Jukebox Comedy Club — Restaurant in Peoria

Review Date: August 22nd, 2013

Unlike the comedy club, there will be no jokes in this blog post.

Just kidding. What kind of post would this be if I didn’t incorporate my light-hearted humor? A rather dull one, that is. On this humor-filled night, my friends invited me to a show in which they had an extra ticket. After visiting the Funny Bone Comedy Club in Columbus, OH, I knew I couldn’t turn it down.

The comedian for the night was Brett Erickson. He was doing some farewell shows to Peoria before he moved out to Vegas or California to try his luck out there. His routine was very casual and hilarious. He wasn’t setting up long gags or made up stories. The jokes he told were unique and sometimes he made fun of Central Illinois, which got the crowd laughing.

My friends and I left the club with a big smile on our face and our sides hurting from laughing so much. Since this one show, I’ve gone back to another show with another friend and had just as much fun.

As for refreshments and food, I do know they serve alcohol as I got beer the first time I came here. I believe they have a small food menu but don’t quote me on that. It has been a few years since I’ve been here.

The parking lot is small and on a crowded night, I could see it causing some issues if you don’t get there early. But I do believe there is additional parking at the strip club next door. Yes, there is (or was, I don’t know if it is still there) a strip club next to this club.

If you are lucky, you may catch the comedian outside the club after the show is over. We got to meet Brett Erickson after my first visit there. You can also meet some of the local comedians who show up to do open stage. One of my friends does open stage and loves it.

If you are a bit strapped for cash, the comedy club also offers Birthday Special shows where you can get in free if its your birthday month. You’ll have to check the website to see which shows are free and if they offer any additional discounts.

Peoria can be a drab. Central Illinois can be a bore. If you need a night out and a stitch in your side from laughing so much, swing by the Jukebox to scratch that itch.

Joke time!

Where does a king keep his armies?…. In his sleevies! What is brown and sticky?…. A stick! An Oedipus complex is when you say one thing and mean a mother. I was giving away some dead batteries…. free of charge. My new years resolution was to read more…. so I enabled subtitles on my tv.

Thank you everyone, I will be here...

To be clear, we did have a fun night, and it was only $15 per ticket. When you drive up and walk in, there is a bit of a "what is going on here?" feeling. Luckily, we had seen pictures on google and have a pretty good sense of adventure so we weren't bothered too much by this. There is definitely a musty smell, the ceiling tiles are sagging and stained in places. I don't think they have updated since they opened in the 90's. But, it seemed tidy, wiped down, etc. I used the bathroom a couple times and they were clean and well lit, just utilitarian at best. Once they find your name on the online order list - they give you these re-used tickets which likely is not a necessary step since they had our name on a card at the table anyway. The lady who sat us also was the server - she had a little hand drawn map of the seating. The beers were only a few bucks, like $3 maybe? The owner started out cracking a few little jokes and talking up the performers, then I think 6 openers came on? The first performer ended up also being the emcee for the evening, and there were a whole spread of different local comics, some decent, some who were not so great. But the headliner was good and we had several good laughs throughout the whole evening. The owner and bartender who were in the front bar serving drinks were very friendly/sassy/funny and also added to the experience before the show started. The show started at 8, and ended at 10. The first few acts did about 5-10 minute sets each, and the last one was about half an hour or so? There was food, and by food I think just popcorn and frozen pizza. A lot more people than I expected were ordering the frozen pizza.

For us, we thought it was worth the money, and the whole experience was, well,...

I'm not going to lie, I rarely leave Google reviews. But if I could give zero stars...I wouldn't hesitate. This building is filthy. Base definition of horrendous. I'm surprised there weren't rats running over our toes. The list of disgust is almost endless: the overwhelming cat urine odor when you walk in the front door, the sticky tables, Law and Order and Minions on the TV, the indescribable mildew assault when you walk in the other room, the waitress using her sweat rag around her neck to wipe tables and the menu of literal, no joke, frozen twenty minute pizzas and popcorn. Not to mention the sweltering 92°F that we sat in for literal hours. The list literally goes on. I had to pee for an hour and absolutely refused to even walk in the bathroom with the way the main areas were. You could not have paid me to touch anything more than I absolutely had to and even then, the fact that I paid to touch what I had to? Revolting. We went with family for an older relatives birthday because she raved about going years ago and how much fun they used to have, so I was super excited for my VERY FIRST comedy club experience to be with family at such a highly respected club that had hosted so many comedians! However, I would never go back. The woman behind the bar, the waitresses and the comedians themselves were sweet. This review is definitely not reflective of them, but the basic hygiene, cleanliness and atmosphere is definitely in desperate need of a cleaning up. Or a flamethrower and a rebuild? Whichever gets...