This fall, hundreds of small, local venues will be hosting events across the Greater Cincinnati area — from stand-up comedy and gallery exhibitions to hardcore shows and anarcho-puppetry.

There’s a good chance that something you’ll want to see or be a part of is happening in the next few months. Perhaps you’ll catch a life-changing play, or take in a breathtaking light show; maybe you’ll mosh your brains out, or sit and listen to quiet acoustics. However you choose to engage with art, you’re almost guaranteed an opportunity to do so this fall.  

So, to help ring in the new season, as the leaves begin to slowly change color and the temperatures hopefully begin to drop, here is a brief calendar of events to keep your eye on until the snow starts to fall. 

The event is not ticketed, but for more information, visit the studio and gallery’s website, studiokroner.com. 

Tickets cost $18, and are available at caffevivace.com. 

On Sep. 23, a special preview of the exhibit will be held, tickets to which will be available through the gallery’s Eventbrite page. 

Early bird tickets cost $10.00, general tickets cost $15, and day-of tickets cost $20.00. To get your early bird tickets now, visit the bar’s website, cometbar.com. 

Oct. 17: Local indie alt rock band White Lighter will perform at the Wicked Pickle bar and grill in Loveland, right off the bike trail. The band, made up of Ethan Qureshi (guitar), Hallie Menkhaus (bass), Ben Jervis (vocals) and CityBeat’s own Christian LeDuc (drums),will be on stage from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m.

The event is not ticketed, but for more information, visit the bar’s website, wickedpickleloveland.com. 

Disclaimer: LINK Media Community Editor Christian LeDuc is a member of the band White Lighter. Reporters and contributors make their own independent decisions about what events to include in articles.

Tickets cost $20 — though no one is turned away due to lack of money — and are available at the troupe’s website, breadandpuppet.org. 

RSVPs can be made at the gallery’s website, artclecticgallery.com. 

The post Small venue shows to watch out for this fall appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

Greg Hand has always been looking for stories. 

The former reporter, who many may remember as the voice of the University of Cincinnati during his 36-year tenure culminating in the role vice president of public relations, has written three books on Cincinnati lore.

A lot of people have written books about Cincinnati, but Hand’s aren’t what you might expect; they cover everything from a treasured 19th century bezoar to the collected histories of the Bearcats basketball teams. Following his retirement in 2014, Hand has continued to collect and share stories from the Queen City’s past on his “Cincinnati Curiosities” blog.

Hand describes the blog as “working overtime to keep alive the weird soul of the Queen City,” which is why CityBeat knew we needed to learn more.

“When I say this was a weird city, I mean, you could get away with an awful lot of stuff,” he told CityBeat. Using old books and newspapers, Hand meticulously digs into the history of the city to find odd-ball curios in discarded annals. That digging more often than not leads him down countless rabbit holes along the way to his weekly features. 

One such rabbit hole (and one of particular interest to Hand) are the stories of Cincinnati’s sex workers, who — from 1890 until the late 1910s — had a de facto red light district on the city’s West Side. 

“The people there are just absolutely fascinating,” Hand said. One such red-light resident was Belle Curry; a wealthy madam who collected the names of her well-to-do clients to use as social and political leverage. Curry was also something of an activist, it seems, as after sex workers were banned by local police from riding carriages or bicycles in 1896, she repeatedly flouted the discriminatory law. 

Hand sees Curry and her cohort of fellow madams through a social lens of Cincinnati’s by-gone sex economy, where they took on roles as employers in an almost proto-feminist financial system that was vital to some of the city’s working class women. 

“This was a time period when women, essentially, could not work,” he said, “so, prostitution provided a job that was relatively safe.”

Hand doesn’t spend all of his time in the past, though. Nowadays, you’re just as likely to find him on social media sites like Tumblr, where he hosts his blog. Tumblr, which has been kicking since 2007, is as famous for its fandom-focused community as it is for its often faulty user interface. 

“I apologize for using Tumblr a lot,” Hand said. He makes light of the UI issues on other social media sites with a simple “If Tumblr sux,” tagline. Despite the technical shortfalls, he thinks being on social media is vital to his work as a local historian.

Hand praised his social media followers for asking thought-provoking questions, and added that they occasionally point him in the direction of his next feature. 

“Most of my best stories come from my readers asking me questions,” he said.

