Buckle up, everyone, because stand-up comedy is making its Star City comeback.
Brady’s Distillery will host a stand-up comedy show on Tuesday, July 18. Together with distillery manager Amy Himmel, comedian Taylor Reschka is busy promoting Tuesday’s show, which will feature five stand-up comedians from around the region. Reschka and Himmel have planned monthly comedy nights through October, and they hope the series will continue indefinitely.
Tuesday’s line-up includes LA Preston, Katherine Rogue, Steve Curtiss, Travis Terry and Andrew Gustafson. All have previously performed in and around the Roanoke area. Reschka hopes to combine larger regional acts with local talent in the future.
Reschka discovered that he could make people laugh as a twelve year old in Michigan. Shortly after his mother passed away, Reschka remembers making his dad belly laugh. “He was the disciplinarian, he had just lost his wife, and I made him laugh as hard as I’ve ever seen him. It was an addicting feeling. I wanted to keep doing it, to keep making people laugh.”
Reschka performed stand-up for years, even choosing to attend Michigan State University on the basis of their annual stand-up competition. “It wasn’t the only reason I went there,” he says. “But it was the final tick in the box.”
Eventually, Reschka took a break to focus on photography, his main profession. But Reschka didn’t stay away from the stage for too long. While stand-up comedy is regaining momentum in Roanoke, Reschka is too. The July 18 show will be part of his own comeback story.
This past February, Reschka warmed up the crowd for Steve Hofstetter’s Grandin Theatre performance. Performing in front of a sold-out show in Roanoke was a turning point for Reschka, he said. He was convinced — Roanoke was ready to show up for stand-up comedy. Folks just needed a place to go.
Stand-up’s appeal comes in waves and spurts in the Star City. Roanoke had a steady relationship with comedy prior to the pandemic. From 2010 to 2020, Kidd Carter produced stand-up shows through his business, Star City Comedy. Prior to that, Roanoke Comedy Club operated from the late eighties through the nineties, according to comedian Steve Curtiss, who will also perform at the July 18 show.
Based in Roanoke, Curtiss has performed stand up since 1987 and was active in the Roanoke Comedy Club. Over the years, he’s witnessed a wide variety of shows. Some were fantastic, and others fell flat. He’s not worried about the caliber of the current Roanoke shows, he said. “If you’re going to charge people to see a show, you should be prepared to give a great show,” Curtiss says. “This show is gonna be great.”
Other local comedians had also noticed the recent comedic dry spell. LA Preston and Johnny Camacho have both made progress in establishing ongoing stand-up shows in the past year. Now, Roanoke comedy fans can find stand-up offered several times each month.
Carter thinks that it is great that others are organizing stand-up shows. The momentum produced by Reschka, Preston and Camacho will keep things moving forward. “There’s enough demand for laughs, so the more the merrier,” Carter said in a Facebook message. He also indicated that Star City Comedy may return to the stage in the future, adding, “[With] the addiction my team has to putting on great comedy shows, the comeback is imminent.”
Preston, who is performing at Brady’s on July 18, produces and hosts the R.E.A.L. Funny Comedy Show at The Coffee Pot and Ursula’s Cafe on a monthly basis. He also has shows planned for The Spot on Kirk and Bellacino’s in Daleville. Preston begins each show with an open mic session, and follows that with established performers. His goal, he said, is to provide a space for new comedians to hone their craft.
“I’m giving these [new] comedians a place to go. Comedians can’t do comedy just once or twice a month and expect to get good,” Preston said, explaining that new stand-up comedians need to be on the stage two to three times a week to learn what works and what doesn’t.”
Preston knows what works. He has been a comedian since the early 90s and has performed in venues throughout the mid-Atlantic. In 2022, Preston performed in Las Vegas, NV, and he has been invited to participate in a stand-up competition in Pigeon Forge, TN this summer.
Preston first saw stand-up comedy performed in Greensboro, NC, in 1993, he says. He was a sophomore in high school and drove down to see Bernie Mac and D.L. Hughley perform. Preston remembers the crowd well. “It was a melting pot of people sitting there just laughing and having a good time. It didn’t matter what color you were, your status, whether you’re rich or poor. It didn’t matter that night. We were just there to have a good time.” That’s the atmosphere that Preston wants to create in Roanoke — an environment in which everyone is laughing, with no regard to social status or race.
That’s the same welcoming environment that Reschka and Himmel hope to create at their shows at Brady’s Distillery. “Comedy is fun,” Reschka says. “If you’re not sure about it, come give it a try.”
“We look forward to having folks come out for the event,” reiterated Tim Brady, co-owner of Brady’s Distillery.
Tickets for the show are $5 each and can be purchased through Eventbrite.
About Brady’s Distillery
Brady’s Distillery, located at 711 Pocahontas Ave. in Roanoke, VA, is a veteran-owned business that was established by brothers Brian, Tim and Andy Brady in 2020. It is the first and only distillery to have operated in Roanoke in over 100 years, since the beginnings of prohibition.
The tasting room opened in fall of 2022 and serves up numerous cocktails mixed with a selection of six spirits: vodka, rum, gin, double-oaked solera whisky, bourbon and toasted rye whiskey. Manager Amy Himmel has nearly fifteen years experience crafting cocktails and serves up drinks that showcase each liquor’s unique attributes. The tasting room is open daily and often hosts live music and food trucks. For more information, visit the distillery’s website or Facebook page.
