Comedy / Business & brands
Mark Ridley
· comedy club founder, producer
Wayne State graduate who opened Michigan's first comedy club, the Comedy Castle, in 1979, where Tim Allen and Dave Coulier started out.
- Detroit years
- 1979–present
- Field
- Comedy, Business & brands
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Ridley earned a communications degree at Wayne State University and, while living in Los Angeles, spent his nights at the Comedy Store and the Improv watching young comics such as David Letterman and Richard Pryor. Back in Michigan he opened the Comedy Castle on January 4, 1979, in the basement of a Bloomfield Hills restaurant, the state's first comedy club, and is credited with popularizing the three-comic lineup that became standard in clubs. Tim Allen and Dave Coulier made their start at its open-mic nights that year, and Bob Saget, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres and Drew Carey all played the room. In 1990 the club settled in its permanent 400-seat home on South Troy Street in Royal Oak. Ridley produced the Emmy-winning local variety show Funny Side of the Street with Tim Allen in 1991 and the Detroit International Comedy Festival, and the club runs annual benefits for local charities.
Highlights
- Opened Michigan's first comedy club on January 4, 1979
- Tim Allen and Dave Coulier began at the club's open-mic nights in 1979
- Moved the club to its 400-seat Royal Oak home in 1990
- Produced the Emmy-winning Funny Side of the Street (1991)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Founded · 1979–present
Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle
Michigan's oldest operating comedy club, founded in Bloomfield Hills in 1979 and in Royal Oak since 1990.