New comedy club opens

POMPTON PLAINS — James DeBenedetto has been managing comedy clubs for more than a decade. Now he's bringing that expertise to Pompton Plains.

"I've been doing this for about 10 years," he explained. "I decided I wanted to open another last year."

Bringing comedy to the areaEnter the Regency House Hotel. Once he decided to open a new Comedy Shoppe securing a location was a top priority.

"I've done things in Montville and Parsippany for a long time as well as Rockaway so I knew that this was a good area," DeBenedetto said. "There's not much entertainment in the area so working with the Regency in Pompton Plains just made sense."

After 10 years in the comedy business it would seem natural for DeBenedetto to have plenty of headline acts in his contact list.

"We've had a lot of big names, all the guys from Howard Stern, Bob Levy, Nick DiPaolo," he said. "We had Otto and George several times a year until he passed away last year, Rich Vos, Gilbert Godfried, really most of the big names in comedy."

The shows themselves draw quite the eclectic crowd because the target audience is such a wide range of people.

"With comedy the intended demographic is anybody," said DeBenedetto. "It is anyone really from 18 to 60 because we have a little bit of everything."

Despite only recently signing a contract for the location, the Comedy Shoppe has a pretty solid calendar already.

"We have a show every Saturday," DeBenedetto explained.

When people do come out to the show, they can be sure they are in for a fun night.

"It is a great location. The staff is awesome," DeBenedetto explained. "They also offer a special rate for the hotel rooms to people that are attending the comedy shows."

The Comedy Shoppe can also accommodate fundraisers and private parties as well. They have four different rooms: the regular room fits 80 people but there are ballrooms that hold 150 and 170 as well as the main one that seats about 300.

"Tickets are generally around $15 but for special events it's more," DeBenedetto said. "The most it would generally be other than that is about $35."

The Comedy Shoppe at the Regency House Hotel in Pompton Plains is located at 140 Route 23 north. For more information and a complete schedule visit jjcomedy.com.