Hand’s blog isn’t the only way he engages with the wider Cincinnati community. As a member of the Mixchevious Jounglers, he’s brought the troupe’s Stand-Up History series to numerous venues throughout the Queen City since 2017 — blending comedy performance and historical education in a uniquely engaging way. The Jounglers themselves came together in a uniquely Cincinnatian way.

“Stand-Up History grew out of Bockfest,” Hand said, referring to the city’s annual two-day festival celebrating bock-style German beer. In addition to consuming copious amounts of the dark lager, festival-goers can also enjoy a parade and a 5K run. At the conclusion of this run, the festival often holds its Beer Heritage presentations, which cover the long and storied histories of beer in Cincinnati. 

“You’re trying to talk to a room full of people who just ran five kilometers and are quenching their thirst,” Hand said, “So I noticed there were two or three of us that made it a contest: What do you need to do to get these people’s attention.”

He recounted stories of an exploding barroom and the multitude of fatal possibilities in a turn-of-the-century brewery as being particularly popular. According to Hand, the story-tellers may have stayed in friendly competition had it not been Cincinnati mixologist, historian, and Joungler founder and trouper Molly Wellman, who invited them all to perform at her bar.

Hand believes Stand-Up Comedy allows him to connect with a different audience than the one confined to his blog; a usually older, less online group. He also uses the performances to perfect his story-telling and delivery of historical materials.

“On the blog, I have no idea whether it gets a laugh or not; but if I’m standing on stage and throw something out there, and it doesn’t get a laugh, I’ve got to go back and rewrite it,” Hand said.  “The immediate feedback is a lot of fun.” 

When asked for his goal for the blog and its audience, Hand said, “I would like to see people begin to embrace the strange history in our city.” 

“The things we are dealing with today, we used to deal with in a very different way back in the past. In many ways, the city was a lot freer,” he mused. 

Ultimately, Hand concluded, “That’s my hope for the future: that people appreciate the weird history of Cincinnati, and have a weird day themselves.” 

If you’re looking to start having a weird day, Greg Hand’s blog can be found at Cincinnati Curiosities on Tumblr. Stand-Up Comedy is set to perform on Tuesday, July 7, at the Cincinnati Museum Center. Tickets are on sale now.

The post How one man is working to make Cincinnati weird again appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

Yeah, dude! Iconic comedian Steve-O is headed to Cincinnati as part of his latest tour.

As part of ‘The Crash & Burn Tour,” the comedian will bring his unique blend of humor to the Hard Rock Casino downtown on Friday, July 24.

Steve-O, real name Stephen Glover, rose to fame for his prominent role in MTV’s beloved reality-comedy series ‘Jackass.’ As one of the breakout stars of the franchise, he went on to host several other TV shows like ‘Wildboyz’ and ‘Dr. Steve-O.’ His tours often mix stunt work with stand-up comedy.

This new tour promises “wildly inappropriate humor, jaw‑dropping true stories and exclusive, never‑before‑seen multimedia footage.”

Tickets go on sale this Friday on Hard Rock Casino’s website via Ticketmaster.

The post Steve-O comes to Cincinnati this summer appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

Adventure Crew will celebrate Brewster Rhoads, founder of Ohio River Paddlefest and a longtime supporter of outdoor education for Cincinnati youth, with a comedic roast on May 7 at MadTree Brewing in Oakley.

Cincinnati Zoo Director Thane Maynard is emceeing the event, dubbed “The Rhoast,” which is scheduled from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Former U.S. Sen. Rob Portman; Hope Taft; former Govs. Bob Taft, Ted Strickland and Dick Celeste; Roxanne Qualls, Tim Burke and Jan-Michael and Eric Kearney.

The evening will also mark the launch of the Rivers & Rhoads Fund, which will support Adventure Crew’s mission of connecting Cincinnati-area teens with outdoor experiences.

Rhoads helped create Paddlefest in 2001 after coming up with the idea with a few friends over beers. More than 250 people attended the first event. Now in its 25th year, it has grown into the nation’s largest paddling celebration, drawing more than 35,000 participants total.

“Nothing connects one to the beauty and majesty of one of the largest rivers in America than paddling it,” Rhoads said. “If you want folks to care about and take action to protect a river, they need to experience it up close.”

Rhoads brought Paddlefest to Adventure Crew in 2016 and served on its board until December 2025, when he became the organization’s first emeritus member.

Adventure Crew was founded in 2013 and now serves 33 schools across Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, reaching nearly 1,000 students per year with cost-free outdoor adventures including kayaking, hiking, climbing, biking and skiing, according to a release.

