Carolines on Broadway comedy club making a comeback in New York City
New York comedy club, Carolines On Broadway, makes a great comeback after a prolonged lockdown in the city.
We’re excited to be back in action making our fellow New Yorkers (and visitors) happy and laughing ’til their faces turn blue. It’s about time, after the hardships this city has faced in the last year.
Featured below is an article published by WABC News all about our anticipated comeback.
NEW YORK (WABC) — An iconic venue in Times Square will welcome audiences back once
again this weekend.
$16 billion in federal aid will soon reach New York City’s Theater District thanks to a bill
passed by Congress to help live performance venues that were forced the close due to the
pandemic. The first Broadway shows aren’t scheduled to open until September, but smaller
places are set to get going again very soon.
Carolines on Broadway comedy club is going to be the first place in the Times Square area
to come back to life after more than a year.
“It feels so good! We’re close to reopening, getting back to normal. I can’t tell you how
relieved I am. I had more tension and stress not being open than getting everything done
right now,” owner Caroline Hirsch said.
The sound of silence was deafening at the club, but soon laughter will again bounce off the
walls.
“We had to get back to business,” said the proprietor of the club that bears her name.
Her first show since the pandemic began in March of last year is set for Thursday, May 27
and Donnell Rawlings is the headliner.
“To be able to see this club some back to life and to be able to make this person laugh and
that person laugh, I’m super excited about it,” Rawlings said.
Rawlings has a 20-year history at Carolines, and his shows typically sell out, but the club
won’t be at capacity this weekend.
“We will probably be at half of our capacity at this point, or a little less,” Hirsch said.
“Hopefully, in the next few weeks, we’ll be at full capacity.”
She has been called a “mother hen” to a generation of comics who came to fame in her club,
but after more than a quarter-century in business, the pandemic proved her biggest
challenge.
“Venues like mine: entertainment venues, theaters, cultural places were shut down by the
government. OK? It was a mandate. It wasn’t like you could be a restaurant and deliver food
or open 25%, 10%, or whatever. We were totally closed down,” Hirsch said.
This is why Hirsch is eligible for relief from the U.S. government — aid that has yet to arrive.
“There’s a considerable amount of bills that have piled up already,” she said.
And Memorial Day weekend is a test of sorts, “a push in the right direction to get things going
again,” she said.
“People have been cooped up so long they want to do something, and what gets us through
the most trying times of our lives? Comedy! We have to find something to laugh at,”
Rawlings said.
During the pandemic, he found a silver lining in the dark cloud. Rawlings got to spend time
with his 4-year-old son after years spent on the road, and he even found a way to perform.
He was part of a series of shows staged by his old friend Dave Chappelle in an Ohio
cornfield where fans could remain socially distanced.
But now Carolines on Broadway will be closer to business as usual.