The Catalyst Comedy Club is located at the Boston Button Factory at 50 Melcher Street, which does…read morenot have a Yelp Profile at the time of this review. Neither did Boston's Unscripted Musical Project (B.U.M.P.), which is what I came to see. But I was feeling lazy and so I didn't start up a profile for either. I don't head over to the Seaport District much, particularly at night, but it was a short walk from South Station, and gave me the chance to check out Flour for dinner beforehand. Alternatively, Blue Dragon is right there on the corner of Melcher Street and A Street, bordering the same No Restaurant Parking as the Boston Button Factory. According to a gentleman I met, the nearby metered spot turned into permit parking after hours but there's $8 parking a short walk away at the Gillette lot - I think he meant the parking lot at 284 A Street. Looks like it is cash only and $5 on weekends. Some facts about the space - it is a raw space that they filled with folding chairs, there are stairs leading down into the space and a step to the single restroom, so take care if you are able bodied, and if you are not, I'm not sure you can get yourself into this basement space; doors open a half hour before show time; seating is general seating (aka first come first served); BYOB (within reason). A focus of the Catalyst Comedy Club is to enable local comedians to develop their talent locally, which is cool, and so, as such, there was an opening act before the BUMP feature act. And thus, my review moves on from the Catalyst Comedy Club to the performance... According to the introduction, the opening act had won a competition. I found that hard to believe, though I will admit that I did laugh out loud once. As I walked towards South Station with a couple after the show, I found them to be in agreement, so it wasn't just me. We did, however, enjoy BUMP's opening (and closing) production of "Superman's Underpants" as suggested by a boy located in the front row with his mom and siblings, and created on the spot with multiple acts and songs, with heroes and villains, with love and conflict and cats. Lots of cats. Sure, there was no finesse to the show, but that is to be expected, given the premise, though a few pauses were starting to get awkward. Through both performances, however, I noticed a theme of joking about disliking kids, which I found to be rather in poor taste given the three children seated right there, in the first row on the left. It was approximately half hour opening act, 1 hour BUMP. For more info: www.bumpcomedy.com. www.theatreinboston.com/theatre/boston-button-factory/8

On Saturday night, I checked out a preview show of Boston's Unscripted Musical Project (B.U.M.P.)…read moreat Catalyst Comedy Club (C3). The show was hilarious! Thanks to an audience suggestion, the title of the musical that was made up on the spot that night was "Tai Chi Sasquatch". All the lines & the songs were made up in the moment, not pre-planned. The cast included some Improv Boston & Improv Asylum former cast members, so they have the skills to make things up and still be funny & entertaining. After the musical, the cast added more performers and did some "freeze" scenes. It was a fun night out, and I look forward to seeing the future performances and performers that come to the "C3" space. The performance space is a former factory that hosts art shows during the day, so it's kind of a blank canvas to work with.

I've been meaning to check out the free "Your Terrible Ex!" show at The Riot Theater for a few…read moremonths now. But it takes place at 10pm on a Friday night, and I tend to have to wake up early the next day. So what finally brought me out to this area of JP? A free ComedySportz Improv show courtesy of CSZ Boston and the Yelp Elite Culture Club. With ComedySportz at 8pm - 9:30pm (free for me that night only, otherwise $15 plus $1.50 fee) and Your Terrible Ex! from 10pm - 11:30pm (free all the time, whether for you or for me), I decided, yes, it was time. I would show up for the first, and just simply stay put for the 2nd. Being a girl arriving by myself, I drove by maybe 6-8 times before a driver magically appeared to get into the car situated right on the corner by The Riot Theater. I didn't want to park too long a walk away, although there were some spots maybe 3 blocks off on South Street. According to their website, The Riot Theater, is housed in A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra's storefront rehearsal space, and seeks to bring quality comedy to a part of Boston that has a wealth of support for the arts but little in the way of a regular comedy scene. ComedySportz was fun and entertaining, and entirely family friendly - but I knew this already from a past experience. Ideas were requested of the audience, so it was interactive and what I imagine improv to be - thinking on your feet with information that you have no control over. A myriad of games were played, each with its own name and rules, such as Pile Up, Dirty Hand Randy, Five Things, I Can Do Better, Four Corners, Twinsies (with actual physical audience participation) and 185. I found out that night for the first time that ComedySportz is not just a Boston Institution, but is located in 23 cities across the country, and even in Manchester, UK and Berlin, Germany! That was pretty cool. After the ComedySportz crowd (aka tonight's loyal fans) exited to high fives from our show's cast, a new group took over the space, removed the score screen, set up some folding chairs along the stage, and adjusted the audience's seating a bit. We were told that Your Terrible Ex! would start 5 min late as always. A single private bathroom was available for use, and concessions were available at a table by the entrance. As often happens at events, the headlining show was preceded by a pre-show. And this evening, the guest comedy troupe was The Gorge, a four person group. Perhaps I missed something, but I didn't remember any audience participation. They just flung themselves into acting out a number of situations that confused me and seemed to confuse their improv partners as well. After The Gorge were done, Naffy Improv took over the stage for Your Terrible Ex!, interviewing one eager audience volunteer about his ex with whom he and his current girlfriend (who had introduced them) were no longer friends with. Taking from the interview the fact that he'd gone to museums on dates with this art student ex, the cast ran with it and came up with a skit that took place in a museum. Swears and certain intimate body parts were tossed nilly willy. The scene from Ghost was reinacted to a degree. Children died. Wine was bought; then promptly broken over someone's head. Oregano was requested. Naffy did a bit better on the improv front. Professionally, both groups were a bit lacking, as they would react to each other's bits when as actors they should not have. But hey, it was a free show that runs on donations. Based on this one visit, my order of preference by sheer entertainment value would be: ComedySportz, Naffy, guest group. Background music beat through the wall from Jeanie Johnston Pub & Grill next door, where it was suggested that we could grab a quick shot since The Riot Theater didn't have anything alcoholic.

