Comedy club at Rivercenter closes after 25 years.
Closing of comedy venue marks end of an era that drew top comics
The Improv Comedy Club at Rivercenter, which over the last 25 years headlined some of the greatest names in stand-up comedy and developed a special niche for up-and-coming Latino comics, on Sunday permanently closed its doors.
As word of the closing spread, many club patrons reached out to owner Colleen Barshop and shared their memories.
Barshop said the club hadn’t done as well recently as in the past. So, with her retirement on the horizon and the club’s lease expiring, she took the opportunity to bow out. She’s been planning the closure for a few months and said she hadn’t known how much the announcement would affect the community.
“I didn’t know it was going to be such a big deal,” she said. “Last night, I had past employees and I had all the local comics,
and I was just in tears. All night they kept going on and on with me, they brought me flowers . ... I was so touched and so honored.”
Barshop also operates Laugh Out Loud near Blanco Road and Loop 410. That location will continue to operate, but Barshop is stepping back from the daily operations. She sold 50 percent of the business to Dallas-based Improv and said she’ll stay on as a consultant for now.
“After almost 26 years, it’s time for me to take a break,” she said. “I’ve had a wonderful 25 years, don’t get me wrong. I have felt so honored to be able to give people jobs ... and I’ve had employees that have been with me since the beginning, which is really rare in this business.”
Barshop, a former restaurant and rock ’n’ roll nightclub operator, had dreamed of bringing live comedy to downtown San Antonio. She and her husband, real estate investor Bruce Barshop, opened it as the RiverCenter Comedy Club in June 1993. It quickly became a respected venue in a golden age of comedy stars, drawing acts like George Lopez, Drew Carey and Chris Rock.
“Comedy was taking off,” said Monika Maeckle, who handled their public relations in the early days. “It was a fun gig.”
Several comedians paid tribute to the Shops at Rivercenter venue on Facebook over the weekend.
One man said he finished his last performance at the club Sunday night with the first joke he ever performed on stage. A woman reminisced about the days when the club had sold-out audiences “week after week, year after year.”
“This is the place that made me the comic who I am, going to open mic every weekend so the manager can see me and book me to open,” Facebook user Clifton Simmons posted early Monday morning. “At one point I got a job inside the mall just so I can be close to the club for when I get off. Made a lot of good friends, I’m going to miss this place good times good memories.”
Another comic, Aaron Cheatham, echoed the sentiment.
“So proud I was able to be a part of the last show at Rivercenter Comedy Club,” Cheatham posted to Facebook. “This is the place I started, and will forever be a part of me. Thanks for the education and the good times.”
It helped that the Barshops cultivated connections with Los Angeles talent agents Jimmy Miller, Rick Messina, Rich Miller and Dave Becky to help score big names such as Jeff Foxworthy, Carlos Mencia, Jon Stewart, Pablo Francisco, Willie Barcena, George Lopez and Gabriel Iglesias.
The “comedy club in the mall” became one of the venues for the Latino Laugh Festival in 1996, which was taped and broadcast on Showtime. Acts included celebrities Edward James Olmos, Héctor Elizondo, Daisy Fuentes, Culture Clash, Rosie Perez, Erik Estrada, María Conchita Alonso, Mario Lopez, Geraldo Rivera and Cheech Marin.
San Antonio’s Rick Gutierrez and El Paso’s Freddy Soto got their first big shots there.
“I didn't get into it for the money,” Barshop told the Express News in 2013. “It's just so wonderful, to see young comics succeed. I'm most proud of being able to give people jobs. Some have been with me for years.”