“Adventure Crew connects young people to the natural world by eliminating cost and transportation barriers,” Rhoads said. “With teenagers spending an average of five hours a day on social media, getting outside is more important than ever for both physical and mental health.”

Limited tickets remain available at www.adventurecrew.org/rhoast.

The post Adventure Crew honors Paddlefest founder with comedic ‘Rhoast’ appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

“Saturday Night Live” writer Maddie Wiener is returning to Commonwealth Comedy Club in Dayton, Ky. for a second comedy show after previously performing there in January 2025.

“I love Commonwealth, it’s such a cool venue. I think it’s, like, so punk rock and so awesome to turn an old church into a comedy club,” she said.

Wiener got her start as a stand-up comedian at her high school in North Carolina. Describing herself as a “big theater kid,” she went to a local open mic night for stand-up.

“I was like, ‘oh cool, let’s give this a try,’ and I met two comics who are still my best friends to this day that were also in high school at the time,” she said. “They showed me around the scene, and we realized we could get up on stage seven nights a week if we drove one hour here, one hour there. Sometimes my mom would even drive me … my parents were so cool about it, they’d let me drive an hour and a half to do three minutes of comedy.”

Eventually, her friends in the area decided they were going to move to Chicago to pursue their comedy dreams. Wiener soon followed; while she was going to college for theatre and film/TV production, her true goal was to make it as a comic. As she graduated, the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown was ending, so she decided, “I’m just gonna head straight to New York.”

It paid off: shortly after moving, she was selected to participate in New York City’s “Just For Laughs Festival” in 2021, which put her name on the map. Over the next few years, she began honing her craft and working at NYC venues The Stand Comedy Club and The Comedy Cellar, where she had a chance encounter with one of the most famous faces from “SNL.”

“Between the two of those, I ended up meeting Michael Che. He eventually ended up recommending me for a job at “SNL,” I went in and interviewed, and that was kinda it. Which is skipping over like, four years of me doing stand-up and lots of other stuff,” she said, laughing. “But essentially, I’m very grateful to Michael Che.”

Her proudest writing moment so far on “SNL” was a parody skit of Alex Honnold’s Free Solo climb, which aired on the sketch comedy series about two months ago. It stars Mikey Day as Alex Honnold, with Kenan Thompson playing a character who also thinks he can attempt Honnold’s daring free climbing activities. She wrote the skit in tandem with Martin Herlihy and Jack Bensinger, who are “two of the funniest people I’ve ever met in my life.”

“That was the first moment where I was like, ‘whoa.’ I had this idea in my head on Monday, and by Saturday it’s on TV,” she said. “I don’t think there’s any other job in show business where you see an idea come to fruition that quickly.”

While she hasn’t experienced much of Cincinnati culture yet, given her four shows this weekend at the Commonwealth Comedy Club, she’s bound to do some exploring.

She plans to hit Tokyo Kitty for some karaoke with her opener, Nick Cartwright, and thinks she’ll finally try Skyline Chili—especially after learning that it’s more like a Bolognese sauce than it is chili, saying, “That doesn’t sound so crazy to do with spaghetti, right? I might just dig in and go all the way.”

Shows like the ones she does at Commonwealth tend to be her favorite because audiences know to expect the unexpected.

“I had so much fun last time. I like doing shows in places that aren’t your typical comedy club, because I think it just puts people in a mindset of being ready to get weirder with it,” she said. “When you’re in a strange space that makes you think ‘we’re not supposed to be doing this here,’ like a church, it allows for the show to go to weird places. It’s such a special, unique venue and the people who run it are amazing.”

When it comes to future career plans, Wiener isn’t too worried about what comes next.

“Honestly, I’m having a lot of fun at “SNL.” It sounds cheesy, but everything that comes after this is just icing on the cake,” she said. “If I’m just doing stand-up and paying my bills, I’m happy. Obviously, I want to put out a special, but if it keeps going just like this and I keep doing this until I’m 75, I’ll be happy.”

The post ‘SNL’ writer Maddie Wiener returns to NKY comedy club appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

Stand-up comedy meets group therapy sessions at a new alt-comedy show at Dayton, Kentucky’s Commonwealth Comedy Club.

Hosted by comedian Shawn Braley, Stand Up Therapy is what happens when you blend laughter, psychology and some gentle emotional chaos. On Feb. 5, a group of comedians will take the stage at Commonwealth and perform short stand-up sets in front of a live audience and three licensed therapists.

After each set, the therapists will ask questions, offer insights and dig into whatever happens on stage.

