Albuquerque, New Mexico will welcome a new, queer-owned comedy club to its downtown scene this summer.
Dry Heat Comedy Club, founded by Dry Heat Comedy Club, founded by married couple and GO contributors Sarah Kennedy and Kelli Trapnell, is scheduled to open in June 2022 on Central Ave and 6th Street in downtown Albuquerque.
Trapnell and Kennedy, who is the host of the podcast “Comedy Ghost Town,” decided to open their own comedy club to fill a gap in Albuquerque’s entertainment offerings: aside from Dry Heat, the city has no comedy clubs, a topic which Kennedy explores in her podcast.
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“When I started ‘Comedy Ghost Town,’ we definitely were not planning on opening a comedy club ourselves,” Kennedy said in a statement released to the press. “But then things just started falling into place. People keep coming out of the woodwork to help with things, or to connect us with the right people. It’s like Stone Soup, where the community is helping this thing happen. It’s pretty amazing.”
Kennedy, herself a professional stand-up comedian, has nearly a decade of experience producing comedy festivals in both her native Albuquerque and New York City. She met Trapnell, an award-winning writer, in New York City, and together they have produced numerous comedy shows.
In addition to fostering comedic talent, the couple also envision the club to be an inclusive and welcoming environment. “Community is important to us,” said Trapnell in the press release. “As much as Dry Heat is focused on nurturing the existing comedy scene, it is also a space that will interrupt norms based on gender, economic background, race and politics through the lens of comedy.”
Dry Heat Comedy Club will open in June of 2022, with regularly-scheduled performances from both local and nationally-known comedians Thursdays through Sundays. The venue will also host other performances, from poetry slams to storytelling sessions.
Until the June opening, Dry Heat will be running shows out of the Hotel Andaluz starting on May 8 with a performance by comedian Eddie Pepitone.
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