This review is for Riot Stand Up Comedy at the Riot Theater in Roslindale, Saturday night at 10pm…read more I would not recommend this comedy venue for anyone over the age of about 30. On this evening, the audience was made up of comics and friends and partners of comics, and then there was our group. It's a very small space, so we immediately stuck out. Initially we didn't find the host or the first couple of comics very funny, and we politely chuckled and smiled. As the night wore on, the comics seemed to take offense that we were not laughing, and took it as a personal challenge to "break" us down, until toward the end of the evening the entire focus was on us. The jokes also got more vulgar with one pointing to our group to see if we might want to try a couples swap. The last straw was the next comic who worked himself up to saying he wanted to blank us and we just walked out. I can understand that this is a venue for budding comics to try develop a craft, but this group of 20- and 30-somethings couldn't connect outside their own generation. Some jokes were mildly funny, but too many had obscure references and missing punch lines. Even more, most of them didn't grasp the basic concept of comedy--present your material and if it doesn't get a laugh, you move on rather than take offense and single out or bully people not laughing.

Feels like a second home and I can't wait to see what the future holds after the construction of…read morethe new space. I'm very impressed by Courtney and all the other instructors and performers who have built such a welcoming community. The Rozzie Square Theater hosts so many fun shows such as the signature ComedySportz which was my gateway into the space. I've also attended the monthly Queer Comedy, annual AAPI festival, free drop in, student showcases and more. Courtney makes trying improv extremely accessible so I've had the pleasure of bringing several friends to try it themselves. So far I've also taken the Improv for Anxiety and 1A/B, and 2A class series (8 weeks for each) so far each with different instructors. If you are even slightly curious about improv and/or comedy this is a great place to try!

This place was a great find. Really cute club for break out comedians. Intimate space and well run.read more

Came in expecting a few laughs and ended up laughing the whole night . Great atmosphere and…read morehilarious comics. Definitely recommend checking it out!

Very well run comedy experience! 1 musical opener (1 song), 2 comedic openers, and 1 comedic…read moreheadliner at the show I went to. I appreciate that every seat has some kind of table in front of it for food and drinks, definitely makes the experience more comfortable. The mobile ordered from your seat and delivery mid show is awesome too! Also a $4 cocktail (jungle juice) is pretty much unheard of these days. Great experience overall.

So I went here by accident . The place is good . Good prices to see a comedian . They actually are…read morefunny . They sell drinks inside . Not sure about food . Parking is difficult but if you find it , it's metered. You're better off going to the parking garage it's reasonable. The vibe is friendly and welcoming . The vibe is friendly.

The Brockton outpost of Nick's Comedy Stop is located in the Maui Restaurant. They have shows on…read moreSaturday nights that cost $15. I went here with a group of friends last Sat night. We saw 3 comics; the whole show was about 1.5 hours. Shows begin at 9 and they start selling tickets at 7:30. You can eat dinner in the function room prior to the show (not recommended; see separate review) and full service (food, drinks) is available during the show as well. The comics were pretty good but seriously, $15 to see a show at a restaurant in Brockton? There were over 100 people there. Maui is making a killing. I think $10 would be more reasonable for the area.

