COMEDY: Funny farm

“I’ve always wanted my ears pierced,” cracks Harlan Halper as his new comedy club, Comix, tests its shrieking fire alarm. Halper, 48, is the co-owner of this new Meatpacking District venue, which opens on September 14. A native New Yorker and former recruitment-agency exec, Halper dabbled in stand-up before deciding to open Comix with comedian Bobby Collins and former finance executive Michael Palitz. But, groaner puns notwithstanding, Halper doesn’t plan to perform on its stage: “I have no ego about it.”

In lieu of a big head, he’s got a huge space. The 14,000 square feet includes two bars and a 320-seat theater, which will require an enormous talent roster to stay full. Enter booker Wende Curtis, who owns Comedy Works in Denver and promises to deliver “the heaviest marquee names I can get my hands on” for weekend shows.

Weeknights are under the charge of Rachèle “Rocky” Benloulou, of Rockster Productions. That’s when, in theory at least, the club will really distance itself from competitors. “The current boom is not in regular stand-up,” says Benloulou. “It’s in alternative comedy. We want to be a one-stop shop where audiences get both.”

Mainstream clubs have tried that tactic before and failed—mainly because so-dubbed alt-comics don’t want to perform in those places. But if there’s ever been a spot that could hope to attract them, Comix—despite its chuckle-hut name—is it. First: There are no food or drink minimums and no “bringer” shows (to which comics bring customers to secure stage time). Second: The club doubles as a TV studio, making it ideal for cable-network partnerships. And third: Benloulou has already booked downtown darlings Kurt Braunohler and Kristen Schaal, Dave Hill, and the Whitest Kids U’ Know.

The invite-only opening-night festivities certainly seem like they’ll achieve the synthesis Comix seeks, by featuring acts as disparate as Flight of the Conchords and Last Comic Standing winner Josh Blue. Still, even if Halper et al. succeed, why launch in New York, the most saturated comedic scene in the country? “It sounds a little corny,” Halper says. “But we truly believe that if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.”

353 W 14th St at Ninth Ave (212-715-9660, comixny.com)

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