Rob’s Comedy Playhouse

For $ 10/​ticket and no drink minimum, this is a fun night out. I have been here three times: an office holiday party, my bachelorette, and most recently for my husband’s 30^th birthday. Great group outing. You can order appetizers and drinks during the show. Comedians are not A-​list, but funny none the less. Usually there are 2 or 3 comedians for the night and they tend to get funnier as the night progresses.

I have been a long term customer of Rob’s. I started attending shows in the early 90’s at Comics Café.
I must say that last night was one of the worst displays of stand up from a comic I have ever seen. Dom Pare was the headliner for the show last night. Dom presented himself as a over stuffed sweaty bratwurst with a mustache that only Joey Buttafuoco could sport as a representation of his intent. Dom proceeded to tear down a patron that sat in the front of the room. The group he sat with was a group of people from a work party called «Home Team» they are a construction team from what was extrapolated during the comedy show. This man wanted to, have a good time and he was just berated all night. The man wasn’t heckling he just wanted to enjoy the show. This man was verbally abused because he didn’t have a tooth but was «wearing a tie». I felt bad for Dom as well, Dom appeared to be so drunk that he couldn’t keep a joke or a story line in his head long enough to regurgitate them into coherent language. Dom was wearing clothes that were a size smaller than he should be wearing. So with this sweaty fat man with his velcro mustache and his snug clothes struggling to thrive in his drunken stupor he then slams a double shot of whiskey and 2 pints of beer on stage. This was a sad stage of comedy because everything Rob has done for the local comedy scene Dom wrecked in one night.

Funny place to go to and reasonably priced. Drinks are great and food was very tasty. Rob is very funny and class act.

I have been here a few times. It’s a tight space in a room in the back of Dandelions.
Last night I attended a fundraiser. The comedians were very entertaining. At one point, I had tears streaming from my face from laughing so hard. Entertainment 5 stars.
Service: there was one server to accommodate a packed room, so I had to actually place my drink order at the bar. I ordered 4 specialty drinks at the bar while holding up my drink tickets that I thought were included in the admission. The bartender made the drinks and then told me they weren’t part of the admission deal. Ok– my fault for not reading the small print. $ 32 on drinks. (They were delicious though!)
Got back to the table and the server finally appeared. So, I ordered chicken fingers. After 40 minutes they arrived and were mediocre at best. The plate had 4 crumbly looking chicken pieces with fries. It almost looked like popcorn chicken. But, they were busy and it was a fundraiser so I didn’t complain. About 20 minutes later a friend at the table also ordered chicken fingers. They came out in 15 minutes and were full, lengthy-​sized looking fingers. Based on what she received, I’d rate the food at 5 stars. Based on what I received, I’d rate the food at 1 star, maybe.
End of the night when I received my bill, not only was my order on there but someone else’s at the table as well. Instead of having the server take off the items, I just paid for it and took their cash, but paid the server’s tip.
Even with the mediocre food that I received, I’d still recommend the place for an entertaining evening, especially when supporting a fundraiser.

I was here for a fundraiser. I haven’t been to a ton of comedy clubs, but those I have visited have been in much larger cities. I saw Chris Rock twice and I freely admit he did set the bar for me.
That said, this was fine. Local guy, who told very funny stories about growing up in Buffalo, owns this place. He was very good.
The «headliner» — introduced with a resume including writing for Letterman and more — was, at best, sophomoric. We finally left after one too many «body function» jokes.
For some framing — he could have hit on a large variety of things happening at the time — Trump, Sanders, Putin, popes visiting prisons, Cuba, VW’s and so much more. As a former clever comedy writer, bring some of that to the standup. Your audience had an average age of over 40. Past the «fart» jokes, never mind the «beleaguered husband» ones. Spend some time and give us some good relevant commentary, like you must have written in the past.
The space is difficult to find as there is no signage we could see. Finally asked someone who said its through Dandelions. Once inside its a nice space. Drinks were deemed «honest» although as the driver I didn’t sample. Small food list, fried, we saw lots going by so people must like it.
I’m giving 4 stars as I understand lots of fundraisers happen here, so the owner is community focused. Also for comfortable seating and easy parking.
But for the comedian we saw, maybe a 2.

I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting much. But 5 of us went to support Sadie’s safe harbor, for a benefit they held at Rob’s.
It’s small, but we were all comfortable. Our waitress was kind of bitchy, but we were there to have a good time, so we let it go.
We ordered chicken fingers which came with fries, personal pizza and chicken faulatas.
The chicken fingers were okay, but I was really impressed with the pizza. The chicken faulatas were good too.
I would definitely go back, something different to do!

I attended a fundraiser at Rob’s Comedy Playhouse last Friday. The event was popular and space had to be made to accommodate extra patrons. The seating was already tight, but it worked for the night. If you’re trying to locate Rob’s Comedy Playhouse, look for the parking lot for Dandelion’s restaurant, in a plaza on North Forest, just north of the corner of North Forest and Maple, and enter through the restaurant to get to the comedy space. I know, it seems easy but it confused a few people. The evening’s entertainers were Dan Pordum and Rob Lederman, and they did a fine job of keeping the crowd in stitches. Admission included one or two drinks, depending on your selection, and the wine pours were generous. My guest and I ordered fried pickles and a cheese quesadilla. Both were better than I’d expected, although I prefer my fried pickles in pickle nickel form and not as spears. The quesadilla serving was large for the price and we shared it with the table. Other dinner items, such as pizza and burgers were available. I have to give credit to the night’s comedians. I’d go see them again, especially for a benefit event.

