Now Appearing

Wednesday-Friday
May 16-18

Lionel Hamilton

with Bill Boronky

Lionel Hamilton is a 25 year veteran of the comedy stage who has his roots right here in Northeastern Ohio.

With a style that many have compared to Bill Cosby and Sinbad, everyone loves Lionel Hamilton's clean and funny comedy.

Who would ever thought that a pastry chef would eventually have the opportunity to open for such legendary performers as the Temptations and Cool and the Gang?

You have seen Lionel Hamilton on television during his appearance on BET's "Live at the Apollo" and this week audiences will have the chance to see him live, on the stage at the Funny Stop Comedy Club.

Congratulations go out to Brian Teague who was crowned as "Ohio's Best Amateur Comedian" in the contest finals which were held on Monday, April 25th at the Funny Stop Comedy Club.

Qualifying for the competition began on the first Tuesday of the year with over 100 participants working their way through the preliminary rounds. The best performers moved on to quarter-final eliminations and 18 of them advanced to the semi-finals.

The top amateurs advanced into the finals.

Based on the judge's rankings and audience response, Brian Teague received the top score to take the title.

Special recognition also goes out to Steve Ferrenz, Eric Brewer, Victoria Busberg, and Jarod Prestone who rounded out the Top 5 finishers in 2011's first contest.

Teague adds his name to the list of previous champions which includes Dan Schwartz, Bryan Birker, and co-champions Black and Brendon Biddlecombe who were the winners of the 3 contests which were held during 2009 as well as Anthony Savatt, Lisa Pierce, and co-champions Cameron Amigo and Joey Zsa Zsa who won the three 2010 amateur competitions.

2011's second contest is now underway with preliminary rounds being held to open the show each Tuesday night.

If you have 5 minutes of clean material and would like a chance to take the stage in the Funny Stop's amateur competition, contact Nidal at 330-923-4700 to be added to an upcoming lineup.

On Tuesday night, December 28th a standing room only crowd had the opportunity to see the one dozen amateurs who survived the preliminary qualifiers, quarter-finals, and semi-finals to reach "THE FINALS" of 2010's last "Ohio's Best Amateur Comedian" Contest take the stage at the Funny Stop.

Nearly 100 performers had taken the stage over a 4 month period of time to open the Funny Stop's Tuesday night shows in an attempt to advance to "THE FINALS".

During "The Finals", each contestant performed 5 minutes of clean material and the panel of judges used their professional experience to score the performances as to rate the audience support and response for each amateur.

When the numbers were tallied, the contest finished in a tie!

 
Congratulations go out to our alphabetic bookends, Cameron Amigo and Joey Zsa Zsa who were crowned the co-champions of the "Ohio's Best Amateur Comedian" Contest at the Funny Stop.

 
Special recognition also goes out to Dan Crosjean, Tim Danko, and Kyle Hamhurst who finished in the Top 5 of the Finals.

Other performers who qualified for the Finals included Dave Berry, Steve Evanicky, Matt Farrell, Dr. Jay, Markus Martin, Tyler Ross, and Tome Tome.

Amigo and Zsa Zsa join Anthony Savatt and Lisa Pierce who won the title in the pair of amateur contests held earlier this year as well as Prince James and Ben Palmer who won the competition for current and former emcees.

As the new year begins, so too will be the first preliminary qualifying opportunities for the 2011 editions of the "Ohio's Best Amateur Comedian" Contest at the Funny Stop.

The "Ohio's Best Amateur Comedian" Contest at the Funny Stop which began in April came to an exciting conclusion on Monday, September 13th when the club hosted "THE FINALS!"

The hundreds of performers who took the stage to open months of Tuesday night shows in an attempt to qualify for the contest was narrowed through preliminary, quarter-final, and semi-final rounds.

The 15 performers who survived the full eliminations process performed their best 5 minutes of material for the standing room only crowd, panel of judges, and a representative of the Record Courier newspaper.

Based on the decision of the judges, which was heavily influenced by the audience's response to the performers, the newest "Ohio's Best Amateur Comedian" is a mother of 3 from Hudson, Lisa Pierce.

The remainder of the Top 5 finishers were China Man, Ray Felton, Kyle Hanhurst, and Luca Yaniro.

