Funny business with comedy clubs on the verge of a national renaissance, we spotlight 6 of the best U.S. venues: Carolines on Broadway, The Comedy Union, Comix, The Improv, The Laugh Factory, and Zaines.

Enss Mitchell opened this club in Los Angeles’ Wilshire District in 2002, planning to specialize in urban stand-up comedy. Damon Wayans is a regular, as are Mark Curry, D.L. Hughley and Mike Epps. But Mitchell notes that his six-night-a-week club (closed on Sundays) also features plenty of non-urban shows. The cozy showroom accommodates 120 audience members, and the line for seats snakes out the door on weekends. Don’t be surprised to see MTV taping something on any given night.

Click here, to download a PDF version of the article.

On Pico Boulevard just west of Roscoe’s House of Chicken ‘n Waffles is a club called the Comedy Union, which used to be a dentists office and is now L.A.’s premier showcase for black comedians. Among the reasons they like to play the Comedy Union is that it’s one of the only places in town where four or five black comics can perform on the same bill weekend nights. If you look at the schedules for the Laugh Factory, the Comedy Store, and the Improv, you’ll see each has an Asian night, a Latin night, and a Urban night, which is the euphemism for black comedy…

To read the full article, please download the PDF.