New Comedy Club The Comedy Citadel Has Big Plans for the Capital

Katie Coy, Managing Editor | Feb 23, 2023 1:17 pm | Add a comment | 365 reads

Last year saw a lot of exciting happenings in Beijing’s comedy scene, with numerous headline shows, comedians visiting from other cities and even a filmed comedy special. Well, this year brings the promise of even more fun and laughs with the creation of a new comedy club: The Comedy Citadel.

Created by Beijing-based comedian Donnie Fan and Chengdu based comedian Nico TooMuch, The Comedy Citadel aims to bring larger and more frequent high-quality comedy events to the capital.

Firstly, congratulations on the exciting news! Can you tell us a bit about The Comedy Citadel and what it entails?
So, basically, The Comedy Citadel aims to bring a higher level of professionalism and expectations to English comedy in China. We are also introducing more frequent and different forms of comedy, such as comedy magic, sketch comedy, podcasts (audio and video) guests from other cities in China as well as guests from around the world. It’s my first business venture so it’s very exciting! I’m trying not to let my optimism and hope get in the way, but even our modest projections right now are showing us that we are going to be able to do a lot with The Comedy Citadel. Being able to spread English comedy culture is such an exciting prospect for me.

Where did the idea for this new project come from and how did it get started?
For a while I’ve wanted to bring English comedy more into the mainstream of Beijing. We have so many foreign friends in Beijing, as well as so many strong English speakers and listeners in the city. When I saw what Spicy Comedy was doing in Shanghai, being able to have theater venues sold out for English comedy, I wondered why haven’t we tried that in Beijing before, at least since I’ve been doing comedy. With the personal brand growing and recently being filmed for a comedy special, as well as an appearance on CGTN, I figured it was time to look into starting something to provide a larger platform for not only myself, but the other really strong up-and-coming stand-up comedians.

Can you tell us a bit about the different venues you’ll be using?
Gosh, we have partnered with a Chinese comedy club in Sanlitun, but we are still projecting that it will be another two or three months before we are regularly in the heart of SOHO. For now, we’ll be performing a lot in the EAST WEST LIVEHOUSE CLUB in Wangjing, as well as at a larger theater for Friday Night shows in Yong'anli!

Any exciting events that you already have planned?
There’s so much! On Monday nights I’ll be teaching a comedy class through the brand! It starts on Feb 27 and still has three spots left! On every other Wednesday we’ll be doing a live podcast at NUGGET, which will feature special events like Hot Ones, visiting comedians, drink tastings, etc., while we talk about comedy in a fun way!

Every Thursday night we have an open mic at the EAST WEST CLUB in Wangjing. Every Friday night we’ll have SEASON ONE of The Court of Jester’s Comedy Showcase in Yong'anli. Two Saturday nights a month we’ll have a headlining comedy show and two Sundays a month we’ll have a comedy gameshow-like structure such as Drunk Debates (first one coming Mar 12) and ROAST OF VOLDEMORT (A Harry Potter special cosplay roast event on Mar 26). All of these will be at the EAST WEST CLUB in Wangjing.

What do you mean by Season One?
Comedy always has a struggle with audiences who aren’t quite sure about the comedy process. So, something we’ll hear often is “I’ve heard those jokes before.” Some people love hearing jokes again for a second or third time, but some people want to make sure there’s always something fresh. What we’re doing at The Comedy Citadel is saying “This is Season One. If you come to every Friday show in these two months, you’re probably going to see the same jokes and same comics, so you might not want to go two weeks in a row.

But, when Season Two comes around and you see that on the poster, you’ll know that you are going for a completely different experience. Either you’ll have the same comics doing different jokes, or you’ll have entirely different comics on the show. When people ask me, I generally say that in the Beijing scene comics should have a new 15 minutes of material every two to three months. Now, at least, the audience will know when they can come see that new material.

So, what can you tell us about Season One?
Well, if you’ve seen us perform in the last three months, you’ll probably see a lot of the same jokes at first because we are going to the mainstream. The Comedy Citadel is really about reaching a brand new audience. But our comics are some of the best China has to offer. In Season One our primary host will be Justin Noutch, with two opening acts and either myself or Kei Gambit closing the shows! There may be a week where we have some substitutions, but we’re really excited about this! The Saturday shows will have a bigger scope and be headline oriented!

Looking more forward into the future, what do you hope to achieve with The Comedy Citadel?
Right now we do have a partner, but at some point we’d like to be completely independent. I don’t know if that includes opening our own theater or having a long-term contract with a theater, but currently we have to adjust our schedule to the schedule of the club we are working with. I mean, they’re great and have been super helpful to us! But the Chinese comedy scene can do three shows in a day seven days a week, I believe we’d eventually like to get to at least two shows a day, three days a week. We’ll see if we can get there!!

With The Comedy Citadel now on the scene, does that mean Comedy Club China is no more or will it continue?
Comedy Club China will continue! It’s a comedy club for all to enjoy. Weekly open mics will still continue at Paddy’s and I’ll definitely still be around at them. Comedy will always require a bar scene. I don’t believe The Comedy Citadel will really be direct competition or that there will be anything malicious because my main priority is the promotion of comedy culture. I look forward to seeing the new projects from Comedy Club China.

Where can we follow The Comedy Citadel?
For the moment, our official account has not opened yet! We are finishing up some final loopholes before we do! But for all things comedy-related with The Comedy Citadel, as well as all things about comedy in general, people can follow my official account: Donniefancomedy.

Don’t forget that you can also see the cofounder of Comedy Citadel Nico TooMuch in Beijing this weekend (Feb 24 and 25), scan the QR code in the poster below for tickets!