
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, November 3, 1995                   TAG: 9511030033
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KATHLEEN WILSON
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

COMEDY CLUB OPENS IN ITS NEW QUARTERS

If you're looking for laughs this weekend, the Roanoke Comedy Club is back in business. And it launches the first shows at its new location in the Tiki Lounge of the Fiji Island Restaurant on Townside Road Southwest with a big-name act from California.

Open Season, a three-man comedy troupe from Los Angeles, provides an entire hour of fast-paced, frenetic sketch/improvisat-ional/character comedy, according to Jimmy Butler, the club's founder and owner.

``When these guys hit the stage, they really hit the stage,'' said Butler. One of Open Season's more well-known bits is the ``Shakespeare Rap,'' a song that is featured nationally on the Dr. Demento radio show.

Butler managed to re-open his 11-year-old club just two weeks after it lost its Williamson Road location when he sold the building to free himself from the mortgage. Despite the Roanoke Comedy Club's nomadic existance, two weeks is the longest Butler has ever had to shut down.

``I feel really good about this,'' said Butler, when asked about moving the club outside of downtown Roanoke for the first time. ``The restaurant has great food. There's free parking. And we're right between South Roanoke and the Hunting Hills/Tanglewood area.''

He hopes that in addition to those who have followed the club throughout the years, others who may have avoided downtown because of the parking hassle will come see what the club has to offer.

The $7 admission price remains the same. You can catch Open Season at the Roanoke Comedy Club at 8:30 and 10:30 tonight and on Saturday.

by CNB