Official Comedy Clubhouse Intern Speaks Out

by Gavin Thomas

I’ve been an intern here at the Comedy Clubhouse for three weeks now—regulars may recognize me from taking tickets at the door and being President Obonjo’s personal servant—and the place has been pretty cool thus far, with some caveats. So I’ll be giving a breakdown of my experience at the Comedy Clubhouse category by category, from lamest to coolest.

Lamest: Comedy Co-Workers’ Trickshot “Skills”

I won’t sugarcoat it: never in my life have I seen such a shameful display. My co-workers started off by trying to throw a ping-pong ball off a paddle and into a cup, which is a genuinely difficult shot, so I can understand how he missed it. Then came the sadder one: bouncing a ping-pong ball off a large sign into a full-sized trash can. It doesn’t sound hard, but based on what I saw that day, you’d think it was a Herculean task. The first shot anyone made was after they moved the can to a more advantageous spot. But I can’t hate too hard. I missed all of those shots too.

Less Lame: Pizza

Fortunately, the quality of things takes a sharp turn for the better for our next item, the complimentary pizza. It’s far from the best I’ve had, but it’s better than a lot of the pizza I’ve had in Spain. You wouldn’t catch me dead turning down free pizza anyways. On a related topic, there’s also a McDonald’s within a few blocks of the comedy club, which makes for a decent worktime lunch. Thanks to owner John Allis’s McDonald’s obsession, there’s never a shortage of Big Macs and fries.

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Even Less Lame: TikTok

Next up is another short item, our TikTok following. We’ve gained a lot since I started producing our videos (follow us @comedyclubhousebcn), and the per-follow bonus is lovely. But most of our followers are South African, which, while not a negative thing, is pretty weird for a comedy club in Barcelona.

Kind of Cool: The Bar Menu

Third place on this list goes to the bar menu. Prices are reasonable (not that I have to pay — one of my intern perks is free drinks!) and they’ve got all the variety you could want from a neighborhood comedy club. The main plus here is that they always have Red Bulls in stock behind the counter, which are a guilty pleasure of mine while I’m on the job, and are definitely not my favorite mixer for Jager if you’re reading this, mom and dad (the editors added this line).

Really Cool: The Comedy Clubhouse Decor

Bringing us to second place, I’m giving the runner-up coolness prize to the club’s decor. The vibe is very consistent and well-maintained, to say the least. I’ve got a personal soft spot for the wooden signs, ropes, and general treehouse energy that exudes from the Clubhouse. The seats that I spend several hours in each week are comfortable enough, and there’s Connect Four, Uno, Jenga, and more. Points deducted because I lost the aforementioned game of Connect Four the first time I played it there.

Coolest: The Comedy

Finally, the grand prize. There’s really only one thing that first place can go to at any good comedy club, and that’s the comedy. I get to see the shows for free, but if I didn’t, I’d be more than willing to put down €8 to 15 for a show every so often, and I’m an intern! I do have to slightly minus points for getting called out in front of my own parents during crowd work, but that’s easily forgivable. I’d do the same if I was a comedian and saw a guy in a Hadestown tee shirt sitting with his parents. But alas, I’m not a comedian yet. What do I know? I’m just the intern.