PRESS

Best Alternative Comedy Club

Many of the city’s better-known comedy venues are so stuck in the past, there might as well be a fake brick-wall backdrop in front of the ubiquitous wooden stool. Are you with me, people? Which makes this ambitious brainchild of Sketchersons guy Gary Rideout Jr. such a refreshing change. Housed in a narrowish basement (at 945 Bloor West), the laid-back place feels like a terrific party you’ve just happened upon.

The acts include a mix of some of the edgiest stand-up, sketch and character work around anywhere. Rideout’s working on creating an online channel to be run out of the place. YouTube and Hulu, look out. Oh, and the bar also comes stocked with some decent snack food, doing away with a trip to the corner store for that mid-show sugar buzz. - NOW Magazine

Ask a typical Torontonian to name you some comedy venues and chances are they'll only be able to come up with two: Yuk Yuk's and Second City. This isn't because they're uninformed or somber, but because aside from these two usual suspects, there just aren't many venues in Toronto specifically focusing comedy, especially not edgy or 'alternative' comedy. And frankly that's a real shame. While Yuk Yuk's, for instance, tends to deliver high quality acts, they tend to all fit a certain "mould". If comedians don't follow the implicit rules of comedy, they'll have a hard time getting booked....More at Martini Boys

The Comedy Bar at Bloor and Ossington is finally having its grand opening this weekend. Even though it's been up and running for about five months, owners Gary Rideout Jr. and James Elksnitis think the venue is now completed at last, and ready to be promoted as such. Torontoist has been there on a handful of occasions over the past few months, and one of the interesting things about these visits—aside from the comedy—was seeing it progress through its renovation and development. We have never exclaimed "hey! They have a ceiling now!" with such sincerity before....More at Torontoist