Portland exports laughter to TD’s Route 30

The comedy shows —being billed as “Brew-Ha-Ha” — will bring in comedy acts from Port-land and feature two parts: a standup comic and an improvisational comedian.

The first show for 2017 will come on Jan. 7 starting at 8 p.m., and will feature improv Jay Flewelling and Jacob Christopher, a standup comic. The cost is $10 per person.

“I’m a producer of comedy shows in Portland, and I think The Dalles is ready for this,” Flewelling said. “People may not want to go all the way into Portland for comedy, but if it’s in their own backyard, why not?”

Co-owner Johna LaRoque said the idea to do a monthly show came after the brewery, which has been open for just over a year, held a comedy show about a month ago that customers en-joyed.

“We had a comedy night in November and had a great response,” LaRoque said.

LaRoque thinks the Brew-Ha-Ha event might sell out, and recommended that those interested purchase tickets soon because capacity at the shows will be limited.

“Tickets went on sale Mon-day,” she said. “We did 80 (seats for the comedy show) in November, but I think we’ll do 70 for this. It was a little tight in here with 80.”

Flewelling, who pledged to “bring the best of Portland comedy talent to The Dalles every month,” said the idea about bringing a comedy show to The Dalles came about when a friend of his was traveling through The Dalles almost a year ago and happened to stop in at Route 30.

“She ended up chatting with the owners and discovered that this bar/venue was super cool and had a great setup for performance in general,” Flewelling recalled. “She pitched them the idea of doing comedy at Route 30, and they were open to it. Fast forward months later; I reached out to them and set up a time to go out and meet with them about the idea of getting Brew-Ha-Ha off the ground.”

Flewelling said the owner gave him the impression that doing some comedy shows at Route 30 was a great opportunity for everyone – Flewelling, Route 30, and The Dalles in general. was an interesting coincidence that made him believe shows there were somehow meant to hap-pen. “Route 30 actually had a poster of one of my longtime running shows in Portland hanging up in their joint that a friend of theirs bought at a flea market for them,” he explained.

Flewelling said he is looking forward to the first show in January, and believes it will prove to be an event that gains a solid fol-lowing in The Dalles.

“There is magic in doing a show in a small or smaller town, because you are not competing with any other show, and not a lot of shows in any genre come to small towns,” Flewelling said. “The Dalles is only an hour away and is a beautiful drive from Portland. I thought this could be a re-ally cool thing to do, and we have a plan for success with longevity in mind.”