Dallas Comedy Club is a 9,600-square-foot multi-use entertainment, training, and performance venue that offers extraordinary guest experiences. Our on-premise Training Center offers a wide variety of courses including long and short form improv, musical improv, stand-up, sketch, and storytelling. For the corporate crowd, we can develop a customized program for your company which can easily be executed on or offsite.
Vision
To mold and meld the future of comedy in an extraordinary way. To unify and inspire through moments of shared laughter, play, and optimism. To foster creation and collaboration while celebrating the uniqueness of the individual. To always surprise and delight.
Mission
Establish the Dallas Comedy Club as the gold standard for all-things-comedy through the power of delivering the highest quality of training, entertainment, and extraordinary shared human experiences.
Dallas Comedy Club: A New Breed of Comedy in Deep Ellum
Ian and Rosie Caruth have an end game: to make Dallas a funnier place. And as new owners of the Dallas Comedy Club, that means bringing a different breed of comedy to the city. “Our goal is to be home base for all kinds of comedy—not to mention, give people a reason to laugh again,” says Rosie.
Comedy fans can get their laughs many ways— by watching stand-up, listening to storytellers, and even getting onstage with improvisors during interactive improv shows. The sprawling, 9,600-square-foot space features three performing areas (two enclosed theaters and an outdoor stage), a full-service bar and dining experience, a beer garden, four classrooms, and a podcast room. If the place had a tagline, it would undoubtedly be: Funny Happens Here!
Not surprisingly, Ian and Rosie met in a New York City comedy club. They got married and decided to move to Dallas, where Ian grew up and his family resides. “The first thing we did when we got here was to try and find comedy,” says Rosie. “It was hard enough on the weekends. But finding a show on a Monday or Tuesday? Forget about it.” To feed their comedy fix, they took classes and interned at Dallas Comedy House.
When the space became available in August 2020, the decision to try their hand at running a club was a “no-brainer.” It was an ideal opportunity to put everything they’d learned to work. “We’d both studied comedy and been in the business a long time– starting in college troupes and studying at multiple theaters across the nation,” says Rosie. “We’d actually always fantasized about opening a theater here, so when the opportunity came up, we jumped at the chance.”
It wasn’t the only time retrograde seemed to align. Case in point: their first major hire, Kimberly Alu. Kimberly was Rosie’s very first “Zoomprov” teacher early in the pandemic, where her passion for teaching was palpable through the screen. As the newly-appointed Director of Education, she’ll be instrumental in supporting DCC’s organizational development, student engagement, corporate entertainment, and talent and performance programming.
“Kimberly has a real passion for comedy,” says Ian. “She’s got the kind of boots-on-the-ground experience that is going to serve the local community really well.” An impressive CV includes stints in New York City and Los Angeles. And in the last two years alone, she’s completed over 40 original sketch comedy pieces, a half-hour comedy pilot, two docu-series and countless plays.
It was a match all around. “We made an irresistible offer of building something together,” says Ian. Adds Rosie: “The minute Kimberly walked in the club she was like, ‘I can’t wait for opening night.’ You could see goosebumps on her body. We opened champagne and signed the offer letter that night.”
A robust course schedule will include classes in improv, stand-up, sketch comedy, and more. “We want to help grow the people who are here and get them ready for a larger stage,” says Ian. Even those with less lofty aspirations—just being funnier at the office—won’t be disappointed. “A sense of humor makes anyone instantly more interesting.”
Admittedly, there have been moments of doubt. At times, just thinking about opening a new venture in the middle of a pandemic seemed crazy. Yet through it all, Ian and Rosie have kept their eye on the prize: providing Dallasites with an unprecedented comedic experience.
“What started as just wanting to be part of the community has evolved into a mission,” says Ian. “We’re ready to elevate the whole scene in Dallas.”