Every few months, it’s time for another Rififi-is-closing scare, and so we were due for a note like this one sent out to performers from the indie comedy club’s manager (courtesy of Matt Ruby’s Sandpaper Suit):
it’s quite possible that thursday will be the last day that rififi will
be open, it seems that the owner of rififi has come to an impasse with
the landlord… as you might have known rififi has been occupying the
space on a month-by-month basis since march and the landlord is now
asking for substantially more money, it’s possible that he’s playing
hardball but if an agreement isn’t be reached by thursday then it will
really be the last day that rififi is open.i’m sorry we didn’t
have a couple of weeks to plan for this but the relationship between
the landlord and the owner has always been somewhat unstable so it was
hard to predict if and when the end would actually come… please be
assured that all of the time and effort you put into producing your
show has been greatly appreciated, if there is any change in the
situation i will let you know as soon as i hear about it.
UPDATED! 🙁 This time, the news appears to be legit. In fact, tonight will be the final night for Rififi, at least as we know it and love it. Which means tonight’s Gelmania has become a blow-out affair, with appearances/performances by Greg Johnson (no more Fridays?!), Joe & Noah (no more Thursdays?!), Eugene Mirman, John Mulaney (after his UCB gig, I presume), Tom McCaffrey, Baron Vaughn, Adam Newman and probably more.