“Part stand-up show, part therapy session, and part social experiment, Stand Up Therapy invites audiences to laugh, cringe, and maybe learn a little about themselves along the way,” reads an event description. 

The comedian lineup includes Ran Barnaclo, Luke Capasso, Ossia Dwyer, Garrett Titlebaum and Karl Spaeth. The panel of therapists — Lindsay Jane, Lorena Shadwick and Sharee Allen — will round out the show with their clinical experience, observations and a willingness to play along. 

Stand Up Therapy is free, but you will need to reserve a ticket. The show begins at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 5. No audience participation will be required. 

Commonwealth Comedy Club, 522 Fifth Ave., Dayton, Kentucky. More info: commonwealthcomedyclub.com.

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Jimmy Pardo is widely known as one of the country’s top stand-up comics and as a pioneer in the field of podcasting. His show, Never Not Funny, debuted in April 2006 and is still going strong today. Not only did he help establish the medium as we know it today, but he helped ordinary folks who were starting to dabble in it and find success. “I would get so many people that would ask to come on Never Not Funny and promote their podcast,” he recalls.  “I’d tell them, ‘If you had me on your podcast, it would be a better promotion. If I go on your show, people will follow it and see if they’re interested in it. It pays more dividends.’ I say that now,” he adds, “as I really don’t say ‘yes’ anymore.”

The show changed the trajectory of his career, leading to regular television appearances as well as making it possible to tour on his own terms. “The podcast still allows me to scratch the itch of comedy and be funny and creative with like-minded and funny people,” he says. “When I do get the chance to tour, I’ve chosen to do one show in a city per night, and I try to do it during the week.” That allows the club to book a headliner through the weekend. “I do one show on an off night, hopefully get a decent turnout, shake some hands afterwards, I get in my rental car, drive on to the next city, lather, rinse, repeat, and I’m home Saturday morning and get to spend the weekend with my wife.”

On stage, he’s never been sharper. “It’s looser than it’s ever been,” he says of his set. “You get very little material. It’s mostly stream of consciousness, talking about my day and doing crowd work, but in the right way, a clever way.” In other words, don’t expect garden-variety crowd work. “There are so many comics out there doing crowd work, lazily doing it for laughs, and it’s infuriating to guys like me that are good at it and made their living doing it and are known for it.”

“If you like Jimmy Pardo, you’re going to get Jimmy Pardo,” he assures. “And occasionally, I will end by asking if anybody has a story or bit they’d like to hear. If I can remember, it’s great, and if not, I’ll flub my way through, and that’s funny too.”

Jimmy Pardo is at Go Bananas on Oct. 15 at 7:30 p.m. More info: gobananascomedy.com.

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The streets of Norwood will fill with laughter this August with the return of Greater Cincinnati’s largest one-day comedy festival.

The second-annual Norwood Comedy Festival is happening Saturday, Aug. 2 from 2-11 p.m. on Mills Avenue, next to Victory Park. Produced by Bombs Away! Comedy, the festival will feature headliner Geoff Tate, who has appeared on WTF with Marc Maron, Bertcast with Bert Kreischer, The Late Late Show, Comedy Central and Dr. Drew After Dark. Tate has over a dozen albums available to stream.

The festival will also feature Mark Chalifoux (a nationally touring comedian with the No. 2 comedy album, Think Fast, on Apple Music); rising comedy star Elijah Nevels; LA Weekly-, NY Magazine– and Rolling Stone-heralded comedian Ryan Singer; and Dave Waite, who has appeared on Not Safe with Nikki Glaser and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Over 20 local and regional comedians will also perform throughout the day.

The Norwood Comedy Festival is free to attend, and guests are encouraged to bring a lawn chair or blanket.

Along with the comedy performances, the Off Pike Market will also be happening that day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The market features over 20 vendors selling a variety of crafts, gifts and more, and there will be food trucks and a cider/beer garden from Northwood Cider Company, MPH Brewing, HighGrain Brewing and Estazzi THC Fruit Soda on site.

More info: bombsawaycomedy.com.

The post Comedy Festival Returns to Norwood for More Laughs This Summer appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

In what is sure to be a highlight of the summer, David Spade makes an appearance at the Taft Theatre on Sunday, June 8.

Fresh off the release of his new special, Dandelion, out on Amazon Prime, Spade will be making a stop in Cincinnati for his upcoming “I Got A Feel For It” tour, named after a spot-on, standout line he delivered on the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special earlier this year.

