The Bethesda Comedy Club is the brainchild of professional comedian and voiceover artist Dan Nainan. As a professional comedian traveling around the country, Nainan became highly disillusioned by the state of standup comedy. It seemed that comedy had descended into a state in which the large majority of comedians' acts were filled with lowest-common-denominator profanity and vulgarity. In addition, no one in the audience was safe from being mercilessly picked on by comedians, especially those poor souls who were unfortunate enough to sit in the front row.

A few years ago, Nainan had the good fortune to perform in the same show as Jerry Seinfeld, and the fledgling comedian asked Seinfeld for his advice. What Nainan took to heart the most was Seinfeld's emphasis on doing only clean material. The young comedian took Seinfeld's advice to heart, keeping his act completely clean and at the same time dreaming of opening his own 100% clean comedy club.

In 2007, Nainan was walking around downtown Bethesda, and it suddenly struck him that the growing city, which was lacking in choices for entertainment, would be absolutely perfect for a clean comedy club. The Thyme Square restaurant, which had been in operation for over a decade, unexpectedly closed its doors, and the space became available. After months of renovation, including the installation of state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems, the Bethesda comedy club opens its doors to serve the community and the Washington area with clean, family-friendly standup comedy, free from the profanity, vulgarity and the picking on the audience that pervades standup comedy today.

OUR MISSION

“To provide a positive environment in which comedy lovers of all ages can enjoy the scientifically proven health benefits of laughter, without worrying about being picked on and without profanity or vulgarity.”

The Bethesda Comedy Club - Come Back to Comedy!