The other 10 excellent amateurs who advanced to the final round included Nick Contanese, Alex Crad, Dan Crosjean, Marty Drexler, Eric The Great, Spider Jones, Joe Kowalcheck, Chris Menetta, Matt Morgan, and Yo Simply Sam.

An all new contest gets underway on Tuesday, September 14th and will continue until year end.

If you have 5 minutes of clean material and would like to have your chance to perform in the Funny Stop's spotlight, contact Nidal at 330-923-4700 to be added to a future Tuesday night's contest line-up.

On Monday, April 19th the Funny Stop hosted the finals of its multi-month long "Ohio's Best Amateur Comedian" contest.

The finalists qualified by surviving 3 elimination rounds in the competition. Each presented their 5 minutes of material in front of the "standing room only" crowd in the Funny Stop showroom during the first ever, exclusive night for the contest finals.

Multi-time contest bridesmaid, Anthony Savatt was the unanimous choice of the panel of judges as the newest "Ohio's Best Amateur Comedian" at the Funny Stop.

Eric Keller, Anthony "Spider" Jones, Chinaman, and Chris Sinchock rounded out the top five finishers as judged by our panel and overall audience reaction.

Savatt will add his name to the trophy which saw Dan Schwartz, Bryan Birker, and co-champions Black and Brendon Biddlecombe who were the winners of the 3 contests which were held during 2009.

Congratulations to all of the amateurs who took the stage throughout the months of eliminations in the Funny Stop Comedy Club's "Ohio's Best Amateur Comedian" contest. They are welcome (along with any new entries) to participate in the next contest which has preliminary qualifying rounds being contested as the opening acts of each Tuesday night's shows at the Funny Stop.

If you have 5 minutes of clean material, contact Nidal at 330-923-4700 to be added to a future Tuesday night's open mic lineup.

Coming Up Next

Saturday
May 19

Chad Zumock

with Bill Boronky

Chad Zumock was headed down "Priority Lane" in life but, twenty-five firings and at least that many disastrous relationships later, found himself on "Screw-up Blvd".

Fortunately, Chad's many-times humiliating experiences with work, woman, and booze have translated into the kind of material that has made him into one of the brightest up and comers in stand-up comedy.

The former 2.4 GPA Kent State college graduate captivates audiences with his brutal honesty and quick-slacker wit. His likeability and always-candid appraisal of the tattered ruin of his life is what connects him with all kinds of audiences.

Chad likes to laugh at his own misfortune, and so will you.

Zumock performs all over the US and recently contributed and helped co-write a humor book called, "Look at My Striped Shirt!: Confessions of the People You Love to Hate".

Chad's professional life has included appearances in numerous commercials, time as a regular on Spike TV's "The Playbook", as well as live appearances from the Muni Lot prior to Cleveland Browns home games during WOIO-TV 19's "Tailgate 19" pregame show as a tie-in to his weekday afternoon gig on 100.7 WMMS radio in Cleveland.

Be sure to ask your server for the evening's food and drink specials.

Our most popular, money saving, promotion ever has returned for 2011.

Launched in 2010, the Funny Stop Comedy Club's VIP CARD program has saved audience members literally thousands of dollars on their admission price to the shows offered each week at Northeastern Ohio's top rated comedy club according to the Fox 8 HOTLIST and the Akron Beacon Journal's BEACON'S BEST programs.

The Funny Stop's 2011 VIP Card offers FREE ADMISSION for the card member and one guest to any show on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday nights as well the 10:30 PM show on Fridays from January 1 through December 30, 2011.

A pair of regularly priced 10:30 PM Friday show tickets would run $20.00

Take this amount and multiply it times 52 weeks of the year and the Funny Stop 2011 VIP Card offers over $1,000 in savings during the year.

Funny Stop Comedy Club 2011 VIP Cards are currently available for purchase at the showroom door or by contacting the box office at 330-923-4700.

Pick up one for yourself or as a gift for your favorite comedy fan.

For full details, click HERE.

Congratulations go out to Prince James and Ben Palmer for being the final round winners of the inaugural "Emcee" competition at the Funny Stop Comedy Club on November 17th.

