The Laughing Derby at Comedy Caravan

Came solo because I couldn’t find anyone who wanted to make the trip to Louisville with me from Dayton, Ohio, but one of my favorite comics was headlining, so I had to go.
The entire night the staff was fun, warm, courteous, and friendly. The top shelf Long Island was fantastic. The venue was intimate and comfortable. The host and the other comic were funny and the headliner was hilarious, but I knew he would be.
But the best by far was the service. I chatted with the Box Office about the long drive and joked that they should seat me where the lonely single losers like me should sit. While I sipped on my drink, one of them came back and said I had a reserved seat right up front, to help make up a bit for the 2.5 hour drive from Dayton.
Along with my local Wiley’s Comedy Club, this has been added to the list of venues I immediately will look to for getting my stand up fix. I will definitely be back. As a consumer, you should seek out supporting people and places like this.

We went to see Dave Waite to celebrate a friend’s birthday. It’s a bit difficult to find, as it was our first time there — you have to walk down the side of a strip mall to find the entrance, and it’s not very clearly marked on the front where the parking is. The club was a pretty typical comedy club, as far as appearance and ambience, so nice, but nothing amazing. Dave is really funny, and Ranaan Herschberg did a few minutes before Dave and was great, too.
I would have given another, but we had only been there about half an hour when a member of our party tried to order an appetizer, and was told he couldn’t. I couldn’t hear if the kitchen was closed, or out of what he ordered, but either way, when you have a two item minimum, all items should be available.
FYI, I think drinks bought at the bar before the show don’t count toward the two item minimum.

Super intimate venue, especially if you arrive early as the closest seats are no more than 5 feet from the performer, talk about being up close and personal with your favorite comedian, lol. The venue itself is located on the side of the Mid City Mall in an alley, which can be slightly confusing. Doors were supposed to open at 6:30, however I arrived around 6:15pm to discover that both the box office and doors had already opened, luckily I was able to still get a seat no less than 10 feet from the stage. Seating here is very basic and not comfortable for a long period of time, tables are shared with groups of four, so you might make some new friends unless you arrive with a group of four. Drink service was spotty, which made getting the two drink minimum challenging at times however you just need to be patient as your waitress makes her way back around. Prices were reasonable with 6 drinks and an 18% gratuity being added to the final bill of 6 beers came out to just under $ 40, not bad considering the venue.
Overall the show itself was pretty good, the local emcee came out and got the crowd warmed up a few minutes before introducing the opener who was on stage for about 20 minutes, the headliner performed just about an hour. Merchandise was being sold on the way out, which it slightly challenging getting outside, so again just be patient. Overall this was a decent venue that seemed to have some pretty good talent visiting soon. I am not sure that I will be back anytime soon however The Laughing Derby provides a super intimate venue to enjoy some great laughs with your favorite comedian.

I use to go here for laughs. Those were the days. Tons of funny people from Bob and Tom. Tim Wilson. And local «legends» like Will Hardesty.
Now overpriced bad jokes along with overpriced water down drinks.
If this place is for jokes, then Nazi Germany was once the most non-​racist place on earth.
I would rather pay them to kick me in my nuts.

I must say that I really enjoyed the comedy at this establishment. The show I attended on Sunday ¹⁄₂₄ was quite entertaining. The quality of service however was terrible. As at most comedy clubs there was a 2 item minimum purchase. No big deal, I expected that. What I didn’t expect is to be charged $ 2 extra for the Whiskey I ordered because I requested it neat and not on the rocks as there was nothing on the menu to indicate such an up charge. So even though my waitress received her 18% gratuity (another comedy club staple) she lost out on the additional tip for 1) Failing to mention the ghost charge and 2) acting casually nonchalant about it once I pointed it out. Next time I may just stick to bottled water or soda.

I have always enjoyed coming to this venue. Staff is normally friendly. The comedians are always A+. Last night the emcee was not on his A game and the guest comedian Tim Northern was not funny at all. Sean Smith was HILARIOUS! Can’t wait to catch him again at another show.
I understand that there is a two-​item minimum. If you’re going to push this, PLEASE have better food options. My table got the spinach artichoke dip (not an artichoke in sight!) that tasted frozen. We also had the buffalo «chicken» dip. The dip had great flavor, great heat, but not really any chicken.

Loved coming here for a surprise date night. The acts we watched on the particular night we went were great. I told my husband after going that I would love coming every night if we could afford it. It was just that good. Our waiter was attentive and always made sure we had plenty of our alcoholic beverages.

