Funny Stop Comedy Club — believed to be the Akron area’s lone dedicated space for jokes, comebacks and punchlines — is closing its doors after more than four decades.
On a recent weeknight, comedians gathered to mock decades-old grease vats in the club’s kitchen and tease comedians who are “fleeing” to other countries.
“This is the one show where I can guarantee that nobody in the audience will get made fun of and everybody still sat in the absolute back.” said Chris Clem, who hosted a roast of the comedy club.
Bill Stone and other comedians are preparing for their final sets on the Cuyahoga Falls stage.
“I won’t really have a home club at that point,” said Stone, an Akron native who lives in Firestone Park. “There are places that I still really enjoy and hold dear, that I will go frequent, but this location is eight minutes away from my house.”
The comedy club opened in 1985, originally named Hilarities.
Comedians spoke to Signal Akron about their connection to the comedy club, its closure and future opportunities in the Akron area.
Why is the comedy club closing?
Nidal and Tony Barakat said Funny Stop is closing due to a monthly rent increase — from $2,300 to $4,300. They chose not to renew their lease.
Nidal Barakat: My son, he said, “Mom, that’s it. My dad, my uncle and you, that’s it. You had a long run. You cannot afford to pay $4,300; how are we going to get it?” Summertime is dead, there is no business.
What is your most memorable moment while performing at Funny Stop?
On a recent weekday evening, comedians approached the stage, sitting in seats based on weight class as requested by the host, Chris Clem, a regular at the comedy club since 2007. The stage included a lineup of local comedians who had performed here for years — Matt Farkas, Craig Peters, Kyle Haunhorst and others.
After years of roasting, or jokingly criticizing and teasing, themselves and audience members, comedians sat down for the final “roast of Funny Stop,” and riffed on the club leading into its last day in Cuyahoga Falls.
Zach Thomas, 28, started doing comedy in 2021: He [Pete Barakat] was very heavy on five minutes of clean material for the amateur competition. I had been doing it for a while, and there’s a couple people that won over me and I was never salty …
Thomas said a curse word on stage: “… and it’s a joke that I had done multiple times. He heard me say it and he cut my mic off while I was on stage — and I had to get off. At that point, I was throwing everything into comedy; I cared a lot. I cried, I cried at the bar. Then he’s announcing the winner and he goes, “Zach Thomas.”
John Brown, 39, comedian since 2019: I just headlined there last Thursday. It was my last time headlining there and seemed bittersweet. It was a fun night, but it was sad at the same time. I had a lot of people that have come to see me there over the years, and they’re all sad that it’s closing, but most people probably knew it wasn’t gonna last forever after Pete passed away. So, I think everybody’s really disappointed, but it was bound to happen.
What did Funny Stop lose after Pete Barakat’s death?
Thomas: The atmosphere. He just brought kind of a glow to the room, where he was at. After he passed, the absence was deafening and the love just wasn’t there as much anymore.
Brown: When he passed away, his wife took over and, and it’s not that she’s bad at it or anything. It’s not what she wanted to do with her life. He [Pete] was the one who loved running a comedy club, and he was that type of old school comedy club owner that everybody wanted to be around, everybody wanted, wanted to get his approval. And she just didn’t have the same kind of pull with the comedians — the biggest thing is not as many comics hung out there after Pete passed away, and that’s not her fault at all.
Thomas: He was the definition of a realest human, realest friends, realest person you could have around you, because he would talk shit straight to your face but then say nothing but nice things when you weren’t around.
Where is the closest comedy club comedy-lovers can visit?
Thomas: Canton Comedy Boom. They have good stuff going on over there. Also, Matt Farkas runs a really good show. There is an open mic every Tuesday at The Daily Pressed.
Bill Stone, 47, comedian and graphic designer at Funny Stop for eight years: Well, that’s just the thing — there aren’t many clubs really close to the Akron location. So you have Hilarities in Cleveland, which is about a 40- to 45-minute drive. And then you have the Funny Farm out in Niles, Ohio, which is about a 50-minute drive. Then you have Krackpots in Massillon, Ohio, that’ll probably be the next closest one, and about a 25- to 30-minute drive. Those would be the three clubs that I could think of. There’s constantly open mics and other stuff popping up everywhere. I know people are trying to get new open mics going and stuff like that. So it’s like, there will be comics who are going to try to help fill the void.
Are there any efforts to start a new comedy club in or around Akron?
Brown: I do know that myself and a couple other Akron comedians are getting together to talk about what kind of rooms we want to get started so we can keep the Akron comedy scene going a little bit. So, we talked about that last night at Funny Stop, and [we’re] going to try to get some of the newer comedians to see who wants to help out with keeping a comedy scene going because I think another club will open in the area eventually, but none of us know when that’s going to be.
Stone: Always a lot of whispers, always a lot of people talking, but I haven’t heard anything concrete yet. You always get that, “Hey, I made an offer. I’m thinking about doing this.” But as far as anything concrete when you’re opening club wise — I haven’t heard anything yet.
Nidal Barakat: We will find something. I’m not going to give up on Funny Stop. I have the name, I have my liquor license.