Comedy club’s new act

Stand to East 16th

It’s no joke: Comedy club The Stand, one of the city’s hottest stand-up venues, which has hosted the likes of Tracy Morgan, Louis C.K., Dave Chappelle and Damon Wayans, has found a new home at 116 E. 16th St.

But the punch line is that it wasn’t supposed to go there.

The Post reported in March that the two-level, nearly 10,000-square-foot space 300 feet from Union Square Park had been leased — not to The Stand, but to restaurant Pergola for a second location.

But the owners of Pergola, a West 28th Street Mediterranean spot that claims to have a celebrity following, “did not go forward” with the deal, said a rep for brokers at RKF.

The brokers excitedly touted the deal at the time but neglected later to reveal that it had collapsed.

According to co-owner Cris Italia, besides giving stage time to marquee names like Morgan, “who was here almost every week before his [lifethreatening 2014] car accident,” the club drew regular celebrity customers, including Jimmy Fallon, Adrian Grenier and Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard.

But The Stand had “outgrown our space” at 239 Third Ave. near East 19th Street two years ago, said Italia.

After a long search, “when we saw the space on 16th Street, we knew it was right,” Italia said. He said the East 16th Street digs have three times more space.

But early on, Pergola seemed to have beaten them to the punch. Then, “out of nowhere, the landlord” — Samco Properties — “approached us in early May” and said the location was back on the market, Italia said.

The asking rent on the aborted Pergola lease was $40,000 a month, RKF’s Jeff Geoghegan told us at the time.

Italia said that number was “in the ballpark” but hinted that he and his partners, including brother Paul Italia, were paying less. RKF wasn’t involved in The Stand’s lease.

The Stand closed its Third Avenue location with a blowout party Tuesday night. Italia regretted going dark until the fall but said, “We had to give notice to our landlord and we were asked to leave before we could transition seamlessly” into the new location.

He said construction has started on 16th Street and he hoped to open the new Stand in September.