After the Management changed, the place is great. The food menu provides for a variety of good food. The drinks are a little pricey, however, very good. The service every time we have been there is great. Always a good time here.

free for vets on friday night. i can get 2 tickets, a bucket of beer and walk out for 20 bucks

I am giving this 4 stars, but it is more 3 ½ for me. This was the first time I have been since the name/​owners changed from Comedy Caravan. I do see improvements but it’s just above OK to me.
I do have to say 2 out of 3 of the comedians were really great. I love people that are just naturally funny. They don’t try too hard or have to be offensive to get a good laugh. The drink prices weren’t too bad and the service was good. We did not try any food, so maybe next time we will get some appetizers.
My only real complaint was the crowd. There was a group of 6 – 8 people sitting behind my husband and me that talked loudly the ENTIRE show. They were obviously very drunk and very annoying. This wasn’t even the late show– it was the 7:30. They were «called out» by 2 of the comedians but they continued to talk anyway. The couple next to us told the server and still nothing was done. To me– they should have been asked to leave. When I turned around near the end of the show and asked them to please stop talking so we could enjoy the final comedian– one of the women called me a bitch– over and over again. In my classy fashion– I just ignored her.
To the owners/​managers– please do a little crowd control. Better to make one annoying group mad than to ruin the experience for everyone else.

Everyone I’ve seen here has been very entertaining. If you get in first you can sit right next to the stage which is a great experience.
There is a two drink minimum apparently for all shows. Beer is reasonably priced, 4.25 I believe and a few good choices. Bottled water is 3 dollars and that is the only water option as far as I know so make sure to hydrate yourself properly before coming if that bothers you.
The food is just ok but not too expensive and counts as one of your mandatory items.

This was my first time here since the rebranding… I’ve been to comedy clubs where there is a drink minimum, but not when I’ve paid $ 40 each for tickets! I took my cancer survivor mom, my retired step father and my fiancée, all of whom either have no interest in drinking or, in the case of my mom, can’t drink for health reasons. $ 160 for tickets and the announcer says, remember there is a two item minimum, that’s how we make money… A 16oz Pepsi was $ 4.00! They required us to pay an additional minimum of $ 32.00 plus tip for watered down crap drinks. NO!
When my fiancée asked the server about it, he gave her attitude and said, it’s written on your tickets (it’s not, I kept a pdf copy) and it’s all over the website. It most definitely wasn’t on the website, we double checked and noticed that SOME shows mention an item minimum and some don’t. This one did not, so we didn’t see it, and if we had we would not have bought these tickets.
Check yourself guys! Comedy Caravan turned into a crap joint under horrendous management and you are rebranding it into a rip off!
I give the comedians 5 stars. They were great, fantastic, and funny as hell. Unilocal won’t let me give the server and the establishment negative amounts of stars, so you get 1.

Tonight we went to see headliner Bobcat Goldthwait, but what we ended up getting was three of the funniest comedians I have ever seen live. Started off with Bob Batch, he is a local guy and very funny. Normally the opening acts are okay at best, but Bob was on it tonight. He was followed by Jamie Utley. Again, he had the entire audience laughin the entire time he was on stage. Seeing these two comedians would have been a good night out, but wait, we still had the headliner. Bobcat Goldthwait came out was was HILARIOUS!!! We were laughin from the minute he started till the very end, and told the funniest story to close out the show. On top of the fact we had a great show, Bobcat stuck around after the show to take pictures with anyone who wanted them. He was a great down to earth guy who was happy makin everyone else happy. He will be there the rest of the weekend, two shows Friday November 21 and two shows Saturday November 22. I would suggest going to this show. Will be well worth the money and who could not use two straight hours of laughing. I know when I left my face was hurting for laughing so hard.
Ohh, two things I learned tonight, the cannot call it kidnapping if you have custody and it does not mean you are getting back with your ex just because the temporary restraining order has expired.

A comedy club is only as good as its next joke, which could be hilarious, offensive, just plain terrible, or all of the above. Comedy is very, very hard, especially in the age of YouTube. And comedy clubs are never known for offering good food or cocktails. So why go?
Plain and simple, you go because live performance is always the more tactile experience. Even a lousy joke is more fun when there is a real person coughing up the hairball, and the performers are interacting with an engaged crowd. Best of all, laughter is contagious, meaning you don’t even have to like the schtick, you just have to like being around other people who do.
We have been here twice this summer, both times for a taping of a Fox-​contracted stand-​up clip show hosted by co-​owner and comedian Steve Hoftstetter. Steve does a great job of working and taming the crowd, and he has clearly injected giggles into the building. Food and drink are not terribly overpriced. Nor is entertainment, for that matter. I don’t believe for a second that this nondescript stage in our aging Mid-​City Mall is a cash cow for anyone. But I do imagine it’s something of a labor of love.

