Carolines on Broadway

Carolines on Broadway is a venue for stand-up comedy located in Times Square in New York City on Broadway between 49th and 50th Street. It is one of the most established, famous, and recognized stand-up comedy clubs in the United States. Its marketing slogan is "America's Premiere Comedy Nightclub." Many of the top headliners in the U.S. have performed at Carolines, including Louis C.K., Paul Reubens, Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, Bill Hicks, Andrew Dice Clay, Gilbert Gottfried, Joy Behar, Jon Stewart, Robin Williams, Colin Quinn, Chris Rock, Frankie Pace, Norm Macdonald, Elayne Boosler, Michael Richards, Richard Belzer, Chris Rush and Mitch Hedberg. Other popular stand-ups that have headlined at Carolines include Patrice O'Neal, Larry David, Jim Norton, Greer Barnes, Greg Giraldo, Adam Ferrara, Dave Attell, Rich Vos, Bill Burr, Bob Kelly, Lee Camp, Harrison Greenbaum, Modi Rosenfeld, Joe Santagato and Stephen Lynch.

Caroline Hirsch opened her eponymous cabaret in Chelsea in 1981. She started booking comedians who proved to be so popular that soon she was booking nothing else. In need of a larger venue, Carolines moved to South Street Seaport where it gained national recognition as the venue for A&E Network's Caroline's Comedy Hour television series, which won a CableACE award for Best Stand-Up Comedy Series. In 1992, the club moved to a 280-seat space in Times Square where it remains. The new club received the American Institute of Architecture Award for Best Interior Club Design and was featured on the cover of Interior Design magazine.^[1] In December 2009, Carolines played host to the first public reunion of Dave Chappelle, Paul Mooney, and Charlie Murphy since the cancellation of Chappelle's Show.

Carolines on Broadway has hosted countless large-scale fundraising events throughout the years. Hirsch, a long-time Ms. Foundation board member, created an annual fundraiser for The Foundation that has continued to grow each year. “The Ms. Foundationʼs Women of Comedy” special aired on the Lifetime Television Network to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Ms. Foundation. Additionally, Carolines hosts a highly successful annual fundraiser for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund honoring the late Madeline Kahn, as well as an annual star-studded fundraiser for The Scleroderma Research Foundation as part of the Carolines-produced New York Comedy Festival.

The New York Comedy Festival is highly successful week-long comedy festival that has graced some of New Yorkʼs most prestigious venues – including Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, Town Hall, The Apollo Theater and Lincoln Center, and showcased such comic luminaries as Bill Maher, Sarah Silverman, Ricky Gervais, Drew Carey, Dane Cook, Kevin Hart,Denis Leary, Bill Maher, Kathy Griffin, Damon Wayans, Artie Lange, Rosie OʼDonnell and Steven Wright. The Festival will celebrate its fifteenth anniversary in November 2018.

References

External links

• Carolines on Broadway Website
• Carolines on Broadway Facebook Page
• Carolines on Broadway Twitter Page
• Carolines on Broadway Calendar of Events