Fifty-year comedy club to restart on Las Vegas Strip

In April 2024, the gears ground to a halt at Laugh Factory Las Vegas.

But the famous factory finally fires up anew in January.

The storied comedy club has moved to the Horseshoe, taking over and renaming the second-floor Imagine Showroom.

“It’s a relief,” club general manager, booker and veteran stand-up Harry Basil says of the long and winding road to reopening. “There will be an onslaught of work, but I am excited about the opening. We are coming back at the right moment, with the right partner, in a location where we should the major entertainment draw.”

The soft opening is Jan. 29, with Bret Ernst from the Neflix series “Cobra Kai” headlining. Concrete, a viral hit who actually sells tickets, headlines the grand opening President’s Day weekend.

The new Laugh Factory is to run shows at 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. daily. Special-event headliner residencies are set for 6:30 p.m. Fridays through Sundays.

“We’re already in talks with some fantastic comedians,” says Basil, who is bracing for the tide of comic practitioners to roll in. “We couldn’t be more excited about the lineup taking shape.”

Laugh Factory at the Tropicana closed just ahead of that hotel’s demolition, to clear a path for the Athletics’ stadium. Company founder Jamie Masada and Basil opened at the Trop in 2012, replacing Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club when Garrett moved to MGM Grand.

Such headliners as Louie Anderson, Andrew Dice Clay, Pauly Shore, Jon Lovitz, Tiffany Haddish, Jamie Lissow, Willie Barcena, Michael Blackson decade-spanning impressionist Rich Little, pre-sitcom cancellation Roseanne and Gallagher headlined the original club. Comic magician Murray Sawchuck held down the afternoon slot (Sawchuck has been touring and performing one-offs since the closing).

Basil had shopped Laugh Factory to multiple resorts, on and off the Strip. Through the process, Laugh Factory now stands as the only Caesars Entertainment comedy club, with the company selling Rio (The Comedy Cellar) and Linq Promenade (Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club).

The Laugh Factory’s relocation means “Potted Potter” is out of Imagine Showroom. The whimsical comedy’s final listed show is 2 p.m. Dec. 30. The farcical retelling of seven “Potter” books in about 70 minutes opened in 2018, surviving the COVID shutdown and a resort re-branding.

“Paranormal,” a 12-year hit starring Frederic Da Silva, is staying in the 4 p.m. slot. Former showroom dance shoe “X Rocks” has vacated the venue, and is paired with the Sin City Stones in its self-named theater just behind Jack Binion’s Steak.

Laugh Factory is among the iconic comedy-club brands nationwide. The flagship location in Hollywood has run for nearly 50 years.

“The Laugh Factory has always believed that great comedy belongs on the biggest stages, and you don’t get bigger than the Strip,” company president David Fuhrer says. “We’re thrilled to partner with Horseshoe, and bring world-class comedians, viral stars and unforgettable nights of laughter to a city that truly knows how to have fun.”

P&T to be lauded

Penn & Teller are to be honored by the Family Film & TV Awards show, airing 8 p.m. Saturday. This is a lifetime-achievement honor, likely from a panel that never saw, or has forgiven, the duo’s “Bulls—-!” series on Showtime. That series ran for eight seasons ending in 2010. Great, but maybe not family fare.

Piff the Magic Dragon is introducing the duo. His speech in the taped event is a stream of him uttering “genius.” The intro inspired Penn Jillette’s speech for Piff at Piff’s 10-year anniversary at the Flamingo in November.

So Piff went “genius” first, but Jillette gets first credit because his speech aired earlier. Make sense? I you understand it all, you might be a … What’s the word?

Hope Road goes dark

Bob Marley’s Hope Road is not selling past Jan. 4, positioning this halt to a “hiatus.” That’s a fun word, we say sarcastically. We’ll be back in the spring for the new concept/vision/format, or not.

Third Street inks it

Third Street, billed as the city’s first multivenue, multidisciplinary arts and media “incubator,” has signed a 31-year lease to secure its spot at 814 S. 3rd Street. Teller (see above) is the “Honorary Ambassador” of the annex, a 41,000-square-food complex once home to Downtown Cinemas, Art Houz Theaters, and Eclipse Theaters (in revers-chronological order).

The project’s partners are Vegas Theatre Company co-founder Daz Weller, William Adamson and Ann Pongracz of VTC; Ginger Land-van Buuren of Vegas City Opera; Teller; Robert Lee and Kelsey Borlan of Laugh After Dark Comedy; and project architect Alexia Chen.

The building houses eight cinemas, a restaurant and an event space. Planned for phase one are six performance and production venues, including 250-seat proscenium theater; a 150-seat black box; two 60-seat screening rooms; a 400-person event/rehearsal hall; and a full-media production studio. A 600-seat theater and large-scale production studio are in the phase two.

If it sounds expensive, it is. Weller and company have kicked off a $1.5 million “Ignite Third” campaign. About $600,000 has been raised so far. The ultimate goal is $5 million.

The founders hope to hold an official re-naming event in March. The blueprint is for the first venues to open next year, with the grand opening in 2027. Weller says, “Las Vegas has built remarkable creative momentum over the past decade, and this is our chance to make sure that energy doesn’t fade.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.