After a flurry of controversy, the Blue Room Comedy Club has closed its doors in downtown Springfield. However, comedy fans won’t have to wait long before the stage lights up again.
Adam Norwest, owner of BARK Entertainment, confirmed to the News-Leader that his company will be bringing Springfield Comedy Club to the location at 420 W. College St.
Though leasing the same location, BARK Entertainment and Springfield Comedy Club are not associated with Blue Room Comedy Club, which was owned by Christopher Richele. A post in a Springfield Reddit forum questioned a general manager listing for the Springfield Comedy Club, with some posters saying it was Richele starting a new business.
“We are not involved with (Blue Room Comedy Club) in any way. Obviously it’s the same location, but no Blue Room management,” Norwest said.
In the past month, Richele and Blue Room have been in the news after comedians canceled shows and posted on social media about not being paid. KY3’s Ashley Reynolds reported that comedians were “blacklisting” Blue Room. Richele has not replied to the News-Leader’s request for comment as of publication.
Norwest is aiming for a Dec. 12 opening, in time for the Matt McCusker shows on Dec. 12 and Dec. 13. The McCusker shows had initially been canceled, but Norwest was able to re-book them and says he will honor previously purchased tickets for them.
“We are hustling through paperwork and saying ‘pretty please’ to every city and state person that we can,” Norwest said. “I think we’re going to need a couple prayers on our side, too, but we should get there.”
Norwest said he is well aware of the situation Blue Room Comedy Club left behind.
“We are aware that there are a lot of burned customers. We’re so much about comedy and the reputation of comedy and the comedians care, too,” Norwest said. “We’re working on a program to honor tickets that were never honored, even though that money is going to come out of our pocket, because we want to start off on the best foot …”
“I want to earn the right for you to spend your money with us.”
Norwest used to perform comedy himself and “traveled all over the country” before deciding to settle down. With BARK Entertainment, he first opened a comedy club in Tacoma, Washington, then branched out to parts of the Midwest including Wisconsin, Indiana, and Oklahoma.
When the opportunity came to open a club in Springfield, Norwest said he jumped at it because of the city’s reputation.
“Comics always spoke really highly of Springfield audiences. There’s 200 clubs in the country, maybe, and Springfield audiences were often listed by comics as some of the best audiences,” he said. “Having a club in Tulsa, which is just a couple hours away, when this opportunity became available, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we have to do this.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.news-leader.com ’
