I don’t want to hear about your local comedy scene. Honestly, it just doesn’t compare. You don’t have people who scrape ice off of their cars and slide out in brown slush just to try out five minutes of new material. If you’re talking about Chicago, it’s expected. When you’re talking about Des Moines, Iowa, it’s insane. For the last 14 years, there has been an enclave of huggable freaks, pukers of truth and go-getters who have made the Des Moines comedy scene the greatest in the country.
Lopez, calling in from a weekend gig at the Comedy Works in Denver, remembers those days fondly. “We were doing alt shows like what you’d find in New York. There was something punk rock about it.” The perp ran down the street to another bar, where Kinane helped a bouncer detain him until the cops arrived. “At this point, there’s a crowd, the bouncer’s got this guy on the ground and he yells, ‘Citizen’s arrest!’ I’d never heard that in my life.”
Speaking of sneaky shit, full author’s disclosure: I siphoned off of the central Iowa comedy family for about five years, producing my own shows and plucking up what I could from their talent pool. One such event was a live reading of the beloved cult filmwith director and co-creator David Wain and a stacked cast of 20 locals. The evening was a fundraiser for the 2018 set of midterm elections.
was the dream project of Sid Juwarker and his partners, who spent years grinding to make it a reality until it opened in a prime downtown spot in late 2019. Boasting sleek decor and cocktails du jour, the venue serves as a solid date night option or just a classy spot to get soused with a group. “I started going to the open mic to support a small business,” Melanie Mackey says, “One day, you just get drunk and squirrely enough to go up and try it.
Carter further recalls, with shock and some relief, how many people were still coming out. “This one night, there were 40-plus people who signed up. Honestly, the real crazy part is that the comedy scene grew quite a bit over COVID. We had an entire comedy class of about 20 new people that came in and started, and they were coming into this during one of the craziest times any of us will ever live through.
By the start of early 2022, Juwarker was burnt out, and rightfully so. “Look, I had a plan to open the club, then a pandemic happened, and somebody handed me a shit sandwich.” Juwarker pauses. “Survival-mode time is over. I can’t do it anymore.”
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