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Used to be, you had to schlep into Manhattan to see top comedians. No longer. A new pop-up comedy-club concept called Don’t Tell Comedy brings the laughs to you.
The company, based in Los Angeles, came to New Jersey early last year and now puts on as many as 16 shows each weekend throughout the state. Each features four or five comedians performing in a “secret” location announced to ticket holders the morning of the show. Tickets cost $25-$30.
Venues are businesses and organizations that offer space to the company in exchange for raising their profiles. (Venue representatives get a chance to plug their businesses before the show.)
Jeff McBride, one of the New Jersey show producers, says that the state is ideal for Don’t Tell Comedy. “Some of the best comedians in the world work in this area,” he says. “Also, New Jersey is dense and diverse, and the appetite for comedy is incredible.”
Don’t Tell Comedy, which now has outposts in most major cities in the country, sells tickets through their website, and local producers find and handle the venues. “We beat the streets, talk to businesses and museums and libraries, and book the comics,” he says.
Some of McBride’s favorite venues are Prototype 237, an arts collective in a former factory building in Paterson, and the Bloomfield library’s children’s theater.
McBride attributes the success of the company to its social media marketing. Don’t Tell does regular tapings of top comedians doing 10-minute sets and posts to Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.
“Social media primes people for a good time at the shows,” McBride says. “That’s a major component of live standup—the audience makes the difference.”
[RELATED: Chloe Troast Says NJ Roots Helped Launch Her Comedy Career]
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