Inside: Funny Side up Comedy Club in Plymouth

(Credit: Ese Esan/Metromix)

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Panache 447

Status: A few more chuckles can be heard in Plymouth since the arrival of Funny Side Up Comedy Club.

The club opened in October above main-floor restaurant Panache 447.

“From 8 to 10 p.m., we weren’t really utilizing the room,” says Blake Kolo, who owns both establishments. “We have a lot of private parties up there, and then after 10 p.m. it becomes like a lounge.”

Local comics attempt to elicit laughs every Saturday from 8 to 10 p.m.

Gear: Black button-up shirts and dress pants are the uniform for  the  staff. Audience members  wore anything from business-casual attire to street clothes.

Mood: The sleek elegance of the restaurant carries upstairs to the 2,000-square-foot comedy lounge, where a small bar with a mosaic tile façade is accented by cream-colored booths and dark-wood floors, tables and chairs.

A small, carpeted stage rests next to stairs that await the headliners.

“It’s elegantly designed but a very comfortable space for everybody,” says Kolo, who estimates that most people at Funny Side are  25 to 40 years old.

“It’s nice,” said 23-year-old Josh Peterson of Livonia, who visited Funny Side Up for the first time in January. “I don’t come to Plymouth very often, but I would come back.”

Pick me up: The comedy club offers a full menu from Panache, with items like stuffed chicken breast with bell pepper, cream cheese, asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes ($18.50); Meatball Ala Grande, a half-pound meatball with parsley linguini, sauce and baked mozzarella ($16.50), and sushi ranging from $8.50 for a California roll to $15.50 for a King Kong roll with salmon, shrimp, tuna, crab, avocado and cucumber.

“I like the food better than at the other bars in Northville,” said 34-year-old Michelle Dziadula of Northville as she and her husband dined at the bar at Funny Side. “The mussels were outstanding.”

From sweet drinks like the Cotton Candy (made with Pinnacle Cotton Candy Vodka, strawberry purée, cranberry and whipped cream) to the not-so-traditional cocktails like the Celebrate (Dragon Blue Rose Blossom Vodka, Chateau Chantal Celebrate, rose water and simple syrup), Funny Side has more than a half-dozen hand-crafted cocktails with prices ranging from $9 to $11.

The kitchen stays open until 1 a.m.

Entertainment: Funny Side’s main attractions are Saturday night, but downstairs, Panache offers live jazz and blues music every Friday and Saturday.

After the comedy shows, the tables are moved back to allow for dancing and electronic music is piped in through the speakers.

Beginning Feb. 15, Funny Side will host the Friday Night Funnyman Contest. The event begins at 8:30 p.m. and will run every Friday through March 15. Participants will compete for the title of funniest comic. A winner chosen by crowd reaction will receive $500.

“We definitely appeal more to the dinner crowd, but we do stuff like this to appeal to the younger crowd,” says manager Joe Rossi.