He’s been a celebrated voice in comedy since finding an audience with his quick wit, laidback sarcasm and deceptively subtle delivery, first as a stand-up, and then as a cast member in a generation-defining era on Saturday Night Live where he would meet lifelong collaborators Dana Carvey and Adam Sandler, among others. Standout sketches like “Gap Girls,” his recurring Weekend Update segment “Hollywood Minute” and “Total Bastard Airlines” — along with the sketch’s catchphrase you can probably hear reading this now, “buh-bye” — helped launch a successful film and TV career.

Breakout buddy comedies Tommy Boy and Black Sheep, made with real-life buddy and late comedy legend Chris Farley, have become perennial favorites, along with his first solo starring role in Joe Dirt. Appearances in movies like Coneheads, The Emperor’s New Groove, the Grown Ups franchise and Covid-era Netflix hit The Wrong Missy helped make him a household name. 

In addition to starring in TV shows and movies, he’s also shot comedy specials for HBO, Comedy Central, Netflix and, now, Prime.

He also co-hosts the podcast Fly on the Wall with fellow SNL alum and comedy legend Dana Carvey, which won the 2025 iHeartPodcast Award for Best Comedy.

Spade was loose, down to earth and upbeat as we spoke over the phone about his Cincinnati connection, stand-up, his experience filming the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special, people working in Hollywood again and much more. Our conversation is edited slightly for length and clarity.

David Spade: Hey Brent, it’s Spade, what’s going on brotha’?

CityBeat: Not much. I’m happy to be doing this and I appreciate you doing it.

DS: Doing some Cincy action, are you?

CB: (laughs) That’s right, yeah.

DS: Am I allowed to call it Cincy?

CB: You can do that, people call it that. Your mom’s from Cincinnati, right? Do you have any family here still or any connection to Cincinnati?

DS: My mom is (from) a city called Ironton (that) she grew up in and then when she got married, we flew out there after a while and saw Cincinnati for a few weeks. I think it rained the whole time we were there but that’s all I remember as a kid, but as a kid, you know, I don’t know anything. She wanted us to see it. And my dad went to Denison, she went to Denison. So, yeah, she’s all dialed in there so she’s excited I’m going.

CB: I watched the new special last night and it was great, man.

DS: Oh, that’s great, you saw it?

CB: Yeah. I’ve heard you talk about bands being able to play their greatest hits live, you know, the difference between stand-up and music — what can people expect at these shows, and will you be doing some of your classic stuff and older bits?

DS: You know, I was just talking to Dana (Carvey) about this. I think, especially when the special comes out, right away, that it takes me a while to generate a whole new hour. And I want it to be good, so what I’ll do is it’ll be a mixture of new things I like that I’ve been working on and then stuff that’s funnier. I think what I realized is, not everyone’s seen every single special and seen all of every special. And also, I don’t mind hearing stuff from Bobby Lee or Sebastian (Maniscalco) when I bring a friend to the Comedy Store. I go, ‘Oh, I hope they do this one, I hope they do that one’ because, to me, it is like music where you go, oh, I kind of want to not sing along, but you know I wanna just laugh along to this one I remember. And a lot of the bits expand. Like, I do them, they might be a little undercooked and as I do them for the next few months, they get longer and longer, and then they get better. So, I think I’ve never really had any problems or complaints about that being a mix, but, because I owe them also when they’re paying a lot and coming down to the theater, that it should work and be funny and (they) laugh the whole time. If some bits were bombing, I’d say, ‘Well, they gotta go.’

So, I think we’ve had a good reaction and I’m having fun with it. I’m doing three cities in Ohio which is the most I’ve probably done in any state. We get requests and I think theaters ask and then that’s how we figure out what to do. But I’m all for hitting the heartland.

CB: That’s great, yeah. I mean, I know you’re appreciated here and I’m sure everywhere, but we appreciate you coming here, man.

DS: I mean, Tommy Boy was technically Sandusky, Ohio, so we definitely have people that know we know about Ohio.

CB: Speaking of stand-up, who were some people who inspired you to do stand-up and inspired your style?

DS: Well, it kind of went in phases. I think George Carlin was like the first one I kind of remember, and then when I started to watch Johnny Carson I’d see some people that made me laugh. Seinfeld’s always been an influence as a sharp writer and a clean, clever comic. Would I ever think I would meet him in my life, no. And that’s sort of the fun of a Steve Martin, you know, I grew up on his albums. And then, more present day, Theo (Von) — I think he has some really clever stuff — Shane Gillis, Sebastian (Maniscalco) has some great stuff and Ali Wong is funny to me. So, there are people out there that still crack me up and I have a good time watching even newer people at the Comedy Store and just go, ‘Oh, I better keep my eyes peeled, this one has some game.’ 