With a format very similar to the "Ohio's Best Amateur Comedian" Contest which opens each Tuesday night's linup, the Funny Stop offered a special, nearly 2 month long competition on Wednesday nights, exclusively for just for current or former emcees at the club.

During the preliminary rounds which began on September 22nd, three to four emcees performed 10 to 15 minutes of "not too dirty" material with two emcees from each performance being selected to move to the next round of eliminations.

As with the "Ohio's Best Amateur Comedian" contest, audience support and audience reaction were one of the key factors our judges used to select those who have advanced each round as well as our first Wednesday "Emcee Contest" champions.

This contest will be used to advance the winners up another rung on the comedy ladder, with both Prince James and Ben Palmer earning a position a week as a co-Feature performer in the future at the Funny Stop.

Other emcees earning a spot in the contest finals were Mike Scanlon, Shawn Boyd, Oliver Gray, Anthony Savath, and Dan Swartz.

Based on the feedback received from our audiences, look for the Funny Stop Comedy Club's "Emcee Competition" to return next Spring to our Wednesday night program.

Over 20 Performers & Officials Took The Stage
During "A Toast To Mike Veneman" Fund Raiser

On Monday, January 18, 2010 the Funny Stop Comedy Club hosted "A Toast To Mike Veneman", a fund raising event to honor the longtime legend in Northeastern Ohio comedy.

The event was one of his last public appearances as Mike Veneman lost his battle with ALS, Lou Gehrig's Disease, on Saturday, October 30, 2010.

A huge audience was entertained and moved by the rapid fire comedy, sincere remembrances, previously untold stories, and governmental recognition during the bittersweet event which was highlighted by the more than 20 individuals who took the stage to honor Mike.

To see a full list of those who gave their time to appear at "A Toast To Mike Veneman" and to view several photos from the event, click HERE.

Thanks To All Of The Talented Performers Who Appeared At Our 20th Anniversary Celebration

Back Row (L-R) Mike Scanlon, Stan Piatt, Mike Wypasek, Pete Barak, Mike Veneman, Mayor Don Robart, Todd, Charlie Wiener, Rodney Bengston, Marv Conner, Kirk Bogos, Mike Conley, and Bill Boronky.

Front Row (L-R) Stuart Warner, Dan Long, Tony Barak, Lucy Bebee, Lionel Hamilton, John Rathbone, Mike Gersh, and Tommy Chong.

Absent from picture: Kathy Dice and "The Real" John King.

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Subscribers receive notification of upcoming events, exclusive free and discounted ticket offers, as well other important information in our weekly Funny Stop E-Newsletters.

With back to back to back wins in the MyFoxCleveland "Hot List" competition as the best venue for Live Comedy in Northeastern Ohio it would be easy for the Funny Stop Comedy Club to rest on its laurels, but that is not the case.

Let's take a look at just some of the new things going on at the Funny Stop Comedy Club.

Stage View Bar

Since the move to our new location nearly 5 years ago, one element that our patrons have missed is a sit down bar within the club.

Well now the Funny Stop has brought back that old facility element and has taken it one better by providing a sit down bar with a view of the stage.

Whether it be before, during, or after the live comedy show, enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of our Stage View bar area.

Drink specials are offered after each evening's comedy show and a special Ladies Night promotion is offered every Thursday night as well.

It is getting more and more difficult for groups and organizations to find facilities to host their gatherings, meetings, reunions, etc.

Stepping in to fill that void, the Funny Stop now offers its showroom for such activities on mornings and afternoons, seven days a week as well as on most Sunday and Monday evenings.

Groups of up to nearly 200 will enjoy our open floor plan and elevated stage area.

Limited use of audio/visual equipment as well as food and beverage service are also available.

For more details, available dates, pricing, and to make your reservation, contact Nidal at 330-923-4700.

Do you know someone who needs an evening out on the town?

Do you have a relative or friend who is hard to by for?

No matter the circumstance, look no further than Gift Certificates from the Funny Stop Comedy Club to fill that need.

Funny Stop gift certificates spend just like cash so use them for admission the show, to enjoy a delicious meal or snack, or even to enjoy the beverage of choice.

To purchase a Funny Stop gift certificate, contact our box office at 330-923-4700.

Don't forget that the Funny Stop now offers a "VIP Card". Check out the full details of this program in the article found elsewhere on this page.