Upright Citizens Brigade NYC reopens this week with new 14th Street venue

After several months of previews, the new home of the Upright Citizens Brigade New York will officially open later this week at 242 E. 14th St., between Second Avenue and Third Avenue (see Instagram post below).

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

Enough history... here's what to expect when UCB opens on Friday (find the schedule here)...

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Previously on EV Grieve: 

• The Upright Citizens Brigade is returning to NYC — and the East Village — with a new theater