CB: I know you do a lot of spots so I guess you probably are seeing all the people that are coming up or these new faces that are doing great stuff.

DS: Yeah. I mean, I take it seriously. Like, I’m on the road so I went out last night. I have Vegas with Nikki (Glaser) this weekend, so we do it together which is a little easier, we have a sort of residency. She’s great and we have overlapping fans, so it’s really fun to go out and it’s obviously less pressure. I practice at these clubs during the week because I want some new stuff. I wanna sharpen up and I wanna go out there and when I hit the stage, not be a bumbling fool.

CB: (laughs)

DS: You know, these people want a good show and it’s hard. I bring openers that I think are funny and then I just think people come and they leave going, ‘Ok, that was just a fun, mindless night that I don’t have to worry about anything.’

CB: Yeah, you got to stay up on it, I guess.

DS: You just owe it to the crowd of like, I can’t just expect to say, ‘I’m so great, I won’t even practice, I’ll just go out there and talk about whatever happened in my day.’ One of my biggest complaints I got was, ‘I laughed but it looked like you were just making it up the whole time.’ I’m like, ‘That took me 20 years to figure out how to do that.’ (laughs) It’s so hard to make it look casual, you know what I mean? Like, so, there’s no way I’m thinking of that stuff and it’s that well put together if I haven’t planned it out. You know, you have to know some of it. I can ad lib a few things but it’s tough up there.

CB: Speaking of that stuff, you always take it to another level on any talk show appearance — was there a certain person that was like an inspiration for you? You’re kind of on the level of Martin Short or Robin Williams. I’m sure a lot goes into that.

DS: Yeah, you know, I would say Steve Martin, Martin Short — there’s people that go on there and really take it seriously and just try stuff and try to make an impact, even though there’s no huge gain. Even when I’m not on tour I do Ellen a lot, I do Jimmy Kimmel, I do Fallon, Letterman in the old days, but it got down to where at least I was reliable so they’d say, ‘Hey, we have a fallout, could you get down here because we need someone that knows how to do it,’ you know, and just get some laughs. Sort of makes their job easier, but I am lucky that I can just text and say, ‘Can I come on this week?’ I wanna do this or I gotta promote this or I have a movie coming out,’ and between Ellen and Fallon and all these guys it was a great. I wasn’t that close with Letterman, I only did him probably, you know, a handful of times, but I’ve seen him since, but he was always kind of the one that I looked up to and go, ‘I wanna make him laugh.’ 

CB: Is there anybody you’re looking forward to getting still or anybody coming up for the podcast?

DS: You know, yeah, on the podcast we were looking forward to Larry David — that took a while to put together.

CB: That was a good one, yeah.

DS: Then the fires screwed it up but he wound up being so funny and was laughing so fucking hard, he was such a good guest. I would like Letterman just because I used to do it and look up to him. I see him out sometimes and I don’t ask because I’d feel like an asshole, but I think he’d be up for it at a certain point. I would love to have Ringo Starr because we had Paul (McCartney). We could have Paul again. We have more questions and could talk to him forever. So nerve-wracking though.

CB: Good lord, yeah.

DS: Yeah, you could imagine like, ‘holy shit.’ 

CB: (laughs) Yeah.

DS: Who else was on our list the other day? There’s Kristen Wiig. I mean, we’re going to do not as much SNL stuff in the future. We just want to get guests that are fun or interesting and we’ve kind of gone through pretty much the main ones. Kristen’s a big one from that era, just because she’s so great and I saw her at the 50th and I was like, ‘God, I wanna ask her but I’ll just wait.’

CB: Are you sponsored by Koi (Los Angeles restaurant), by chance? (laughs)

DS: We brought up Koi again today because it’s an easy, funny thing to talk about. Because I just did Conan’s podcast (Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend) and he’s like, ‘Me and you and Dana have to go to Koi again.’ (laughing) It’s close to me and Dana and it’s good. And then they tell me, ‘You know how many people come in here looking for you guys?’ (laughs) ‘We’ve heard about this place.’

CB: At the SNL 50th, how did it feel to just be a part of that history and be there for that celebration and that night?

