Marshall Chiles, former operator of Laughing Skull Lounge in Midtown, is opening standup comedy club Whiplash in the former City Winery restaurant space above the concert venue at Ponce City Market in Atlanta. He hopes to open in mid-2026. (Rodney Ho/AJC)
New comedy club Whiplash is set to open later this year at Ponce City Market in the space above City Winery.
Marshall Chiles, who operated Laughing Skull Lounge in Midtown for 16 years, gave The Atlanta Journal-Constitution an exclusive tour of the 6,000-square-foot space behind Dancing Goats Coffee Shop. He signed a 10-year lease Dec. 31, with an option to extend another five years.
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Marshall Chiles stands on the spot where the elevated stage will be for his new Whiplash Comedy Club at Ponce City Market on Jan. 5, 2026. (Rodney Ho/AJC)
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Bob Place (left), general manager of Laughing Skull Lounge (seen here with Ian Aber, booking agent for Laughing Skull) says that “two clubs in competition will only make both clubs better.” (Courtesy)
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Chiles (left) poses with actor/comedian Hannibal Buress after a taping of Buress’ podcast at Laughing Skull. (Rodney Ho/AJC FILE)
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Chiles has a quarter-century history in comedy, both as a comic and as operator of Laughing Skull Lounge. (Lauren Grundhoefer)
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Rodney Ho writes about entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution including TV, radio, film, comedy and all things in between. A native New Yorker, he has covered education at The Virginian-Pilot, small business for The Wall Street Journal and a host of beats at the AJC over 20-plus years. He loves tennis, pop culture & seeing live events.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.ajc.com ’
