Another Gray Area

Funny Farm opens in Niles

Those lowered expectations had nothing to do with owner Dave Robich. Between his shows at the Liberty venue and the comedy shows he’s promoted at Powers Auditorium, no promoter has brought more current stars and future stars to the Mahoning Valley in my years as an entertainment writer.

But I saw what the club looked like on Monday when I was there to interview Dave for the cover story in this week’s Ticket. I’ve seen restaurants have shaky openings despite spending weeks training servers and kitchen staff, and with the last-minute approvals of inspectors and liquor control, it was clear the Funny Farm was going to have to hit the ground running.

And it did. We didn’t go for dinner, but the people sitting around me did, and they all had good things to say about their meals. And the prices seemed reasonable, especially judging by the portion sizes I noticed for some dishes. The people sitting next to me also were amazed at the reasonable bar prices. I’ll admit to being happy to see the bar had Great Lakes Brewery’s Eliot Ness Amber Lager on tap and even happier that it was only $3 a pint.

When I interviewed headliner Drew Hastings last week, the first question I asked him was what’s important to a comedian in a new comedy club. His answer? A good sound system. So what happened right when the show started? The sound system went out.

The emcee , Bill Boronkay, was a true pro, doing his set ``unplugged,’’ improvising a couple jokes about the situation and stalling for time while they figured out what was wrong (a blown fuse).

The sound was fixed and didn’t affect either headliner Hastings or featured act Quinn Patterson, both of whom delivered very funny sets. Patterson did some clever physical bits (his dramatization of a woman who hit a homeless man and drove home with him embedded in her windshield may have gotten the loudest laugh of the night). Hastings is the consummate comedy veteran, delivering a polished set of acerbic observations and riffs on relationships, animal rights groups and his experiences as a farmer.

Both shows tonight are sold out, and hopefully that will be a trend at the new venue.