyed a wonderful relationship with the crowd and Club Comedy Seattle has always been a welcoming home to the best comics from here and afar. We are incredibly proud of the work that has been done at the club and the comics who reach for the stars from our stage,” they write. “It’s been an amazing run, and it is a very bittersweet decision for us to move on to a new chapter that doesn’t include Club Comedy Seattle.”
Shows continue at Club Comedy Seattle at 328 15th Ave E through July 15th. Visit facebook.com/clubcomedyseattle/ for updates.
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