DS: Oh, the best. I mean, the 40th was good, I think the 50th was just more fun for me and getting to do a little jibber jabber in the show, just be part of it, was great. The rehearsals, sneaking through the hallway, no stress, just walking around like, ‘Hey, there’s Blake Lively, ‘hey, there’s Kristen Wiig again.’ You sort of have free reign to talk to anyone and everyone’s nice. I think I flew out and Pedro Pascal was on my plane and that’s a guy I don’t talk to much and Miles Teller was on my flight and I’m like, ‘Oh, hey guys,’ so that was fun. (Noise in the background gets louder) Hold on. Sorry, I’m trying to find someplace noisier. 

CB: You’re good, man. I’m in the car too, actually. I’ve heard you talk about bringing movies back to Hollywood. I know Busboys was filmed there — how did that go, do you think it’s possible to do that again?

DS: We did it here, we definitely want (car alarm goes off in the background) What a dick.

CB: [laughs]

DS: We definitely want people to shoot here. Someone was just talking about a reality show and they’re like, ‘Well, we could never do it in LA,’ it’s not even a question. Everyone grew up going, ‘I gotta get to Hollywood,’ you know, ‘I’m a make-up artist, I’m a model, I’m an actor, I’m a writer,’ and they all come here and now it’s like, ‘I can’t just come for the crime and the taxes, I need some upside here.’ That’s the hard part. It’s sunny, it’s nice. That’s what I love. I don’t wanna move. Everybody just says, ‘Just move.’ I go, ‘It’s hard to just move and go someplace where I don’t know anybody.’

CB: Definitely, yeah, for anybody. It’d be nice if that was all one consolidated place again like you said. You could just go there and say, ‘I’ll go to a studio and maybe I’ll get a job.’

DS: We’ve got studios, we’ve got everything we need here — it’s just slowly being farmed out.

CB: Yeah, that’s too bad but that’s cool you did Busboys there, so hopefully that helps some.

DS: Yeah, it just gets the word out like, ‘Hey, we’re fine.’

CB: Nobody really talks about that you did a lot of stuff on Beavis and Butt-Head — how did that come about and what was that experience like?

DS: Mike Judge wound up coming on SNL as a writer and they put him either in our office or next to us. He didn’t come in a lot but he had a desk so we would all just bullshit. We loved Beavis and Butt-Head, so he said, ‘Well, you wanna do a couple, we could get a voice or something?’ and it worked out so I was stoked because I liked him a lot, yeah. 

CB: I should also ask, who’s the opener for your tour?

DS: I think Bobby Miyamoto’s back on some and maybe Katherine Blanford, so It’ll be fun to have (them). Those two will be good. 

David Spade performs at Taft Theatre at 8 p.m. on June 8. More info: tafttheatre.org.

This story is featured in CityBeat’s May 28 print edition.

The post David Spade Talks Local Connection and More Ahead of Cincinnati Performance appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

Cincinnati has nationally ranked restaurants, an expansive music scene, a thriving club culture and its share of renowned art galleries and museums; it only makes sense that the comedy scene would be on the rise, too.

CityBeat’s Best Local Comedian 2025 winner Kelly Collette and co-founder of the city’s newest comedy venue, Nathan Kroeger of Commonwealth Sanctuary, weigh in on Cincinnati comedy and how an old church turned comedy club across the river in Dayton, Kentucky, is helping build that community.

Established local anchors like Go Bananas and national chain The Funny Bone have been favorite comedy venues for comedy fans and up-and-comers for years, but non-traditional comedy venues like MOTR Pub and The Comet started hosting comedy regularly in recent years, adding opportunities for comedians and audiences alike. 

Cincinnati-based comedian Collette, fresh off winning CityBeat’s Best Local Comedian 2025, was taping a special in Chicago at the time of our interview. Collette seems grateful and excited for the win and current climate in Cincinnati comedy. “I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, this seems real,’” she says with a laugh on winning the vote. “I think the people who won it the last couple years were like Katt Williams and Gary Owen and it’s like, ‘You don’t even go to this school,’ you know what I mean?” she says jokingly, “It’s nice that someone who is actively performing comedy in Cincinnati got it, that’s very sweet.”

Collette, who now tours nationally as a full-time comedian in addition to teaching a course on stand-up for local all-female comedy organization Alphas Comedy, performed her first open mic in 2009 at Go Bananas. She was just out of college before she went all in and quit her full-time job in 2019. Collette says comedy is more available than ever.

