MGM Grand has one club ready to reopen

Sometimes, you just have to laugh. For Brad Garrett, the time is now.

“We decided we’re going to reopen, with the 50-person cap,” Garrett said Wednesday night. “We have a lot of comics who live in Las Vegas who need to get back onstage. Let’s go.”

So it is that Garrett’s eponymous comedy club is reopening Dec. 26 at MGM Grand, moving back to its original location at the resort’s Underground promenade.

The comedy enclave offers the only ticketed shows anywhere in MGM Resorts International’s Strip resorts. Garrett had originally resisted the idea of putting comics in front of 50 ticket-holders, but changed course after talking to comics and MGM Resorts officials.

The club’s schedule relaunches with headliner Trixx and featured comic Kathleen Dunbar, both club vets, on Dec. 26-27. Drew Thomas headlines with featured act Omid Singh Dec. 28-Jan. 3.

The club’s rotating schedule runs nightly, two shows per night, until Jan. 3, when one show is booked at 8 p.m. After that, the club returns to its previous schedule Wednesdays through Sundays, two shows per night on Fridays and Saturdays.

A frequent host in the Vegas club, Garrett himself has no plans to perform in the 50-seat room.

“I am leaving that spot open for a comic who wants to work,” he said. Garrett most recently hosted on Nov. 23, when the club’s lineup returned to its temporary space at Studio A & B at the MGM Grand Garden arena.

Comedy has been performed on and off the Strip even during public-gathering restrictions. Laugh Factory at the Tropicana, coincidentally Garrett’s space before he moved to MGM Grand, is running its full schedule. L.A. Comedy Club at The Strat, Delirious Comedy Club at Downtown Grand and Jokesters at Alexis Park (both operated by Don Barnhart) and “Four Funny” at Notoriety are also staging the funny.

Garrett’s dedicated club, which opened in March 2012, has been latent since March 14.

“It’s incredible when you think about it,” Garrett said. “This is just really hard to believe, with so many folks hurting. But we are seeing some promising news with the vaccines, and I think we are going to get ahead of this.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.