Every Monday night at about 10:30, the stage at Duffy's Tavern on 1412 O St., is filled with comedians throwing their best jokes at the simmering crowd, attempting to make them laugh their faces off. This has been the scene at Duffy's comedy workshop every Monday night for the past 22 years.
Lincoln isn't known for its stand-up comedy, but Jeremy Wardlaw, booking agent for Duffy's, said having a comedy night is great for people to come and see.
"We like to be able to offer something different for people in Lincoln to experience," he said.
Duffy's Monday night comedy workshops are not only good for the fans; they're good for the comics as well. Richard Reese has been going to Duffy's to work on his stand-up routine since 2000.
"I called the Funny Bone in Omaha, and the manager there told me to go to Duffy's first," he said.
Reese has traveled across the Midwest with his act, performing in Chicago and Denver, among other places. He said Duffy's has become a great place for him to hone his comedic craft.
"I use (Duffy's Monday nights) to try out new material," he said. "The audience is the hardest. They'll let you know if it's funny or not."
Darrin Meyer also agrees that the audience at Duffy's is not an easy crowd to please. He also thinks it's a great place to test out new material.
"It's one of the toughest rooms in America," Meyer said. "If you get a laugh there, you know you're likely to get a laugh at a lot of places."
Meyer also got his start at Duffy's back in the mid '90s. He has since gone on to make stand-up comedy his full-time job, performing across the country. He said one of the reasons the Duffy's crowd is so tough is people don't pay to attend.
"It's always tough when people don't pay to come see the show," he said. "That way the don't feel like they have anything invested in it.
Wardlaw said on average, about 10 comedians will perform on a Monday night. He also said they've got their regular comedians and the occasional new faces.
"There's a core group that's been doing it a while," he said. "And they've been adding to that, and people keep coming back."
Wardlaw said Monday nights have a sort of open-mike feel to them, with each comic getting five-minute sets.
"It's called a comedy workshop to be used as a conduit between an open-mike feel to test your jokes."
Duffy's Monday nights is special because it's the only place in Lincoln to view live comedy, Meyer said. "It's really the only place in Lincoln that's doing comedy shows," he said. "Anytime a place hosts live comedy, that's always a plus. You can't develop new comedy fans without a place to perform."
The great thing about Duffy's is on any night there are going to be people who have been doing comedy for 20 years mixed with people who just started last week, Wardlaw said.
"Anybody's welcome to get up and do something," he said. "And use the crowd as a test crowd to see if their jokes are going to work."
nickhardt@dailynebraskan.com
if you go:
Duffy's Comedy Workshop
When: Every other Monday at 10:30 p.m.
Where: Duffy's Tavern, 1412 O St.
How Much: Free
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