HISTORY
Philadelphia’s premiere comedy club, The Laff House, enjoys top positioning in its segment of the market in the 5th largest entertainment hub in the country. Amongst its competitors, The Laff House boasts unparalleled name recognition, industry favor, patron loyalty and talent acquisition. The Laff House operates on a 13 hour per week schedule, averaging 5 shows per weekend. All revenue is generated by admissions receipts. Local competition struggles to achieve comparable patronage while operating extended hours with additional incremental costs. Its online presence, an informational website, www.LaffHouse.com, currently attracts approximately 2000 hits per week, with more than 100 of those unique hits remaining on the site for over a minute. The Laff House has without fail been at the forefront of an emerging market but has not capitalized on its growth. However, through consistent quality programming, it has remained relevant, visible and a mainstay with its core constituency. The Laff House has not adequately capitalized on its name recognition.
After over 20 years in existence, some refer to the Laff House as the International House of Comedy (IHOC). Much like the International House of Pancakes, the Laff House provides their patrons with just the right mix of well-known and emerging talents in the comedy arena. People from all walks of life go to the Laff House for the best and brightest comedians.
The Laff House is a comedy club that reflects the diverse atmosphere that South Street is synonymous for.
In 1985 the doors of the “Funny Bone”, opened up to the public, offering adults an
alternative to the club and restaurant scene on South Street. The funny bone provided budding humorist a soapbox to stand on and an audience, to amuse.
This became more frequent when the Funny Bone underwent a series of transformations when it became “Catch a Rising Star” in 1996. This further solidified the club’s objective to focus on emerging talent. The comedy club remained loyal to amateur comedians while increasing their recruitment of well-known humorists.
Famed comedian David Brenner created more exposure while also attracting more nationally recognized comedians when he took over the comedy club in and called it ” David Brenner’s Laff House” in 1997.
The Comedy Club went through, yet another transition in December of l997, when
comedian and actor Dee Lee took over the club and put into place/two navigators (Mona Wilkerson and Roderick Millwood), to oversee the operation.
The Laff House has been a major stop for all comedians on tour and has been home to
people such as Ralph Harris, Elaine Boozier, Mike Epps, Pierre, J B smooth, Tommy Davidson,Thea Vidal, Michael Shawn, Earthquake, Rudy Ray Moore, Bro Man, Turae, Michael
Blackson, Denny Live, Dom Irrera, Kevin Hart just to name a few.
This is Now!
The Laff House has new ideas under its new management. Mona and Rod continue to run the Laff House’s day to day operations. This dynamic duo has over 60 years of experience in the business administration and entertainment field. Their experience and know how has continued to be the backbone to the success of this comedy club.
The Laff House currently has a lineup of diverse entertainment ranging from Amateur night to spoken word. There objective is to create an atmosphere that is conducive to fun, laughter and just a great time. In a society that is plagued with a myriad of social ills the best anecdote is laughter.
For more information concerning upcoming events and ticket prices Please call the Laff House at 215.440.4242 or check out their web site at www.laffhouse.com
Laffhouse on Twitter