Bronzeville comedy club Jokes and Notes, the city's only black-owned comedy club, is closing its doors this week, owner Mary Lindsey told DNAinfo this morning.
Lindsey, who co-owned the South Loop club All Jokes Aside in the ’90s, opened Jokes and Notes in 2006. At All Jokes Aside, Lindsey helped nurture the careers of comics like Bernie Mac and Steve Harvey; Jokes and Notes has similarly served as an incubator for the likes of Deon Cole (whose first Comedy Central special premieres this weekend) and Milton “Lil Rel” Howery (who's now a regular on NBC's The Carmichael Show).
The Bronzeville resurgence that Lindsey hoped would follow her to the neighborhood hasn't come fast enough, she told DNAinfo, and on an average night the club filled less than half its 150-seat capacity. “I’ve seen improvements, but I think that in order to maintain good business here you have to put that on a fast forward because there is no way that businesses can thrive if there is no foot traffic here or restaurants and things for people,” she said.
Saturday night, which had been scheduled to be a tenth-anniversary tribute show, will now be an open mic for the club’s final night.