One of Denver’s most successful independent comedy clubs is returning this month after getting booted out of its previous home.
Denver Comedy Underground, which has regularly packed the Cheesman Park basement of the Althea Center for Engaged Spirituality with local and national comedy headliners, has moved into a space next to Woods Boss Brewing Company, in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood, said founder, owner and comic Ben Bryant.
The location at 675 22nd St. will still offer top-secret shows, free pizza from Rocky Mountain Pizza (which Bryant purchases for guests), and promises of no two-drink minimum — unlike the A-room clubs of Comedy Works and Denver Improv.
But it also opens up possibilities for expanded programming such as open mics and theatrical shows, more audience capacity, full beverage and food sales, and other options formerly restricted by its smaller space at the Althea Center. (Bryant is also excited about a bidet he installed in the new location — which he argues should be standard in U.S. bathrooms.)
“Of course, we can’t get away from that free pizza either. We’re locked into that for life,” he said. “But down the road, we would like to get our own full kitchen as we continue to bring in more people from the industry … including a lot of New York comics.”
At the time it first closed, on Aug. 31, 2024, Bryant told The Denver Post that the board at the Althea Center, a non-denominational church at 1400 Williams St., made the decision after operations there “proved too difficult.”
While the new location hosted a last-minute, New Year’s Eve soft opening, Bryant has slated the official “grand reopening” for the weekend of Jan. 24-25, featuring Colorado-born headliner Sam Tallent, among others (see denvercomedyunderground.com for $20 tickets).
The new location is already booked for multiple nights every week through May with diverse touring comics — including some who had to postpone shows after the Underground shut down last year.
It amounts to a snap-back of sorts for a scene that as recently as fall 2024 was wobbling due to a churn in venues. That included the shuttering of Denver Comedy Underground, but also Mutiny Information Cafe’s move further south from the Baker neighborhood, and the closure of Five Points bar, restaurant and comedy venue Wide Right.
Denver Comedy Underground’s short-term lease fits just right, Bryant said, and he expects to renew it based on past success and current projections. He’s not concerned about the reported problem of unhoused people in the neighborhood, he said, since many of them are there seeking support services located nearby. Other businesses and their employees, such as the Mercury Cafe, have expressed safety concerns previously about the area.
But Bryant has encountered no potential safety issues so far, he said, and believes the problem has been overblown. “I’m out here daily and I’ve seen none of that,” he said.
The new space will feature seating of up to 170 and a Rockpile-style area for overflow crowds. A full bar, and lots of helpful advice from Woods Boss staffers — the brewery used to operate the space as an annex — continue to shore up the new club.
“I’m going to keep booking people in major scenes who are doing exceptionally well within the last two years,” Bryant said. “People who are doing interesting things and crushing hard and on positive upward trajectories. The more touring headliners we have, the more it begets another from that scene, like a butterfly effect.”