Just recently my wife and I recently attended our first concert here. The concert was for Bilmuri,…read moreThe Home Team, as well as GANG for the opening act. It was a phenomenal concert with such great energy from the crowd. MGM Music Hall has the Pit/General admission on the bottom level then two upper levels that have assigned tables and seats as well as some standing general admission spots behind seats too. Overall a good set up but can only really speak to the bottom level GA experience. Plenty of bars throughout the building with minimal lines and the mocktails we got were decently priced for a concert venue. They also had a tablet for ordering food and we got a chicken Ceasar wrap and had fries. It was only $13 which I was surprised due to the venue and speed at which it arrived was very quick. Despite the five stars I will say some negatives of the venue do exist. They could realistically have more bathrooms available with the woman's on first floor and men's on second floor. Also due to the overall design of the venue merch booth lines were a little out of control going up the levels. Lastly they offered an early entry add on for tickets for $20 a piece which with the heat outside made it tempting while waiting in normal line expecting they'd be let in 15-30 minutes early. Well....not so much, when in reality they were let in a mere 5 minutes earlier than us maybe even less. $40 for 5 minutes is not worth it in my opinion and glad I didn't buy it. Overall a music venue worth checking out!

A little over a year later and it's still a 5 star venue. I was visiting town and after my first…read morevisit decided, last minute, to catch the Dropkick Murphys' St Patty's show. I was in Sec. 201, Row C and had a great view. Entrance and exit was easy. The limited interactions I had with staff, were all positive. The sound was great and I don't think there's a bad seat in house. Yes, drinks are expensive but can someone please tell me which music venues have cheap drinks now days?! Ignore the negative reviews, most seem to complain about drink prices or someone standing in front of them. The things that matter are all solid, easy entry/exit, great sound and views, plus seats are pretty comfy.

I'll try to leave the review of the bar separate from that of the show but it may be hard to do…read moresince the bar is kind of integral to the experience. Got to Hennessy's right around 7:30 which is what the tickets said and were told to wait outside at a different entrance to the bar which was where the show takes place. After 5 minutes of standing in the bone chilling cold wishing I had been invited in for a drink we were ushered upstairs to the show area. Plastic tables and chairs in caberet style seating face the stage with a walk up bar featuring lackluster appetizers and selection are at your disposal during the entire show. After a half hour of chit chat with the people at our table the show began right on time at 8PM. Have to give a HUGE shoutout to the dedication and energy of the performers the 6 of them all did an amazing job making sure the crowd was into it and the people were happy. Drinking games, short sketches depicting typical bar experiences and a little improv comedy mixed with audience participation all made for a fun night. This show is for the 21+ crowd and so is the humor, I found it to be spot on for the most part. Most people at the show were between 25-35 with few exceptions such as the 70 year old couple at our table who i do not think understood even one joke the whole night. So why 3 stars. minus one star for sketchy bar and minus one star for the price tag. 20 bucks a ticket seemed overpriced for the just over one hour the show lasted. Also while the material was funny it seemed to be missing something that i just can't put my finger on. Overall, Great to see once but I do not think I would go again.

I took my girlfriend to the show this past week and overall I was disappointed. I am a fan of…read moretheater and comedy shows however, this struggled in both arenas. The positives were the location and opening stand up comedian. Centered amongst the historic taverns of Bell in Hand and the Union Oyster Bar, we had a great time hanging out before the show. There were several much needed improvements. Outright the show wasn't funny. Much of the acting had a forced feeling and over emphasized how "wild and crazy" drinking at bar can be. It was like high school drama nerd meets MTV reality show. The price of $20/person was fine if the show was good. However for what it was the least they could have done was provide the first drink free or reduced. In all fairness there were people who seemed to find the show amusing but they also seemed like they never got out.

Awesome place!!! I had no idea what to expect for their 5 pm Sunday improv show. What I got was:…read more- Really easy to find - Get there a bit early otherwise you'll be standing in the back without a chair - Show up and if you want to do some improv, drop your name in the jar - And if you don't, just sit back and watch - About 1 1/2 hours of complete improv by the audience and only the audience The MC picks names from the jar, gives a small prompt, and then the group (2 or 8 or however many are up there) have around 1-4 minutes to make it happen. It was fun to watch. A very tiny venue with no food except for some small bites at the entrance, so expect, at least for this performance, to have fun and then go out for dinner elsewhere.

Not going to lie, I was a bit let down. For the experience that I got, I don't think it was worth a…read more$12 ticket. Overall felt very mediocre and wasn't all that funny. The show also lasted a little under an hour, and for $12 I just expected a bit more. Some things to consider: it's tiny so seats fill up fast. Also, there's no food/drinks except for water, a few chip options ($3), and pickles (which was interesting...)