Ice House Closes Indefinitely

Across its illustrious 60-year history, the Ice House comedy club in Pasadena has played host to thousands of comedians, including some of the biggest legends in the industry. Its sterling sound system is regarded as the best in the nation, a detail borne of the fact that the club was initially also a music venue during its earliest days in the ‘60s.

The nation’s oldest comedy club had already undergone a stunning change last fall when Los Angeles Lakers’ co-owner Johnny Buss bought the club from longtime owner Bob Fisher. But an even bigger shock hit this week, as the mirth-making institution shuttered its doors to comply with new statewide emergency rules limiting public gatherings in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.

“For the first time since opening in 1960, we’ve decided to close our doors indefinitely,” said Mitchell Adams-Fisher, the son of Fisher and a key member of the new management team. “This is due of course to the coronavirus, but also because we are proceeding with some major renovations, originally scheduled for mid-May. I don’t have a set reopening date yet.”

The move comes as a disappointment, as Buss’ team had been booking a bevy of major stars in the club. One major standup star left in the cold was former “MAD TV” star Bobby Lee, who had been scheduled to host and headline “Bombing with Bobby Lee” on Tuesday night before the St. Patrick’s Day shenanigans were shut down.

However, on Monday night, the club played host to a live stream of the popular podcast “Kill Tony,” which draws thousands of viewers on YouTube every week. The show retrenched at the Ice House main stage after its usual home, the Comedy Store, shut its doors as well.

The Store’s indefinite closing was even more of a shock to the comedy community, as the famed Sunset Strip institution had long boasted of being open 365 nights a year, including Christmas and Thanksgiving. Fellow Sunset Strip perennial The Laugh Factory had initially attempted to stay open by limiting crowd sizes and spacing out showtimes further apart, but also succumbed to the state’s new cautionary rules.

For its part, the Hollywood Improv – owned by national club chain Levity Live – also closed its doors. Yet it also provided the most detailed notice of the four main comedy clubs, giving a more detailed look at the mindset of club managers amid an unprecedented crisis.

“While we have already implemented serious operational precautions and intensified sanitization practices to safeguard everyone, it has become necessary to make more extreme adjustments to our business and operations in order to do our part and help reduce opportunities for exposure,” the Improv’s statement reads, in part. “We are strictly following the recommendations and professional advice of state and local public health departments and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. From now until the end of March, our owned and operated live comedy venues will take an intermission.

“While some events will unfortunately need to be canceled, we are currently focused on working with artists and promoters to determine how best to reschedule each event for your enjoyment. As you can imagine, this takes time, so we truly appreciate your patience and understanding as we navigate this new territory.

While our comedy showrooms are offline for the next few weeks, we will keep the comedy conversation going online across our social media channels. Tune in for some laughs and surprises.”

The Ice House offered a shorter, yet heartfelt, note from Buss on its site: “It breaks my heart to silence laughter inside the Ice House at this time but we will take advantage of this time to regroup and remodel. Keep safe, wash your hands often, practice social distancing and the laughs will return again soon.”

One comic offering a special take on all the closings is fast-rising Store and Ice House act Ryan Joseph. While he’s saddened to see silence emanating from longtime houses of hilarity, he found a meaningful upside.

“It’s actually a nice reprieve from the grind,” says Joseph. Everything stops and you get a chance to sit back and appreciate how awesome it is to be able to perform, to have shows and people not afraid of dying to come to a club. I took it all for granted.”