Comedy in Claremont

I had the opportunity on Saturday evening to take the lovely Mrs. C and daughter C to to the new Flapper's Comedy Club in the Claremont Packing House. Located in the interior/upstairs of the beautifully restored structure (near the loft apartments -- hopefully the neighbors are OK with this), the club is an intimate venue with seating for 75 and even for the 8:00 pm show, it was near capacity.

Having been to comedy clubs in Hollywood and Sacramento, I know that you need to get there early if you want to ensure that you're not seated next to the stage where the comedians have a chance to use you as part of their acts (not my favorite thing). So we enjoyed the atmosphere and show from the back row.

Because I wasn't particularly planning on blogging about this, I don't recall the names of the comics (I found some info online), but their acts were very good with the MC warming the crowd up with great aplomb. The first act was, naturally, the weakest. He attempted to be somewhat shocking but pretty much fell flat. The second act, an African American comedienne--Vanessa Graddick, was very good. Her jokes about her day job as an LA County social worker were hilarious. And when she went on a rant about people's grammar, it was right up my alley. The headliner, Bil Dwyer, who has appeared on Conan, |Last Comic Standing, and other shows, was right up there with other shows I've seen featuring comics from Last Comic Standing.  He even personalized his routine for the local crowd pointing out that this was a high class crowd, being CLAREMONT and NOT MONTCLAIR (you know, those guys out in the other county). However, as a Pomonan, I was less appreciative of is comment noting that there's a Pomona Freeway so you can get to Pomona faster. "Why would you want to do that? If I was forced to go to Pomona, I'd lollygag as much as possible."

The show was excellent, the venue was great. If you go, there is a two-drink minimum. Unfortunately, my Merlot, served in a small plastic glass was less than good. With wine at $9 a glass and soft drinks, water, etc. at $4 a small plastic glass, it's about what you expect. The appeal here is the comedy, not the quality or price of the beverages. But the service was very good for a comedy venue. The wait staff tried very hard to not get in the way as they took orders and delivered drinks. Food is available from the neighboring Hip Kitty menu.

You can see their upcoming shows at the Flappers.com web site. There is also a location (with a much larger seating capacity) in Burbank.