The Comedy Cellar opening a Vegas club inside the Rio resort and casino

After expanding from one to three rooms in the spaces it already owned in Greenwich Village, the iconic Comedy Cellar is heading west, opening its first club in Las Vegas.

The Comedy Cellar at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, a 300-seat venue complete with the Cellar’s low ceiling aesthetic, brick walls and stained glass, will open April 5, 2018.

“It will be just like coming to the New York Comedy Cellar – only in Vegas,” said club owner Noam Dworman. “The Comedy Cellar at Rio will feature the same best-in-the-world comics and the same iconic feel in New York. The only difference is that in Vegas, you’ll be able to get in.”

Marc Cohen will host the opening weekend, with performances by Mo Amer, Kyle Dunnigan, Jessica Kirson and Nathan McIntosh.

Expect the lineups at the Cellar in Vegas to look a whole lot like the lineups in NYC, where the club has routinely sold out weekend shows in advance for the past few years, and sells out now routinely during weeknights, too.

“People who know and love comedy appreciate our unique ‘showcase format’,” said Estee Adoram, talent producer of Comedy Cellar. “It’s one of our secret sauces. We don’t use the typical format of putting up a stage in a sterile function room, and presenting a passable MC doing 15 minutes, a slightly better middle act doing 20 minutes and a reasonably good headliner doing 40 minutes. Our showcase format features 5 headliner-level comics, each doing their best 15-20 minutes. These are headliners you either have heard of – or will hear of soon. All in a unique setting – unlike any of the other comedy rooms in Vegas. This is the greatest comedy in the greatest atmosphere for comedy.”

A few things will be noticeably different in Vegas from the NYC original.

In Vegas, you only need to be 18 to get in. But ticket prices will be steeper: $42 | $52 | $62 (plus taxes & fees)

Comedy shows will run Thursdays-Sundays, at 7, 9 and 11 p.m.

Tickets to individual shows go on sale Feb. 22, 2018.

The Rio also is home to Penn & Teller, Eddie Griffin, and the Chippendales.

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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