Whale City Comedy is bringing comedy back to the city. Here's who's performing on Oct. 1.

Seth Chitwood, Standard-Times
·2 min read

NEW BEDFORD — Why don't comedians like being quarantined? Because they can only tell inside jokes.

Westport's Ashlie Thatcher of Whale City Comedy is on a mission to welcome more stand-up comedians to New Bedford by offering monthly performances at Gallery X starting Oct. 1.

"I noticed that there was not much comedy offered in New Bedford. So, I wanted to kind of fill that gap and bring live comedy to the SouthCoast," Thatcher said.

The goal of Whale City Comedy is to bring New England's best comedians to New Bedford by featuring stand-up comics seen on channels such as Comedy Central, MTV, HBO and Dry Bar Comedy.

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"We're so close to bigger cities like Boston or Providence, which is where people tend to go and outsource for their entertainment," Thatcher added. "So that was why it was really important to me to bring that back home."

Whale City Comedy hosted its first event on Aug. 27 to a sold-out audience. The event featured comedians Jay Whittaker, Jake Steers and Jaylene Tran. Thatcher said she is so happy to have Gallery X, a cooperative art gallery, as their host.

Ashlie Thatcher wants to bring stand-up comedy to New Bedford on a monthly basis starting October 1.
Ashlie Thatcher wants to bring stand-up comedy to New Bedford on a monthly basis starting October 1.

It's also a BYOB event

What is also great about the event, she said, is that Whale City Comedy invites the audience to BYOB their own drinks. "Most of the time you think of professional comedy stand-up comedy, and you're paying a two-drink minimum to watch," she added. "It's an inexpensive night out."

The evening also showcases multiple comedians, so audiences can get a plethora of different comedy acts over two hours.

"It's a very intimate experience; and very casual and fun. And it takes the scariness away from coming to an expensive comedy club," Thatcher added.

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On Oct. 1, comedians include Dan Boulder, Kirsten Logan, Mohad Mussa, Doug Key and Shyam Subramanian.

Whale City Comedy hosts their next event on Oct. 1.
Whale City Comedy hosts their next event on Oct. 1.

"It's all about bringing people joy and making people laugh," Thatcher added.

"It feels really great to put out events that will bring folks together, kind of cultivate the community and just laugh and have a good time."

Standard-Times staff writer Seth Chitwood can be reached at schitwood@s-t.com. Follow him on twitter: @ChitwoodReports. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Whale City Comedy to bring comedians monthly to New Bedford