Stand-up comedy comes to New Brookland Tavern

Stand-up comedy has made its way to Columbia’s oldest and longest running live music venue.

New Brookland Tavern is now home to a weekly open mic hosted by local comic Wesley O’Brien.

With the addition of this open mic, Columbia’s stand-up comedy scene now has three weekly open mics. That provides locals with more opportunities to see standup, while simultaneously providing local comics with more opportunities to practice their material. Local comic and cohost of the “Jokes at The Joint” open mic, Jorge Paz Soldan, thinks having multiple clubs be a vital asset to comics.

“I don’t think people realize, in comedy the most important thing is the spots,” Paz Soldan said. “It’s not like learning to play guitar, where you can just sit down and learn. You have to be in front of an audience to try out your jokes.”

The establishment of an open mic at New Brookland Tavern at its new location in Five Points has restored stand-up comedy as an art form to the venue. What became a well-established open mic at Art Bar, on Park Street in the Vista, started at New Brookland before moving to its current location.

New Brookland’s new owner Carlin Thompson was looking to add diversity to the venue, with an open mic being part of that vision, O’Brien said. 

The accessibility of New Brookland’s open mic is bolstered by its location and lack of age restriction. The open mics at Art Bar and The Joint on Main are open only to viewers who are at least 21 years of age. New Brookland’s proximity to the University of South Carolina and the foot traffic in Five Points doesn’t hurt.

Five Points helps the bar’s open mic compensate for being less established than the others.

“There are a decent amount of people who would see an ad on Instagram or somebody sharing something and come for that,” O’Brien said. “But there are plenty of people that will be walking outside and see the poster or chalkboard outside, and they’re like, oh OK, let’s watch some jokes.”

The open mic is hosted in the downstairs area of New Brookland, which allows it to absorb the boisterous atmosphere of the music shows taking place upstairs. For comics, it’s a unique experience in comparison.

“Tonight in particular, there was literally a metal show going on right above our heads when we were performing, so that’s new,” said local comic Samuel Smith. “But one day I feel like that could be a funny story, you know: I performed under a mosh pit.”

Open mic comedy at New Brookland Tavern is every Wednesday starting at 8 p.m. and is free to attend.