Comedy Cellar Acquires New York’s Greatest 3 A.M. Fight Venue, Which Has a Lot of Adam Sandler History, Too
Joe Rogan, watch out — the Comedy Mothership might not be “the most DANGEROUS comedy club in the country” very soon.
Earlier today, the New York Post mourned the loss of a 50-year-old Greenwich Village institution as a shuttered McDonald’s location on 136 W Third St. with “a history of fast-moving fists and not a sober person in sight” changed hands. Noam Dworman, owner of legendary New York venues the Comedy Cellar and Village Underground, spent a reported $7.3 million on a property which, in its previous life, was “one of (New York’s) greatest 3 a.m. fight venues.” Beset on all sides by bars with belligerent patrons, the 24-hour McDonald’s was once considered to be “one of the most violent in the city” for its frequent boozed-up brawls. When the location closed its doors back in 2021, one Twitter user lamented, “You could have received a McChicken or a McBeating.”
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Now, Dworman intends to open a third comedy club in the location, saying, “This property is a once-in-a-lifetime chance.” Dworman better hire serious security if he wants that lifetime to be a long one — god knows another Chris Redd incident could be lurking behind the fryers.
Non-New Yorkers might know the bellicose burger joint as the location of the “Will somebody get this kid a Happy Meal?!” scene from the Adam Sandler film Big Daddy. Dworman hopes to build on the location’s history of gut-busting punchlines rather than its jaw-busting punches. “Whatever it was before will not affect us,” he explained. “People can’t get in without purchasing a ticket.”
“I hope to make a real positive pivot for the street because it was kind of a seedy corner,” Dworman added of the location, and we agree — we once saw a guy scream at a kindergartner for trying to order lasagna.