“I think it’s really grown a lot,” she said. “I think there’s so much more stage time here than there used to be, especially with everybody putting together their independent shows at MOTR or coffee shops or things like that. Pick a night of the week and we have a show.”

Northern Kentucky got its first dedicated club and added to the current comedy landscape when the Commonwealth Sanctuary opened in 2023. 

The club opened after couple and co-founders Kroeger (artistic director) and Jacoba Wells (programming director), both former employees of public libraries, moved from Bloomington, Indiana, in 2019 and bought the building in 2020 to renovate it for a to-be-determined project. The couple, both comedy fans, met local comedian and event organizer Shawn Braley, now Commonwealth’s creative director, after attending events he hosted at Dayton, Kentucky, venue The Garage. When The Garage became unavailable, the three decided on a use for the former church.

“Commonwealth Sanctuary is a refuge from the daily grind,” Kroeger says. “We built a comedy club in a former church building and named it a ‘sanctuary.’ So, we want people to think of us when they need to feel lighter and be around people who are feeling the same way.”

He tells CityBeat they had three goals in mind when opening Commonwealth Sanctuary: to bring well-known comics to an unconventional and unexpected space, benefit the local community in Dayton by bringing people to bars and restaurants before or after shows and helping local comics.

They’ve already hosted several sellout shows with noteworthy comedians featured on major platforms like Comedy Central, HBO and NBC’s Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon with others coming up, like Rory Scovel, who’s had specials on HBO Max and Netflix. Former Saturday Night Live cast member Punkie Johnson and Michael Ian Black of cult-favorite movies like Wet Hot American Summer and MTV sketch show Stella, will help celebrate the club’s two-year anniversary this July.

They also host a weekly open mic on Monday nights for locals called The Workshop. “Comedians need stage time. And we wanted to create a show for the working comics, young and veteran alike, to get in their reps because that is the only way they get better as performers. As they improve as performers, we hire them to work our weekend shows, opening for the headliners we bring through each week,” Kroeger tells CityBeat.

The club makes good with the goal of an unconventional space, too. The former church, built in 1914, sits high above street level. After you climb the stairs leading in, you’re met with a few more to enter the main room that features all the hallmarks of a historic church: high ceilings, exposed beams and some dramatic touches. There’s also a portion of the stage with an organ and drums that are often used to play people on and off stage. 

The performance space, while feeling open, isn’t huge. Collette describes the experience of performing at the venue. “I like an intimate show. I like when I can see the audience members, I can feel their energy, I can tell what kind of material they’re starting to like and what they’re not so I can adjust and be playful, whereas I’ve done theater shows and you hear the laugh but you don’t see the people and you’re just like, ‘I’m talking to the darkness right now.’ I like a small venue, they’re fun.” She continues, “It feels like we’re all in a really cool experience together, feels very special.” 

Collette feels people have accepted the new venue because they’re very focused on comedy and comedians, not drink specials and food sales. She says, “I think what’s great about Commonwealth is it’s run by a couple that are just big comedy fans that are really good people and they just wanna bring really great acts to Cincinnati.”

Kroeger says they’ve felt welcomed by the comedy community with the help of locals like Collette. “Kelly’s one of the top headliners that’s based in Cincinnati and she’s touring all over — she’s a true professional working comic and she’s headlined here. We love Kelly’s comedy, so any time we get to see Kelly, we’re really happy and that’s what’s great about this scene, generally, is all of these comics have been very supportive of us starting up a new venue in a town that has had, kind of, a historical scene. You know, Go Bananas has been there since the ‘90s and Wayne Memmott is running the Bombs Away! Comedy at The Comet in Northside. He’s been doing that for 11 years and has built up a huge, very cool following there and he brings in some very cool people.”

Memmott and Commonwealth have since joined together for the Crosstown Comedy Festival that will take place from July 10-Aug. 30.

Collette says the comedy scene in Cincinnati has improved in other ways, as well. “When I first started, it wasn’t super inclusive. I remember someone being like, ‘Hey, I’m not gonna bother to learn your name until you’ve been to at least six months of open mics because you’ll probably just quit one day,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, harsh reality.’ Now we’re all like, ‘Come sit next to me,’ you know? Everybody’s so much nicer now.”

For more information about the Commonwealth Sanctuary, visit commonwealthsanctuary.com. For more information about Kelly Collette, visit kellycollettecomedy.com.

This story is featured in CityBeat’s April 30 print edition.

The post Holy Jokes: How Cincinnati’s Comedy Scene Found New Life in an Old Church appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.