THE FUNK GETS FUNNY

Long before comedians were standing in front of a microphone at Chafunkta Brewing Company, Josh and Jamie Erickson were making beer.

 

What started with homebrewing eventually grew into Chafunkta Brewing Company, founded in 2011 and opening as a production brewery in 2013. Louisiana’s modern craft beer industry was still relatively young at the time, and Chafunkta became one of the early breweries helping build it.

 

Even the name was rooted here. Chafunkta takes its name from the Tchefuncte area and the history surrounding what is now the Northshore. From the beginning, this was meant to be a local brewery.

 

Over the years, though, Chafunkta became more than a place that made beer. The taproom developed into a gathering place, hosting live music, trivia, food trucks, fundraisers and special events. People came for locally made beer, but increasingly they also came because something was happening. Eventually, one of those things was comedy.

 

COMEDY FINDS A HOME

 

Comedy at Chafunkta didn't begin recently. The brewery has hosted dozens of comedy shows over the years, working with different comedians and producers and slowly developing an audience for stand-up.

 

Daniel Merry, Chafunkta's self-proclaimed “Director of Vibes,” is officially the brewery's Director of Sales, Marketing, Events and Social Media, while also serving as acting taproom manager when he's there. For Merry, the reason for continuing to host comedy is pretty straightforward.

 

“Because there's such a need for comedy on the Northshore and we have the perfect space to accommodate.”

 

Merry also came to Chafunkta with some experience around comedy. During his time as a radio DJ on ALT 92.3 FM, he hosted several comedy shows at the Howlin' Wolf and served as a celebrity judge for roast battles. That background gave him some familiarity with what makes a comedy show work before he began helping shape them at Chafunkta.

 

The space part of his answer matters more than it might seem. Comedy doesn't require much equipment, but it asks a lot from a room. People need to be able to see the stage, hear the microphone clearly and, maybe most importantly, feel like the focus of the room has shifted toward the person holding it.

 

A brewery isn't automatically a comedy venue just because you put a microphone in the corner. On a normal night, people are there to drink beer, talk with friends, watch a television or move around the taproom. On a comedy night, many of those same things can compete with the show. The trick is getting the room to temporarily become something else.

 

Chafunkta has had plenty of opportunities to figure that out. Along the way, the brewery also discovered an audience willing to go along for the ride, even when the material occasionally pushed them outside their comfort zone.

 

“The audience coming to Chafunkta is open to all comedic styles,” Merry said. “Of course there are some ‘DID THEY JUST SAY THAT?’ moments, but after the initial shock, it's usually followed by laughter.”

 

More importantly, people keep wanting another show. When asked whether he has noticed growing interest in live comedy, Merry didn't hesitate.

 

“Absolutely! When people leave, they usually ask when the next comedy night is.”

 

For a venue trying to determine whether comedy belongs in the room, there probably aren't many better measurements than that.

 

COMEDY IS DIFFERENT

 

Chafunkta hosts plenty of live entertainment, particularly music, but Merry has noticed an interesting difference between selling a band and selling a comedy show.

 

“With live music, you're fighting people's genre preferences,” he said. “With live music, you're appealing to a specific crowd. It's impossible to guesstimate how many people a band will draw. With comedy, it just has to have the word COMEDY involved in the marketing and it piques people's interest without them even knowing which comedians are on the bill.”

 

That gives comedy an interesting place on Chafunkta's event calendar. Someone doesn't necessarily have to recognize the comedians on a lineup before deciding to give a show a shot. Sometimes knowing there's live comedy happening at a place they already know is enough to get them interested.

 

From the venue side, comedy also comes with a different set of logistics than live music. There aren't drum kits, amplifiers and a stage full of equipment that needs to be loaded in and broken down after every performance. Merry has a slightly more entertaining way of explaining it.

 

“The flow of the show! There's no equipment teardown. There's no ‘Hey, did you happen to come across my guitar strap?’ three days after a show.”

