Everybody Laugh’s: Iowa City’s Stand-Up Comedy Scene

IOWA CITY, IOWA – Upon entrance to Yacht Club, located at 13 South Linn St. in Iowa City, it appears to be your average watering hole. A small group sits at the bar, sipping drinks and conversing with one another, and typical bar décor aligns the wall.

The basement, although draped with cheap Christmas lights and decorations, is dimly lit. Towards the front is a stage with a microphone and an inflated snowman, whose had many jokes made at its expense by Roxy, the bartender.

A collection of early patrons have arrived an hour early for Open Mic Comedy Mondays, hosted weekly by Dan Frana and Spencer Loucks, two local stand-up comedians. As the clock ticks closer to 9 p.m., the show’s scheduled start time, more people file into the basement, either finding a seat at a booth or table or heading to the backlit bar to take advantage of the buy one PBR, get one for a penny deal. Some order an appetizer while others sign up to get on stage.

Over the next two-and-a-half hours, around 12 people try their hand at stand-up comedy through five-minute sets. A few have their bits memorized, while others look through notes on their phone or flip the pages of a notebook. While jokes are often received with silence or a distant chuckle from the back, a commonality shared between comics is unwavered confidence. Everyone appears to be workshopping their new bits, and there’s a sense of community felt with each handover of the microphone.

“Give it up for yourselves!” says Loucks to a handful of quiet claps as he closes out the show around 11 p.m. “Yeah, good, you’re like, ‘Yeah, we weren’t great. We could’ve been better, we don’t deserve praise from ourselves.’”

Iowa City, long known as a hub for literature through the University of Iowa’s prestigious Iowa Writer’s Workshop, is designated as a UNESCO City of Literature. In an effort to become the self-proclaimed Greatest Small City for the Arts, movie theaters have been added downtown and festivals fill the streets to showcase local music and art. 

Underneath the art marketed by banners and city advertisements is a bumbling, almost-secret scene: stand-up comedy. Writers and aspiring comics flock to the city, working to hone their craft at open mics and local comedy showcases. 

For venues and artists in downtown Iowa City, stand-up comedy has been a long-running form of expression. Numerous bars and clubs have allowed comedians to get on stage and hone their crafts, including Yacht Club, who have been hosting open mics and comedy shows since they opened in 1988.

“As with everything, it has cycles where attendance goes up and down. Generally we have a good turnout and have throughout the history of open mic night,” said Jason Zeman, owner of Yacht Club. “We feel it’s very beneficial. Every opportunity for local artists to be seen and express themselves is positive and benefits the community. As long as the community continues to support us, we plan to keep comedy at the Yacht.”

Artists are often inspired by others, using their influential works to base their aspirations and create. In a place like Iowa City, art can become communal as many come together with a common goal of being seen, or heard. The support artists derive from one another is beneficial, something seen in the Iowa City stand-up scene.

Spencer Loucks, who has been doing comedy for eight years, has found himself working with a combination of regulars and newcomers as he’s helmed Yacht Club’s open mics “for a few years,” becoming ingrained in the comedy community. 

“Some of my best friends are people I met through comedy,” Loucks said. “A lot of people are learning, a lot of people are doing it just because. It’s a little bit of everything.”

Comedians can’t perform without an audience and with part of the comedy community being tight-knit, jokes rarely go unheard. Fears of crowds and public speaking are often roadblocks for those eager to perform, fears that may be calmed after a trip to an Open Mic Comedy Monday. 

The spotlight is on stand-ups in big comedy marketplaces such as New York and Chicago but with a lower-key comedy scene in Iowa City, the pressures of immediate success aren’t always felt. Iowa City is known for its receptiveness to art and it’s felt by local comedians. 

“[The crowds] are usually very supportive,” said Mike Lucas, who has been doing comedy in Iowa City for eight years. “They’re very well thought-out.” He did admit, however, that crowds can get “clingy” with offensive and “dirty” humor. 

The welcoming nature of Iowa City has led more students to get on stage at open mics. Students and locals intermix at events, with a wide range of acts to appeal to any walk of life. Iowa City comedy events are filled with welcoming crowds, the biggest key to a successful set. 

“Weirdly enough, I like the feeling of going out there and just doing it because crowds kinda scare me, so being out of my comfort zone there has helped me by more confident outside of stand-up,” said Cam Newton, a University of Iowa student with experience performing stand-up comedy. “My favorite part of comedy might just be interacting with the crowd. I never liked having a really rigid set, I want it to feel improvised in a way so if someone in the crowd says something I won’t be thrown off. It’s more about having fun and being natural rather than ‘acting’.”

Whether it’s a first-timer or an established comic, a warm welcome to the stage seems to go a long way. Everyone is encouraged to at least try and for some, it sticks and becomes a new hobby or potential career path.

The amount of people, namely students, trying stand-up comedy in Iowa City has increased in the last 10 years, according to Megan Gogerty, an Iowa City-based comic who teaches a stand-up comedy class at the University of Iowa. Gogerty says that Iowa City is her favorite place to perform due to the inclusive and welcoming crowds. When she started performing in Iowa City, Gogerty said it was mostly “townies” performing but has since seen it grow to the student population.

“Generationally there’s a hunger for stand-up comedy where more kinds of people are looking at stand-up comedy and finding a place for them,” Gogerty said. “So, there are more women, more LGBT and gender non-conforming students, way more trans students then there were 10 years ago doing comedy.”

Iowa City has seen comics like Tom Arnold and Gene Wilder pass through the city limits, proving that there is a path to success in town. The ambition of performing in big cities and larger venues drives beginning comics, which is greatly sensed in Yacht Club’s basement on a Monday night. 

Stand-up comedy has never felt more present in American culture and with Iowa City only working harder to become the Greatest Small City for the Arts, there may not be a better time to try comedy in Iowa City. 

For now, the stand-up comedy scene in Iowa City is small. But with the growing importance of comedy as social commentary and more student involvement, local comedians might be the ones who get the last laugh.