Let me first say that comedy clubs are usually just not my thing.
But some friends wanted to see Tim Meadows when he was here in town. Tickets weren’t too terribly expensive. Food and drink also reasonably priced (food is nothing fancy… it isn’t good… it’s just something that is there if you like to eat before you laugh… do not expect much).
I enjoyed myself much more than I expected to.

I got up on stage last night and performed in front of my very first legitimate crowd! This place deserves 10 stars for how awesome they made me feel for not doing so well!
Thanks for everyone that came out!

Disclaimer: I went to The Laughing Derby for the «grand re-​opening» night about a month ago. I came away with the impression that The Laughing Derby — while an upgrade from its predecessor, Comedy Caravan — still needed work. But I love stand-​up comedy, and I have faith this place will improve with time, so I will be back. That said, maybe some of the things I write about in this review have changed since then?
First off, the new owners are doing a fantastic job promoting the new place. Free tickets are easily obtainable after shows around town as well as at The Laughing Derby after their shows.
But even if you go into a show with a free ticket — just like most comedy clubs — prepare to pay for overpriced drinks and/​or food. The food is not great, but it’s better than what I’ve seen at other comedy clubs. A Philly cheese steak, on a somewhat cold hoagie roll and topped with about a gallon of nacho cheese, set me back about $ 10. A well bourbon and Coke was $ 4, if I remember correctly, which is not horrible. There’s no free water — you have to buy it by the bottle, which is a bummer.
The night I went, there were three opening comedians and a headliner, so the show was kind of long — which is great! But if you have very little self-​control and can’t nurse one drink the entire night, the bill might sneak up on you. My boyfriend and I paid about $ 40. I’d anticipate that without the two free tickets, we would have paid $ 80 for a night out.
The headliner, Will Hardesty, was amazing. The openers weren’t my cup of tea, but I felt as if the owners booked openers with varied comedic styles to appeal to all the people who came on account of the free tickets. I think the club could benefit from setting some ground rules before the show about heckling and talking during the acts and really enforce them. It might not be the audience’s fault — maybe they don’t frequent stand-​up comedy and think that’s how it’s supposed to be. Maybe it was just that the night I went happened to attract some really chatty people.
But if The Laughing Derby gets a reputation among comedians for having rude audiences, they’re going to have a rough time booking quality acts.
I’m really, really hoping for a quality comedy club within walking distance of my house. I’ll be giving The Laughing Derby another try, and I wouldn’t dissuade a friend from going. But if you’re looking for an inexpensive laugh, I’d recommend catching Project Improv whenever they’re at The Bard’s Town next.

We went the third night after they went under new management lately and they were so full they were turning us away. After some thought, they decided to make a new stage in the ticket room and put a bunch of seats in there for us and accomodated us quite amazingly. The comedians all came and did a second act in our room for us. It was more intimate than the other room anyway and it was such a great experience. Bravo!

Great venue, great ambiance. There usually isn’t much to a comedy club, they are all pretty much the same. The difference with Comedy Caravan is the price. It’s not a bad price and you can end up visited on a day when there are great comedians on stage. The downside to most, if not all comedy venues, is the level of talent. The day I went, the talent was great.
The servers were very helpful and did a good job serving while the comedians were on stage. The food and/​or drinks on the menu are fairly priced and the selection was… «meh, ok». Than again, no one should go to a comedy venue expecting to buy dinner.
I anticipate coming back again and I expect to have a great time again.

Great comedy, cheap tickets, and no drink minimum.
A friend and I picked up tickets for $ 6 each on Groupon. Unlike the now defunct Improv these tickets really were $ 6 each as this club has no expensive drink minimum, required gratuity, or other hidden fees. While we both ordered drinks neither of us walked out with more than a $ 10 tab at the end of the night. We were also pleasantly surprised to find that the three warm up comedians were nearly as hilarious as the headliner. The entire crowd, ourselves included, laughed nearly continuously from the time the host came onto the stage until the moment the headliner left the stage at the end. This was truly the best comedy show I’ve been to in quite some time.