No club, no problem: Comedy producers fill void with shows in breweries, bars, and basements<\/strong><\/p>\n From the Milwaukee Record<\/a>…<\/p>\n \u00a0A few dedicated local producers and performers have taken it upon themselves to fill the city\u2019s comic void by bringing comedians and shows they\u2014and many others\u2014would like to see to Milwaukee breweries, bar rooms, and even the Grand Avenue Mall basement.<\/p>\n Matt Kemple is the person responsible for many of those shows. Kemple has owned and operated The\u00a0Underground Collaborative<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(the aforementioned 110-capacity theater space in the mall\u2019s basement) for close to six years, and has booked shows all around town under the\u00a0\u201cMilwaukee Comedy\u201d<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0umbrella for even longer. The longtime theater producer and Milwaukee Comedy Festival founder\u2019s foray into stand-up booking was simple: Milwaukee wanted more than it was getting. \u201cI started producing just out of the need and desire to want more out of the comedy scene. When I was producing, it was basically because there was nobody putting on comedy shows,\u201d Kemple says. \u201cAll of a sudden, we\u2019re the ones filling this niche of this middle level of comedy that people really want to get, but nobody is putting those shows on. We need to be the ones doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n Just some of the notable comedians Kemple and his cohorts have booked at The UC or sites like Club Garibaldi include Nick Thune (twice), Andy Kindler, Hari Kondabolu, Matt Braunger, Godfrey, Joe Mande, Emily Heller, Johnny Pemberton, Josh Fadem, and Neil Hamburger. This weekend, The Underground Collaborative will host a pair of shows from veteran comedy legend Todd Barry. Barry performed at Turner Hall his last two times in Milwaukee and at Comedy Cafe before that.<\/p>\n \u201cTodd Barry is doing his show with us because it\u2019s the crowd work tour. He wants to see the people. It\u2019s an intimate theater venue, not a comedy club. He can look out and see people on seats that are on risers,\u201d Kemple says. \u201cThere aren\u2019t people coming and going and interrupting the show trying to sell two drink minimums and nachos. It\u2019s an environment that\u2019s set up to make what he\u2019s doing as successful as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to sporadic high-profile bookings at The UC and other traditional venues, Milwaukee Comedy also produces shows at unconventional sites like Karma, Var Gallery, and will debut a monthly\u00a0\u201cCraft Brew Comedy\u201d<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0showcase at Good City Brewing tonight. The first show in the East Side brewery\u2019s 150-capacity hall has already sold out.<\/p>\n \u201cNot everybody wants to come to [The UC], so if you can bring comedy to those people, that\u2019s what keeps things exciting,\u201d Kemple says. \u201cAnd just having different rooms and different environments, it makes it a different kind of show.\u201d<\/p>\n The largest and most successful of Milwaukee Comedy\u2019s regular productions is Keg Stand Up, a monthly stand-up showcase at Lakefront Brewery. The show, which started in August of 2105 and became a recurring fixture at the brewery in June of 2016, brings some of the Midwest\u2019s most talented humorists to Lakefront\u2019s spacious Beer Hall on select Sunday nights. Within its first few months, Keg Stand Up\u2019s attendance has ballooned. The show now brings more than 200 people to the brewery and routinely sells out.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mattkemple.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/logo_70_percent.png\"){kind=logo}
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