I went to Foster’s last night with a friend of mine just to enjoy some after-dinner drinks. Foster’s is one of the places that I list as an alternative to the New Haven “club district.” As we walked by the window, we saw a man with a microphone standing in the middle of the restaurant floor with all the patrons looking at him (some uninterested folk at the bar actually had their back to him and were watching the Yankees game- **Go Yankees**) — anyway, I digress. So we go on and the man tells us to come sit up front and center. I look around the room to try to figure out what is going on, and this woman at the bar mouths “leave now”.

Uh oh, I think, this can’t be good. I know immediately what’s going on; it’s a comedy show and now my friend has just sat down right in the front. I knew immediately we were going to be the people who get picked on and laughed at all night. Fortunately for both of us, the comedy was not all that great and it was the comedians who appeared to be uncomfortable all night. It was a series of comics, all of whom didn’t seem to get that the joke was on them that night. Our drinks were good however and through the course of the night, I realized that I had been sitting next to one of the owners of the restaurant (he also owns Miso). I asked him about this new comedy initiative, and he let me know that New Haven has not had a comedy club for at least ten years. He said that he thought the comedy was good that night but that the crowd was too serious and didn’t know how to laugh; that could be true … after all this is “University town”. At any rate, the comedy is slated to continue in the upcoming weeks. The owners are also planning other events. Stay tuned…

—Thameka Thompson