New outdoor comedy picnic series brings blankets and beach chairs to Boca Raton

The open-air comedy series debuting Friday night at Boca Raton’s Mizner Park Amphitheater probably doesn’t happen without a pandemic — but it’s an idea so good and obvious that its COVID-era origins will someday be an afterthought.

Organized by veteran comedian and TV writer Dave Siegel and wife Stephanie, pre-pandemic transplants from New York to Boca Raton, the series is called Comedy on the Green, with the audience set up on the lawn of the recently reopened amphitheater.

Accentuating its relaxing atmosphere, the series puts a unique spin on social distancing with tiered seating on low-slung canvas beach chairs, pre-positioned blankets, as well as traditional seats. There will be order-by-phone waitstaff bar service for those on beach chairs and blankets, and a walk-up bar for others.

COVID sensitivity is part of the brand of Comedy on the Green, Dave Siegel says. But the couple hopes the unconventional seating appeals to an audience looking for a distinctively fun night out.

“We could have just done all black folding chairs, spaced them out. … But we wanted to do something cool. We wanted it to be a little different experience than a) a typical comedy club and b) just to utilize that beautiful space, with the lawn,” he says.

Comedy on the Green opens with an 8 p.m. Oct. 22 performance by Kurt Metzger, a writer for comic actors Sacha Baron Cohen and Amy Schumer. Miami comedian Kyle Grooms will be the warm-up act.

The VIP beach chairs near the front of the stage, sold in four-person pods for $71.75 per person,

STOCKER/SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL SUSAN Stephanie and Dave Siegel, organizers of Comedy on the Green, at Mizner Park Amphitheater, where the live comedy shows will take place.