New Year, New Space: Denver Comedy Underground Bounces Back After Losing Venue

After an unexpected eviction from the Althea Center on August 31, Denver Comedy Underground landed on its feet and is set to reopen in a new venue just in time for the new year. The comedy hub, known for its affordable, high-quality shows and free pizza, will host its soft relaunch on Tuesday, December 31, with a special New Year’s Eve Comedy Show at its new location in the venue space at Woods Boss Brewing Company called the Lodge.

“We were very lucky that the space is only five minutes away from where we were before,” says Denver Comedy Underground founder Ben Bryant. “There’s even a parking lot next to and across from us, which is huge. And I know RTD obviously has a whole bunch of problems, but if they ever get their shit together, it’s close to public transportation.”

For Bryant, this moment is the culmination of months of uncertainty and hard work. “It’s been a protracted process, but we did finally get lucky and find a good space,” Bryant says. “The Lodge is a cool venue, and it’s pretty much performance-ready, which is a huge blessing. I thought I’d have to build out a venue, but instead, we’re stepping into a space that’s ready to go.”

Bryant’s initial search for a new home had him bracing for extensive construction and permitting, but a slow real estate market allowed the Comedy Underground to reopen faster than anticipated. After looking into other options, his real estate broker, Adam Deutsch with Crosbie Real Estate Group, introduced him to the Lodge at Woods Boss.

“It’s not a dramatic, ‘last-minute email’ story,” Bryant admits. “It was just good timing, diligence by my broker and a bit of luck. I feel bad; it’s kind of a boring story.”

The Lodge used to host everything from music and comedy shows to weddings and speaking events, but Woods Boss no longer wanted to run the performance space. “They took it over for a few years post-COVID, but they’re a brewery, and it’s not something they wanted to keep running,” Bryant says. “The Woods Boss team has been super awesome and helpful during this whole process.”

The new venue offers advantages that the previous basement space at the Althea Center could not. The centrally located performance space has better equipment and transportation options, and is fully accessible for those with disabilities.

“We’re no longer down a very small set of basement stairs,” Bryant says. “It’s easier to go to the bathroom here because we have bathrooms in the space and outside of the space. Also, I’m going to put a bidet in the bathroom because it’s my fucking space, and if I want to put in a bidet for $40 to improve everyone’s bathroom experience, I can, so I’m really excited about that.”

Bryant does plan to make some comedy-centric adjustments to the interior.

“I’ll probably put in some acoustic paneling, lower the ceiling a little bit and put up decoration like head shots and our Westword features,” he says. “The space being ready to go is a huge blessing, because it means we have to deal with less permitting, which is huge because of how crazy bad Denver is with permitting. One of my favorite improvements is that we get to have an actual brick wall, which is classic comedy, rather than wallpaper of a brick wall that I had to buy on Amazon and put up in the other location.”

The event on New Year’s Eve will serve as both a trial run for the venue and the Underground’s first performance since losing its space at the Althea Center.

“This is a soft open for friends, family and fans of the Underground,” Bryant says. “We’re going to do a grand opening in mid-January. We’re using this performance to see if we need to put in new sound paneling or if we need to rethink something with our drink ordering system for servers or stuff like that. So it’s a soft, fun opening on New Year’s to get our community in the space while also serving as a dry run to see what we need to improve on.”

Doors open at 9 p.m., and the show begins at 10. Guests can expect a surprise lineup of Denver’s best comics, free pizza, champagne at midnight and a festive atmosphere to ring in 2025. Tickets are $20, and Bryant promises a fun and welcoming environment while remaining true to his goal of providing an affordable night out without the traditional two-item minimum imposed by other comedy clubs, such as Comedy Works and the Denver Improv.

Looking ahead, Bryant plans to expand the club’s programming. “This location offers so many new opportunities because we’re fully in control,” he notes. “I am very much looking forward to the opportunity to do things more days during the week because we can put in independent local shows, improv, music, theater or whatever we want.

“But I also don’t want to bite all of that off all at once, so it’s going to be a slow expansion,” he continues. “I want to do brunch programming, which I think should work very well in the space, and we can finally have an open mic, which is huge from a community-building perspective. We couldn’t really do that before because it would have been a bunch of comedians hanging out in a church, but that’s no longer a problem.”

Beyond programming, Bryant hints at additional perks for frequent visitors, such as a loyalty program and expanded concessions that include popcorn and hot dogs. For Bryant, the journey back to a permanent home has been marked by resilience and thankfulness for the support of longtime patrons.

“I want to share my gratitude to our supporters for sticking with us through this process,” he says. “I’m thankful to everyone who reached out when we went under or after they saw the articles. Now we’ve got a lot more flexibility and opportunities for programming, so I just feel gratitude to everyone for sticking with us.”

New Year’s Eve Comedy Show, Tuesday, December 31, Denver Comedy Underground, 675 22nd Street, $20, denvercomedyunderground.com.