Brickwall Comedy Club closed

The punch line of the last act at the Brickwall Comedy Club is no laughing matter: The club, Spokane’s sole year-round standup venue, closed its doors last week after succumbing to financial woes.

“We knew we’d been having problems for a long time,” said owner Chris Warren, 50. “Revenue has been down and costs have been skyrocketing.”

“We simply reached a point where we were bleeding and ran out of blood.”

The club, in its fourth year as a restaurant and bar, drew a mix of regional and national comedians to its location at Division Street and East Mission Avenue. It employed eight part-time when it closed June 10, Warren said.

The shutdown angered some performers, who told a local TV station they had been paid half in cash and half by checks, which bounced. That was no secret, local comedians said.

“They act like they’re surprised, but it’s no damn surprise,” said Don Parkins, who manages runs competing Uncle D’s Comedy Underground.

Warren acknowledged payments had been late, but said he hadn’t taken a paycheck in months to try to prioritize paying comics and workers.

Warren in March sought Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection - which would have allowed him to keep his property and pay back debts over time - claiming debts of $100,000 to $500,000. But the Internal Revenue Service asked for the case to be dismissed, alleging Warren owed nearly $86,000 in unpaid federal taxes and hadn’t filed individual tax returns or employee withholding returns for several years.