Hello from Comedy After Dark! We are so glad you have dropped by to check out our fundraiser, which we have been anxious to launch since we renewed our lease, back in November. Honestly, we took a gamble this time. We haven't been profiting as a business for a long time, and our limited seating arrangement (55 max) is not enough to sustain our astronomical operating expenses in this current economy where people are spending less and less.

We considered not renewing the lease and taking our losses, licking our wounds, and moving on from having a permanent brick and mortar space. However, our incredibly generous landlord made us an offer we couldn't refuse: sign another lease and we'll expand your current space into the unit next door, which will fit 100 people. This will essentially give us a totally separate theatre space from our current, awkward restaurant set up, enabling us to operate as a restaurant and a comedy club / concert space at the same time.

While it will involve considerable construction time, and a small amount of total business closure (while they cut access points open and demolish the new unit down to base building, install washrooms etc. etc.), ----- we couldn't turn the proposition down. We couldn't just leave comedy out in the cold. We took the gamble - BIG Gulp.

We're not going to lie: the terrible economy almost killed us last year. Customer spending was so low from April to October last year, we prayed almost every single payroll, that our cheques would clear. We've had months where we had to choose between paying our personal rent and the commercial lease. We were going months without any profit at all. Sometimes losing a couple thousand dollars a week. It was bad. And we were losing hope that we would make it to the next month, every month.

We're still catching up, and still have tons of bills to pay off. On top of the cost of furnishing the new venue, applying for liquor licensing, permits, etc.

That's where this fundraiser comes in. We have been supporting Canadian comedians for close to 15 years. Suzy's dream when she started Comedy After Dark was to create a dedicated space where the comedians only have to worry about showing up and PERFORMING and getting paid a fair wage. Self-produced shows that she also had to perform on were a tactical nightmare for her, and she wanted to take the promotion stress off the plates of comics so they can just focus on their act. She's gone from putting a few hundred dollars a month, to putting over $200,000/year into the pockets of Canadian comedians. That's on top of the close to $400,000 we pay to service staff per year. We plan to host other performance art, music, concerts and more in this new space. With this expansion, these numbers will likely double.

Owning a performance venue is expensive and daunting, and in a struggling economy, things can change on a dime. We are not out of the woods.

We've learned time and again, to not get too far ahead of ourselves when things start going well financially. While we have had an uptick in business to start the year, we still aren't making enough to cover the losses we had in 2025, and we still have some serious bills to pay coming up.

And while we have tried to avoid asking, we are humbly reaching out for help from the greater community in hopes that some people might have a few extra bucks to kindly and generously chip in to help us build this new space properly, pay off our creditors, and support fair and equitable pay for performers.

Thank you for supporting us at Comedy After Dark, and Long Live Live Comedy in Vancouver!

PS: We are also open to a business partnership with the right person/people. Please reach out as we are always looking for newer and better solutions.