Comedians Rejuvenating Rialto Square Theatre

JOLIET, IL — It's been more than a decade since the Crabigale's Comedy Club brought laughter to downtown Joliet. These days, the three-story brick building at the corner of Cass and Chicago continues to sit empty. And yet downtown Joliet's comedy scene is looking bright, thanks to the Rialto Square Theatre.

Ames, Iowa-based VenuWorks entertainment venue took over the Rialto's management in 2017. Last year, the Rialto brought seven national comedians to Joliet including Lewis Black and Jerry Seinfeld. The Rialto sold a combined 10,524 tickets for those seven shows in 2018, an average attendance of 1,316 guests.

This year, the Rialto also brought in seven comedians including Larry the Cable Guy and Bill Engvall. There were a total of eight comedian shows this year because the Rialto booked Larry the Cable Guy for two Saturday night events. In total, the Rialto sold 9,891 tickets for their 2019 comedian acts, an average attendance of 1,236, Joliet Patch determined.

It appears that comedians will be a big component of the Rialto's 2020 shows.

In January, Nate Bargatze, known as The Tennessee Kid on Netflix, brings his "Good Problem to Have" tour to Joliet. He performs at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23. Most Rialto seats are priced at $49.75 and $35.

But even after Bargatze leaves town, the laughter won't stop.

On Friday, Ron White, who has a Netlix special, 'If You'd Quit Listening, I'd Shut Up,' performs at the Rialto on Friday, Feb. 21. White's 7 p.m. ticket sales were so strong that the Rialto added a second show for 10 p.m.

Rialto's executive director Val Devine told Joliet Patch that ticket sales over the past two years indicate there's been a good response to the comedians.

"I would tend to agree that the comedy numbers are certainly strong," Devine told Joliet Patch. "Moving forward, I would expect that we will continue to try and offer diverse programming, music, comedy, Broadway, etc. as we are not a one-size-fits-all industry."

Devine also pointed out that ticket sales for some of this year's comedians could have been even better, but Rialto staff was limited based on the requirements of the performers.

For instance, she said, Larry the Cable Guy used the Rialto as his live audience to film one of his upcoming comedy specials.

As a result, "the Larry shows had lots of seats blacked out for sign issues due to the camera platforms and filming so the totals are not indicative of all seats being available," Devine said.

Two other comedy shows from 2019, Cat and Nat as well as Kristina Kuzmic, were only main-floor seating, she said.

Looking ahead to 2020, Devine told Joliet Patch she can definitely envision the Rialto bringing more national comedians to Joliet, given the audience has response since VenuWorks took over the management operations in early 2017.

But if you're thinking the Rialto might want to book a national comic act for all 52 weeks of 2020, that's not in the cards.

"We don't want to become the comedy shack where all you do is book comedians," Devine told Patch. "We respect that we have a wide and diverse audience. That's why we just sold over 1,800 tickets for Martina McBride (on Friday, Dec. 20) and we've already sold out for Chicago (April 7). We want to continue to try to offer something for everyone."

Along those lines, the Rialto just booked country music's outlaw star, Cody Jinks, for a Saturday concert in February.

Here's a summary of ticket sales for the Rialto's comedians during the past years:

December 17, 2019, Larry the Cable Guy (2 shows)

1,187
1,255

November 10, 2019, Cat and Nat

1,047

October 6, 2019, Whose Live

1,443

July 12, 2019 Kristina Kuzmic

769

June 28, 2019, David Feherty

1,116

March 1, 2019, Bill Engvall

1,769

Feb. 22, 2019, Tiffany Jenkins

1,305

2018

Nov. 1, 2018, John Crist

1,913

Sept. 11, 2018, Heather Land

1,080

Aug. 9, 2018, Jim Breuer

819

July 18, 2018, Jerry Seinfeld

1,957

April 27, 2018 Jim Jeffries

1,889

April 6, 2018 Lewis Black

1,648

Jan. 12, 2018, Dennis Miller

1,218