Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Did you hear the one about the Upright Citizens Brigade NYC being in preview mode?

ICYMI: In recent months, the new home of the Upright Citizens Brigade New York has been in preview mode at 242 E. 14th St., between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

The UCB NY website lists nightly shows inside the two-level space, a former gym, through August.

No word on an official opening date. 


As previously noted, this marks a dual homecoming — first announced last summer — for the comedy brand.

UCB's East Village outpost, UCBeast, wrapped up its eight-plus-year run on Avenue A and Third Street in February 2019. At the time, UCB officials blamed the "extreme costs" of operating in the space for its closing. UCB then presented three nights of programming at SubCulture, a 130-seat venue on Bleecker Street.

Eventually, the whole empire — where Kate McKinnon, Donald Glover, Aubrey Plaza, and Broad City's Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, among many others — got their start, shut down. Amid ongoing financial difficulties made worse by the beginning of the pandemic, UCB closed all its remaining NYC locations in April 2020... and then in Los Angeles in December 2020.

A comeback was underway starting in March 2022 when longtime talent manager Jimmy Miller and former CEO/Owner of The Onion Mike McAvoy reportedly bought the brand.

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