New Comedy Club Opening in Oswego's Tap House Grill

Looking for a laugh?

Starting on Oct. 13 look no farther than the Tap House Grill.

A new comedy club, ComedyComedy at the Tap House, will have several weekly performances at the venue downstairs.

Co-partner to the new club, Ritas Ziupsnys, said there will be two shows a week, Friday and Saturday nights at 8:30 p.m. and a Tuesday night mixed amateur and local professional comedians.  

Opening weekend will only feature a Saturday evening show.

While Ziupsnys is new to the comedy scene his business partner, Bert Borth, is a familiar face to comedy fans in the Western Suburbs.

Borth ran the Funny Bone in Naperville from 1990 to 1999, a comedy club that featured the top touring stand-ups of the era - including Drew Carey, Jeff Foxworthy, Billl Maher and many more acts that are now household names.

When the Funny Bone chain broke up, Borth created ComedyComedy and for five years was a regular fixture at Walter Payton's Roundhouse in Aurora and currently has ComedyComedy shows on Friday and Saturday nights at the Comedy Shrine by Fox Valley mall.

ComedyComedy also plans on conducting comedy classes and workshops for aspiring young (and older) comedians, said Borth.

Due to Borth’s connections in the comedy field, the Comedy Comedy at the Tap House will not be just local comedians.

“We’re going to bring in people from out of town, out of state. We’ll have some very well-known comedians visiting us weekly,” said Ziupsnys.

"We intend to keep up the high level of local and regional talent with the occasional national acts thrown in," Borth added. He said that among the regulars appearing at the Oswego club will include local favorites Mike Toomey, a regular on WGN-TV's morning show, and Patti Vasquez, who was recently featured on TBS' The Very Funny Show.

Two special guests are co-headlining Saturday night’s opening show: Kim Sherwood and Don Reese. Sherwood is a good friend of Village President Brian LeClercq.

“So [Brian] better show up!” laughed Borth.

Borth knew LeClercq and that was how the comedy group found their permanent location.

The comedy group had been searching for an appropriate venue for over a year when they found the Tap House Grill. “It’s perfect,” said Ziupsnys. The Tap House will be providing a full menu during the shows and Ziupsnys said they couldn’t have found a better location.

Borth said that from his standpoint, he thinks the Tap House Grill venue is “Going to be a lot better,” compared to previous areas he’s worked in. “The space is dedicated to just comedy. Plus, we get the Tap House’s food and drink. It’s the best of both worlds.”

The group is also available to do corporate or party shows for those interested.

For more information, visit the Comedy Comedy website or call 630-857-9658.