I really enjoy this place I’ve been there 4 times and they have all been great. I love getting there early to be in the very front you are so close to the action it’s awesome!

I am writing this review in defense of Tim Joyce. I have seen his act between 50 and 100 times over a 20 year period. Joyce has indeed made a living in stand up comedy and his act is the farthest thing from the review that accused him of being racist.
The reviewer must have been a friend of the heckler.
Note, she makes a case based completely on baseless allegations:
«He claimed not to be racist but he repeatedly singled out the one black guy in the audience. I know that racist jokes are common at comedy shows, but Joyce was not funny and he kept going on and on. A random girl on the audience called Joyce out on his offensive shenanigans, which led to extreme name-​calling on both sides.»
There is not a single substantive fact in those assertions How did Joyce «single out the black guy»? Even the fact that the reviewer claims that she a. herself singles out «the black guy» and that b. «racist jokes are common», so she apparently expects them and that c. the jokes – which she never gives an example of, because there were none – were «not funny». She is saying that she will laugh at a racist joke or two, but she expects racist jokes to be funny. No wonder she didn’t like Joyce’s act: he neither tells racist jokes nor countenances patrons doing so nor would he ever maintain such jokes are funny.
Then our reviewer says «A random girl called Joyce out…» Sure she did. What our reviewer means is that after she fails to make any case at all against Tim Joyce except that a comedian who is a proud liberal with a long, long history of comedy appearances in which he has never uttered a racist joke somehow made «racist jokes» which she expected and wanted to laugh at but could not, and after the so-​called black man, who was a patron who wanted to and did enjoy a comedy show, made no complaint because again the racism never happened!, after the reviewer’s non factual vendetta – she mentions not a single thing Joyce said that was objectionable, because she cannot because again, no such action happened – is reaching for a stupid climax, she elevates a heckler to the status of guardian of the poor black man.
What nonsense! A drunken heckler tried to spoil the show, which always happens in comedy clubs, and Joyce dismissed her.
Our reviewer makes it too easy to see that she has grudges and a hidden agenda, as she notes that «¾ of the audience was cheering him on as he told the girl to leave the venue.» Of course they did! The audience was loving the show; the audience knew Tim Joyce made no racist jokes; the audience loved the show. One hyper vigilant girl with no facts to back her up, not a single remark or direct quote from Joyce’s act because there were no racist remarks and the whole audience whether white or Chinese or any other race loved the show, identified with the drunken and stupid heckler.
The audience, including all races stood and cheered when Joyce dismissed the drunken heckler because nobody wants to pay to see a stupid and witless 20 something slug out to shout brain-​dead slurs at a professional who has been honing his craft and making a living performing for 27 years and counting, and nobody wants to read a baseless defense of that idiot by what is obviously her moronic admirer.
Many people have bought Tim Joyce’s Comedy books and even more people have packed clubs to see him from Los Angeles to Maine and from North Dakota to Florida. If audiences have a bone to pick with Joyce it is over his liberal politics and defense of Mexican Immigrants and arguments against the closed minded and insular people who want everyone to be exactly like them.
It is clear that with «¾ of the audience was cheering him on as he told the girl to leave the venue», Tim Joyce spoke for and directly with his audience.
Sorry of the drunken and unread and ill informed 20 something girls who love to get pie faced and then shout at the comics got their feelings hurt, but nobody comes to a comedy club to see out of control drunks try to turn every venue into Mardi Gras and win beads for their exhibitionist attempts to spoil what ¾ of the audience were cheering: a consummate professional doing an act that he has been working on night after night, week after week and city after city to the delight of everyone but hecklers.

It’s been a long time since I been to a comedy club, they certainly are not as good as they used to be. Honestly though, I had a good time and laughed a lot. Service was par and menu was small with mostly deep frier food, but I came for a laugh and I got a laugh.

Having worked for a comedy club in NYC, I’ve been to many a hilarious stand-​up show. I was excited to hear about Rob’s Comedy Playhouse (owned by Rob Lederman of 96.9 FM, 97 Rock). My parents told me it’s just like the NYC clubs and the comedians are professionals. I bought a Groupon (and it appears, so did everyone else who was at the show) and took my boyfriend along as part of his birthday gift. Worst. Idea. Ever.
So, people go to comedy shows to laugh, right? Of course. But this specific show felt more the scene of a hate crime than a barrel of laughs. This review is dedicated solely to the July 21^st show headlined by «renowned» comedian Tim Joyce (Is this guy really a Buff State professor?). He claimed not to be racist but he repeatedly singled out the one black guy in the audience. I know that racist jokes are common at comedy shows, but Joyce was not funny and he kept going on and on. A random girl on the audience called Joyce out on his offensive shenanigans, which led to extreme name-​calling on both sides. He eventually told her to go work the streets. Shockingly, ¾ of the audience was cheering him on as he told the girl to leave the venue. It was a complete combination of uncomfortable, awkward, and any other synonyms used to describe this feeling in the room. Any jovial vibe that had been in buzzing was now dead. And where do you go from here? Just… down…hill.
I won’t hold it against the place; I talked to Rob a few times on the phone when working out reservations and he seems like a really good guy. The staff was also really professional. But I was very disappointed. We had to go home and watch ‘Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle’ in an attempt to wash this memory away.
I wouldn’t advise you to avoid Rob’s Comedy Playhouse altogether because I have hope that the other comedians they bring in are of a higher caliber. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it either. Goodbar has an amateur comedy night and it was funnier than Tim Joyce. Looks like I’m still on the search for a great comedy club in Buffalo.