Won over by laughs

So a guy -- let’s call him Joe -- walks into a Romanian steakhouse. He’s hoping to find a space for his first enterprise: a sandwich shop. The mini-mall on the corner of Fountain and Vine seems perfect.

But the red flocked wallpaper, red booths and beveled-glass chandeliers could never be reincarnated as a sub shop. Poor Joe scratches his head, wondering what he might do. He paces around the room until the idea hits him: what about the cabaret supper club he’d always dreamed of?

Joe gets to work and opens his throwback M-Bar, adding mirrored walls and a mirrored bar. Serving Italian cuisine with live music and lounge acts, Joe figures he has found his Hollywood niche. Then the comics show up, and the joke is on him. One Tuesday night comedy experiment with a friend evolves into M-Bar’s most popular night. Then more comedians come, and the dark lounge with the red ceiling turns into a premier alternative comedy showcase.

And the owner -- whom we’ll call Joe Reynolds because that’s really his name -- is having the last laugh. “When I opened it I really wanted it to be a cabaret with a piano player and sultry singer,” said Reynolds, who opened M-Bar 18 months ago. “Comedy never even occurred to me, but the success of the Tuesday night comedy shows has attracted producers and promoters of other shows....I’m won over by the comedians, that’s for sure.”

Comics B.J. Porter and Scott Aukerman co-produce Comedy Death-Ray, the Tuesday club that began in September 2002 and packs M-Bar week after week with appearances by veteran comedians, such as Louis C.K., Greg Proops and Sarah Silverman, and novices, such as Ryan Belville and Sheila Martin.

“I convinced Joe that it would be worth his while because I felt like that room would be an intimate environment,” Porter said. “Some of the comedy clubs are not well-oriented for comedy. I’ve never been comfortable in them on stage or in the audience. The stage at the Improv is too high. The Comedy Store is creepily dark. The eye-line of the Laugh Factory is so poor,; there are so many bad seats there. The stage at M-Bar is a little elevated but it’s not a formal stage.”

The success of Death-Ray put M-Bar on L.A.’s comedy club map, attracting the popular, freewheeling 10-year-old “Un-Cabaret” show, which started in art gallery spaces, moved to upscale music clubs around the city and landed at M-Bar six months ago. Created by Beth Lapides, the no-shtick, no-punch line, conversational monologues are delivered by comedy writers or comedians who don’t normally do stand-up. For that reason, the venue is of utmost importance, says producer Greg Miller, who admits he was taken aback on his first visit to M-Bar.

“We’re very picky about our rooms,” Miller said. “Comedy clubs are cold; music clubs have concrete floors and no seating. We like M-Bar because it’s warm and dark and intimate and we also like that it’s in the most unlikely location ever.”

“That’s the first joke right there,” adds Lapides. “It’s in a strip mall. Come on!”

Those same elements drew “CA$HINO,” a comedy lounge cult act that began at M-Bar in May. Producer Hope Royaltey said she looked for a venue for her show for nine months before someone mentioned M-Bar. The 95-capacity room with candlelit tables and a good menu was exactly what she had in mind.

“It’s like a comedy club but warmer and like a nightclub but hipper,” Royaltey said. “There’s something very downtown New York vibe about M-Bar.”

Hanging out at M-Bar has been compared by “Sex and the City” executive producer Michael Patrick King to “being on the inside of Bob Guccione’s cufflink box.”

Die-hard fan David Lyons, a Tuesday night regular, said he loves that he doesn’t have to pay high cover charges to listen to the kind of humor he most enjoys.

“It’s not ‘airplane food sucks and cops eat a lot of doughnuts’ kind of jokes,” said Lyons, 28, of Los Feliz.

Now, Reynolds is laughing all the way to the bank. And for those who are wondering: “The ‘M’ is for music, mangiare (to eat in Italian), martinis and MasterCard, because that’s how I paid for this place,” Reynolds said. “That’s the truth.”

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Comedy Nights at M-Bar

Where: M-Bar, 1253 N. Vine St., Hollywood. (323) 856-0036.

Monday: Open Mike Night. Sign-up at

7 p.m.. Show begins at 7:30. No cover.

Tuesday: Comedy Death-Ray. Show starts at 8:30 p.m. Two-drink minimum without dinner reservations. www.FunBunch Comedy.com.

Friday: Every other week, CA$HINO. Cover: $10. Show starts at 8 p.m. Next show: this Friday. (323) 692-6993 or www.cashinoonline.com

Saturday: Every other Saturday: “Un-Cabaret.” Cover: $10. Show starts at 8 p.m. (Reservations required). This week’s show is Sunday. www.uncabaret.com.