The Looney Bin Comedy Club

The Looney Bin is currently the only comedy club on Staten Island. Is it the best club in NYC? No, but its still a great place. Its a little hard to find (you’ll hear comedians make jokes about that). You walk in to the main lobby and you’ll see the right, the door to the comedy club, and right their is the bar. The drinks you buy at the bar, do not count towards your 2 drink minimum inside the club. You walk into the club and you see many tables and chairs, and the stage. The room is lit up more than other clubs I have been too. The food is okay, not bad, but not entirely «great» either. The owner, Vic is a real nice guy.
I highly recommend everyone comes to the FREE open mic, the first Saturday of every month at 6pm. No cover charge, no two drink minimum. Just show up and laugh.
Enjoy!
–John Madigan

This place is ok, I decided to go back here and have been here pretty frequently lately. I enjoy going to comedy clubs, and go often. This I believe is the only comedy club in SI. I like going here because its convenient, as its a 5 minute drive from my house, as opposed to commuting to city, or NJ.
It’s now cash only, and 2 drink minimum per person. The food here, atleast the appetizers that we usually order is freezer food that you buy at supermarket and throw in the oven/​microwave.
The price is ok, if there is a promotion going on, where it’s half price tickets or whatever, then it’s not a bad deal. There were times I went here and paid a fair price, there were other times I went here and paid the same price as I would for a comedy club in the city. So when there’s a promotion, its worth it.
The club itself is alittle bit of a step down from other comedy clubs, the room here is kind of plain, and dull compared to other comedy clubs I’ve been to.
The talent here is hit or miss. There were times I went here, and the comedians were really funny and I had a great time, there were other times I went here where the comedians were lousy. Last time I went the comedian relied too much on imitation humor, which really isn’t funny… you know how many times I’ve heard people do a rocky imitation before I’ve seen it at this show lol. The other comedians before kept making cheap I do a lot of coke and pay for hookers jokes. Again, not funny at all. But the 2 times I went before that week, the comedians were really funny.
So If they have a promotion, and the tickets are reasonable, its worth going to. Maybe look up the comedians beforehand, because sometimes they will have a really good and funny guy performing here, other times, not so much.

I don’t spend much time in SI but this is probably your best bet for comedy in the area which is why I am giving it 3 stars rather than 2. It’s far from great but if you don’t feel like heading to Manhattan, it isn’t completely awful. I can see how some people can have a good time here.
Overall, the place is kind of drab/​cheesy — the room looked like a cafeteria or a VFW hall. Had cheap Halloween decorations and photos of comics that never performed there.
The food was mediocre but could be worse. Drinks weren’t good but at least they were strong. I had a Mojito — it tasted like alcohol mixed with water and had a couple dry mint leaves floating on top.
The comics had some good jokes and I did laugh but they all felt too similar to me — very Italian, jokes about family stuff, marriage, traffic in SI, that sort of thing. The headliner Vic Dibitetto stood out — he had his own crazy style and did a funny act with a volunteer. Also, the comics did the one thing I don’t really like comics to do — mess with non-​heckling audience members. Some of the jokes included calling random audience members «the gay guy over here» or «is that your lesbian girlfriend?» Because there’s no punchline here, aside from just calling someone gay — I find this offensive. It’s a homophobic cheap shot and isn’t funny. I’m cool with jokes relating to race or homosexuality but have a punchline please, otherwise it’s not comedy, it’s just offensive. I am not a fan of messing with the audience to begin with — I think it shows a lack of material.
Cash only. Large parking lot. 2 drink minimum per person. Call and make reservations for tables. If you can, sit in the back so they don’t mess with you!

Only not getting one star because they probably are your best bet for comedy on Staten Island.
Food here is by no means delicious, it is frozen. If your idea of delicious food is chicken wings from costco, then I guess maybe it is. My idea is not.
First time here, the second act was terrible. Awful. And the owner came over and shushed us. Shushed.
Came back (?) I know.
Ended up paying $ 23 for seltzer. We were buying drinks, there’s no need to house us for bubbled water too.
Oh its also cash only. Boo.

Too bad Vic’s motto is not great service. What a horrible, horrible experience. After buying our tickets a month in advance, and PREPAYING to ensure we would get a table for the six of us – the night went from bad to worse, to just wanting to get a refund and leave. After being rudely informed by the awful woman greeter that she had «given our table away» –even though it was clearly marked with our name and prepaid — apparently there was «no table «for us. There was an empty table, but we were told «that was reserved for someone else more important». Obviously my money wasn’t green enough. After twenty minutes of confusion, a table of people were relocated to the empty table and we were seated in the back and in the corner, not what we had arranged or reserved or desired. Okay, mismanagement, it happens, we waited 25 minutes for a waitress to show up, and another 22 minutes for our lukewarm bottled water to arrive… (are you kidding me? not a drink that had to be mixed or beer on tap, just a bottle of water, apparently the refrigerator is not working). I did not want to wait another twenty minutes for a glass with ice. At $ 4.50 a bottle, they could at least pretend it was cold. We ordered TWO buckets of popcorn. One arrived in a plastic bucket, the other arrived on a paper plate 25 minutes later !!! The first, significantly more in quantity than the second. The first, warm, the second as if it had been poured out of a plastic bag. Thank goodness we were with friends who had never been anywhere, and had no point of reference.
You would think that a new business that is an elective business, not a necessity, would go out of its way to accommodate new customers and create a warm welcoming ambiance. Not once did anyone apologize or offer any consideration for the rudeness, overall lack of service and horrible menu items. NEVER EVER AGAIN !!! Save your time and your breath. Go to a REAL club in Manhattan like Caroline’s or go see your headliners in Atlantic City where you can make a romantic weekend out of it. There haven’t been any other RECENT reviews. Take my advice – the night cost over $ 200 and caused nothing but aggravation. Wrong, just wrong.

FANTASTIC COMEDY .!! GREAT PLACE!!! WELL WORTH IT!!!
MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS DON’T MISS OUT!!!
We were a party of three got there at 8PM this Saturday night easy park nice big parking lot .
We ate good food, we had the sampler & whole pizza pie
(The pizza was like Brooklyn pizza) We drank and had a blast!!!
The performers came on at 9PM they were all super.
We were off our seat pissing funny !! Top headliners here no bull.
Our host Laura was excellent
The owner VIC came over and to our table really a super nice guy.
PETE .C

Absolutely hysterical & inexpensive.
Comedians were funny, especially the headliner. The food was great too. It’s not your typical bar food, it’s fresh cooked food. (that was a big plus in my book)
They’re open Saturdays & Sundays & I think there is a 2 drink minimum, but it’s nice change from dinner & a movie.