Austin is the second fastest-growing city in the U.S., according to census data by the city of Austin, and as it changes, so does its culture. Specifically, in recent times, comedy has been a rapidly growing scene as more homegrown comedians and famous comedians settle in the city.
Austin has a history of local comedy with clubs and festivals such as the Moontower Comedy Festival, which has existed for over a decade. However, the scene has exploded recently with even more comedians and comedy clubs. In 2020, popular comedian and host of one of the largest podcasts in the world, Joe Rogan, moved from California to Austin. In 2023, he opened a comedy club named the Comedy Mothership, bringing new elements and attention to the Austin comedy scene.
Colton Dowling is a comedian and co-owner of The Creek and The Cave, which is a comedy club on 7th Street. Dowling originally came to Austin for a two-week visit, but those two weeks quickly turned into eight years. He decided to stay and do comedy because of Austin’s space to grow his comedic career.
“The amount of stage time that I could get as a new comic was more than any other place,” Dowling said. “If you go to New York or LA, you’re not getting as much stage time.”
Seattle native Yola Jean Lu, a comedian now based in Austin, originally planned to move to New York or Los Angeles to pursue comedy, but after a visit to Houston, she was drawn to Texas. Choosing to stay, she settled in Austin, where she became part of Coldtowne Comedy Club, a club for alternative comedy, and built her career alongside the city’s comedy scene.
“I had never been to Austin before, but I had this feeling that Austin is probably an artsy city, maybe with more of a comedy scene,” Lu said. “Then I started finding a really supportive comedy community here in Austin.”
Austin also hosts homegrown comedians, such as Jessica Arjet, the co-owner and the Youth Programs Director of Hideout Theater. Arjet grew up in the Austin theater community, and after college, Arjert spent 17 years as a clown before transitioning to improv. This eventually brought her to the Hideout Theater, where she performs and teaches improv and comedy to kids.
“You know, [I like] working with kids because they’re very spontaneous,” Arjet said. “I just fell in love with it and almost immediately they invited me to join a cast of a show”
Dowling explained that he has noticed changes in both the Austin comedy scene and comedy throughout their time here. According to him, throughout his time here there has been a significant amount of comedy growth.
“It used to be that you had to move to LA or New York,” Dowling said. “And now people are moving here. So that’s the biggest difference.”
Austin’s comedy scene is expanding, with new clubs offering a variety of styles, from stand-up and improv to sketch and experimental comedy. As someone deeply involved in the scene, Arjet has observed how comedy culture evolves. According to her, teaching improv to kids gives her insight into what younger generations find funny, which allows her to rack shifting comedic trends firsthand.
“There’s a phrase that we use now that’s called punching up,” Arjet said. “So it used to be when you, in comedy, would punch down to make fun of people who were different than you, who were more vulnerable than you, and people thought that was funny. But now people don’t like that as much, instead, we’re like, ‘you can make fun of white guys, you can make fun of British people, you can make fun of people who are sitting on top.’”
Lu acknowledges that Austin’s comedy scene is supportive, but she also believes the culture is simultaneously shifting back toward a “punching down” mentality. More comedians are making jokes at the expense of marginalized groups. As a result, Lu and other women feel less safe in the comedy scene, as sexist and abusive humor has become more common in Austin sets.
“Now you have all these anti-woke comedians,” Lu said. “There’s so much more comedians that are punching down, making fun of marginalized groups, and just making jokes that feel really hacky,”
Dowling acknowledges that although times are changing and each of these comedians has different scenes and perspectives, most agree that their favorite part of doing comedy is the community. These comedians have found a great community in their spaces, and they love being able to share the comedy experience with their friends.
“Honestly, what I like about it is all my friends are funny for a profession, so I don’t have an unfunny friend,” Dowling said. “My favorite part is the community.”
Arjet values the friendship she has with other comedians, sharing the experience of performing and growing within the comedy scene. Together, they support each other by watching each other’s performances, experimenting with new material, and helping each other with their craft behind the scenes.
“My favorite part of comedy is when you’ve had a really good show with other people that you really like and you start repeating things that were in the show,” Arjet said. “It’s just like a group of friends all joining in together to do the comedy together, not for an audience”
Lu also loves meeting people in the comedy community. In the time she’s been in Austin, Lu has met a variety of people with different experiences who have welcomed her into a community of people who all share the comedy dream.
“The friends that I make in the communities that I build, so many of these people have become lifelong friends of mine,” Lu said. “There is something really special sometimes that everybody is pursuing this dream”
According to Lu, the Austin comedy community is growing and changing, but the roots of Austin comedy are still the foundation of the growing scene. She explained that more people are enjoying Austin culture because the city provides many new spaces to explore comedy for a wide range of audiences.
Hideout Theatre has regular shows and classes throughout the week from 7 a.m. to 5 a.m. with a large range of performances. Arjet performs “Glitter Witch” at 8:30 on Fridays at Hideout Theatre. Lu performs at the Fallout Theater every Thursday at 8:30 p.m. with her all-female and non-binary troupe.