 

Comedy may be simpler from an equipment standpoint, but that doesn't mean a venue can simply turn on a microphone and walk away. Sound, lighting and seating can completely change the experience. When those pieces come together, chairs point toward the stage, the room settles down and the microphone becomes the loudest voice in the building. For the next hour or so, a taproom starts behaving like a comedy club.

 

That's where the venue becomes part of the show.

 

FROM LOCAL SHOWS TO TOURING COMEDIANS

 

Chafunkta's comedy history includes performers at very different points in their careers. The brewery was one of the early places where Louisiana comedian DJ Rhett performed before his viral success and the formation of Couyons of Comedy.

 

At the other end of the spectrum, nationally touring comedian Steve Byrne has already performed at the brewery, and Zane Lamprey is scheduled to appear at Chafunkta on November 7th later this year. Between those shows, Chafunkta continues hosting comedians from throughout the local and regional scene.

 

That range has allowed the brewery to become a room where audiences might see an established touring performer one night and discover someone they've never seen before at another. It also says something about the flexibility of the space. The same taproom can accommodate a local lineup or become the setting for a nationally touring performer.

 

FUNNY @ THE FUNK

 

For years, Merry has used the name Funny @ the Funk for comedy nights at Chafunkta, including numerous shows produced in partnership with LaughLife Comedy. Rather than belonging to one particular lineup or producer, the name has become something of an umbrella for comedy at the brewery.

 

The latest chapter began September 18 with another Funny @ the Funk show, this time produced by comedian Darrell Rollo. More than 70 people came out for the night, but the most encouraging part wasn't simply the number of people in the room. It was how they behaved once the show started.

 

Anyone who has performed stand-up in a brewery, bar or restaurant knows a full room doesn't automatically make it a good comedy room. People can talk through sets, wander around or treat the comedian like background entertainment while they continue whatever conversation they were already having.

 

That wasn't the crowd at Chafunkta. They listened, followed the show and responded to the comedians onstage. It felt less like performing comedy in a brewery and more like the brewery had temporarily turned itself into a comedy room.

 

That transformation is one of the things that makes comedy in a multipurpose space interesting. The brewery doesn't stop being a brewery when the show begins, but for a little while the priorities change. The audience turns toward the stage, conversations settle down and a room normally built around beer becomes a room built around whoever has the microphone.

 

That doesn't happen entirely by accident. A producer can bring the comedians, promote the show and get people through the door, while the venue provides the space and helps create an environment where the show can work. When both sides care about the same result, the audience probably won't notice any of that work. They'll just know the show felt good.

 

Funny @ the Funk returns October 16, continuing a name and a tradition that were already well established at Chafunkta.

 

BUILDING SOMETHING THAT LASTS

 

A lasting comedy venue needs more than comedians and a microphone. It needs a room willing to make space for the show, continue experimenting with it and give audiences a reason to return.

 

For Merry, professionalism and attention to detail are important parts of making that happen. Those details can seem small individually, but together they determine whether a comedy show feels like something happening in the corner of a bar or whether, for a little while, the entire place feels like it was built for comedy.

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That requires some give and take. A venue has to be willing to adjust the room, and the people producing the show have to understand they're guests in a space that serves plenty of other purposes the rest of the month. The best version is a partnership where both sides keep learning what works.

 

Chafunkta has had years to do that. Instead of simply allowing comedy to happen there, the brewery has continued making room for it, from early appearances by comedians who would go on to build larger audiences to established national touring performers.

For Merry, the proof is already there.

 

“History speaks for itself,” he said. “We've had dozens of comedy shows and no one leaves disappointed.”

 

What started as a small local brewery has gradually become something larger: a gathering place for live music, community events and a growing amount of stand-up comedy. After dozens of comedy shows, Merry says people continue leaving with essentially the same question:

 

“When's the next comedy night?”