Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle — Attraction in Royal Oak

I’ve been coming to Comedy Castle for years. It’s always been one of our favorite date night spots — a place where my husband and I could relax, laugh, and enjoy ourselves. But after what happened last night, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to come back.

We were at the late show, just having fun. I interacted a little with the comedian — something that’s always been a part of these late sets. She was engaging with me, laughing, playing along. If she had asked me to stop, I would have. But she didn’t. Instead, another guest began loudly harassing me from the crowd. Security saw what was happening and did absolutely nothing. I was being called out and targeted for simply enjoying myself the same way we’ve done here many times before.

After the show, things got worse. The same woman who had been yelling at me inside came up and knocked a drink out of my hand. And once again, security stood there and did nothing. But this time, they didn’t just ignore the problem — they turned it on me.

They cornered me, like I was the one who had done something wrong. Then a security guard — who hadn’t even seen what happened — screamed at my husband to “get me under control.” I can’t explain how small and powerless I felt in that moment.

Yes, I was upset. I had just been threatened and physically assaulted. I was scared. I was shaking. And instead of being helped, I had an employee of the venue now shouting over me, talking through me, and telling my husband — my equal — to control me, like I was some hysterical woman who couldn’t speak for herself. I was being spoken about like I wasn’t even there. I just wanted someone to protect me, and no one did.

Eventually, the manager came out. He was calm and kind, and I was relieved that someone finally seemed to understand what was happening. He offered to walk us outside, and for a moment I felt like it might be okay.

But then — it happened again.

As we stood there speaking calmly with the manager, the same man who had been involved earlier came running up to us, screaming. He ripped off his shirt in the middle of the street and explicitly said he was going to fight me. And yet again — security and your manager just stood there and let it happen.

At that point, I was so afraid. I realized no one was going to help me, no matter what happened. So my husband and I left. We drove a few blocks away, trying to calm down and salvage what was left of our night.

Then the police showed up.

Apparently, your staff had called and reported that we were the ones starting a fight. A complete lie. The officers saw how calm we were, listened to what we had to say, and told us to enjoy the rest of our evening. It was clear even they knew how badly this situation had been misrepresented.

I don’t even know how to put into words what I felt last night — the fear, the helplessness, the humiliation. I went out hoping for a fun evening with my husband, and instead I was harassed, physically confronted, and blamed for it. I wasn’t protected. I was treated like a problem.

We didn’t initiate anything. We were just trying to enjoy the show — like we’ve done here so many times before.

Last night, I wasn’t just harassed by other guests — I was failed by Comedy Castle while they allowed other guests to threaten me, shove me, spill my drink, and follow me out into the streets while I was just trying to leave.

Regardless of how anyone felt about my behavior during the show — which, to my knowledge, violated no venue policies — there is never an excuse for physical violence, threats, or allowing a guest to be followed into the street. No amount of crowd interaction warrants the kind of fear and danger I was put in. The failure to act wasn’t just disappointing — it was...

Show was amazing comics were great. The reason for the bad review is not because of them it’s because of people in the show sitting by us and how we were treated. There were 3 women sitting next to our table and they wouldent shut up the entire show. And I don’t mean laughing I mean talking. At a comedy show your supposed to go to laugh not talk about what your doing the rest of the week. They were calling out the comics jokes and called the one guy misogynistic. Which is stupid because it’s a joke apparently they didn’t get that part. They were so loud and 2 were drunk out of their minds. We politely shussed them and then they started mocking us for that as if we were in the wrong. They were so loud we could barely hear the jokes. To make a long story short we finally called them out and everyone around us backed us up the entire show was basically telling them to shut tf up. The one lady then goes over to a manager and this is the big problem she tells him that out table was the problem and they wanted to move seats and he believed her and when they moved seats they let everybody know they were. They moved 5 tables down and we could still hear them talking as if they were right next to us. It was our first time there and it was horrible. Staff backed up people talking during the entire show and ruining it. Absolutly horrible. The manager actually asked us after “what are you guys gonna do about it fight 3 women” and we were like absolutly not but we’re gonna tell them to shut up since they are talking the entire show. That was a disgrace by the manager and that’s the problem with people nowadays you can talk during the entire show so people can’t hear the jokes and then when you call them out for it your the bad guy. Shout out to whoever was the manager tonight for being an absolute jerk and not doing his job. They literally play a video before the show starts from the manager saying to not talk keep your phones away etc etc and they did all that and the manager backed them up. Anyway I’m glad everybody around us which was about 20 plus people backed us up. I don’t know why people like them go to comedy shows if your gonna rip on the comida for making dumb and stupid jokes you don’t like when they are jokes then why are you even there in the first place. 2 out of the three were drunk out of their minds if they want to drink and talk go to a bar not a comedy show. Horrible show and management and we will never be returning. Just saw a show at the Royal oak music theatre by joe gatto and there was about 800 more people there and nobody talked during it only laughed. Which is what your supposed to do. I hope whoever was that manager tonight gets a talking to and learns to do his job the right way and actually enforce what the owner says in the video...

I attended a comedy show here for the first time yesterday, and while I enjoyed the headliner's act immensely, I'm not sure I'd be inclined to return. The bald white bouncer who works there treated my partner and I, two mild mannered nondrinkers, as if we were unruly drunks when we attempted to enter the venue with tickets in hand after other guests had already been seated. He insisted, we go to the coat check window and show our tickets for some unknown reason. This process was not intuitive, nor was it posted on any signs that we could see, yet the bouncer was visibly upset with us for not showing our tickets at coat check first. The coat check lady pointed us right back to the bouncer after a cursory inspection of our tickets. He then let us in without explaining why he couldn't be bothered to look at our tickets himself. (Maybe he's illiterate.) It seemed like a completely unnecessary, confusing hoop to jump through. If it's a house rule, fair enough, but the process was anything but intuitive, and the bouncer was anything but courteous or professional.

The seating area was cramped and uncomfortable, and our seats, perplexingly, did not face the stage. Instead they were at a 90 degree angle to the stage. It was not possible to rotate our chairs easily due to how closely the tables were packed together, so we were forced to watch an 2 hour show with our heads turned to the side.

Our server was very nice, but due to the venue's two drink (or food item) minimum, she was forced to interrupt our viewing of the comedians on stage to take our orders and bring the bill. Our server was the reason this was not a one star review. She was as professional as circumstances allowed but the repeated interruptions to sell us the mandatory concessions got old around her third or fourth trip...