CULTURE

Comedy Club kicks off new year of gags

Housed in a brand-new venue at 48-50 Aeolou Street, Greece’s unique Comedy Club is starting up once more, with a new program featuring both older acts and newcomers. This will be the 11th season for the club, which reopens tonight and will treat its audience to a reduced admission ticket every Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday until the end of the season (ticket prices for Friday and Saturday night shows will remain the same). The club’s new venue is also adjacent to a new art hall, still being developed, which will host exhibitions and projections once it is ready. «Our team of comedians is very flexible; some go away and come back and there are constantly new faces,» said Comedy Club founder Loukia Rikaki at a recent press conference. Acts this season include stand-up comedians Constantinos Ravniotopoulos, Dimitris Dimopoulos, Costas Koukoutsis, Constantinos Passas, Leda Katakouzinou, Maria Bagana, Niki Hadzigeorgiou, Evgenia Sassalou, singer Bebekos, comedian-juggler Alexis and comedian-magician Sankara, who all draw on daily life, current affairs and personal experiences for their performances. Comedians alternate during the week; someone visiting the club twice in a week will be treated to an entirely different performance. The Comedy Club’s collaboration with STAR Channel will also continue, with monthly screenings of the show’s highlights. Rikaki explained that they had been trying to work with television for 10 years, but TV bosses had been reluctant, fearing the unknown. «Naturally, the show doesn’t always come across so well on television and that is why we decided on a monthly instead of a weekly broadcast. Each of our artists will appear for about four minutes, so viewers can get a taste of the show,» said Rikaki. Meanwhile, «Comedy Nights No. 3» will be released on DVD on November 8 by Prooptiki. «Our previous releases have worked well; they are also very useful for upcoming comedians who can study how we work,» said Rikaki. Shows usually run to the end of May, but may be prolonged until early June.

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