Charlie Goodnights in Raleigh is a national comedy hot spot
A couple of weeks ago we talked about a great night out Amy and some friends had seeing Seinfeld at the Durham Performing Arts Center.
No doubt, it’s a great place to see a show here in the Triangle. However, for true fans of stand-up comedy, the ideal choice is Goodnights Comedy Club in Downtown Raleigh, which is one of the nation’s most respected clubs for its old-school, hard-scrabble comedy vibe. The USA Today called it one of the country’s best places to “sit down and experience stand-up.”
Tight spaces, small tables and drink minimums only start to characterize Goodnights. It has the prototypical chipped, half-eroded brick backdrop looming over a cramped stage that all but shoves the star into the first collection of tables. And we can’t say “rows” when referring to the seating arrangement. It’s more like the result of drunk college kids having arranged the chairs around a keg stand competition. There’s just no real rhyme or reason to it.
But that is what makes it so great.
Goodnights can certainly make for a “nice night out” if that’s what you’re looking for, because it does have a restaurant upstairs, The Grill at Goodnights, that can serve you dinner before each show. But honestly, the dinner just feels rushed when it’s scheduled around the hard start time of each act. The food is good, don’t get us wrong, but the best experience comes when the lights go down and the host steps under the flood.
Seinfeld has had laughs at Goodnights; as has Leno, Ellen DeGeneres (if she ever does stand-up again—go—she’s incredible) and Chris Rock, among just about every other comedy legend.
Bobby Lee is in town this weekend, who we admit to not knowing a ton about but he has been on MadTV, Comedy Central and a host of other national comedy tour stops.
If you need something to do this weekend, or any weekend, don’t forget about Raleigh’s Charlie Goodnight’s Comedy Club. It’s a great time.