On May 24, 2022, Catacombs & Comedians, the live actual-play Dungeons & Dragons comedy show, took the stage for the first time. The venue was Zanies Comedy Club. That is why the brick building in the Berry Hill district of Nashville will forever be considered Catacombs & Comedians’ home club. Having appeared on the same stage as such comedy heavy hitters as Gabriel Iglesias, Nate Bargatze, and Dave Attell is both humbling and mind-boggling.
While Catacombs & Comedians never sold out the 300 seater like the talents mentioned above, we’ve always had a great time rolling for hilarity, butchering fantasy roleplaying tropes, fumbling through D&D rules, and trying to figure out which polyhedral dice to use when and what for. And, while the crowds may have been smaller in size, they were always energetic, enthusiastic, and eager to see the comedian player characters spill some monster blood in combat. You can check out some of the shows performed at Zanies on the Catacombs & Comedians YouTube channel.
Recently, WKRN ran a story about the 40 years that Zanies has been making Nashville laugh — Zanies Comedy Club: 40 years of being ‘Better Live’. The article interviews Brian Dorfman, one of the two Dorfman brothers that own the club. It was the other brother, Andrew, that initially gave Catacombs & Comedians it’s break and said yes when I pitched him the idea at a Zanies Christmas party. Brian Dorfman talks about how the club will be expanding with a new smaller side room “…to do some of the weirder, odder shows.”
“Weirder” and “odder.” That’s Catacombs & Comedians alright. So, while we haven’t taken the main stage in awhile now, we do hope to return to Zanies in it’s smaller side stage offering when it’s finally open for business. It sounds like the perfect intimate space for a fun session of Dungeons & Dragons. Stay tuned.