Another Los Angeles comedy mainstay is closing down next week. Last night it was announced that Hollywood’s Meltdown Comics, which has been in operation for 25 years, will close for good next Friday, March 30th. In addition, Meltdown’s comedy venue NerdMelt Showroom, which has been home to countless comedy shows including The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail, will shutter as well. Here’s the statement NerdMelt released on the news yesterday:
It is with a heavy heart that we bring you this news: Meltdown Comics is closing its doors, and thus, the NerdMelt Showroom will be closing as well. Our last show will be March 30th. We know this is very soon and unexpected; it’s as much of a shock to us as it is to you. We want to thank you for all the support you’ve shown over the years, and we hope you have enjoyed any and all experiences you’ve had at the NerdMelt Showroom. We are so proud to have put on such remarkable shows, to have featured such talented performers, and to have entertained such wonderful audience members. This is truly the end of an era. We hope you are able to attend a show before we close–check out our calendar for the remaining events. Much love to you all!
In a post about the news, Nerdist, which opened up NerdMelt as a joint venture with Meltdown, reflected on the tiny theater’s huge impact on the comedy scene in LA and beyond:
Much like the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater gave rise to a generation of comedians that cracked us up on TV and in movies, Meltdown and its theater–which was curated in association with Nerdist–the Nerdmelt Showroom served as a launching pad for some of the funniest and most creative individuals in Hollywood to hone their craft before breaking big. What began as Kumail Nanjiani, Jonah Ray, and Emily V. Gordon’s weekly stand-up showcase transformed into a television show on Comedy Central. A recording studio in the building’s attic served as ground zero for Chris Hardwick’s sprawling media empire, beginning with the podcast formerly known as The Nerdist Podcast. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. It allowed so many artists, writers, comedians, performers, and fans to have a shared community of creative, nerdy, wonderful people who came together to wear their passions on their sleeve in what felt like an oasis. As a cultural institution and a community center, Meltdown will be sorely missed.
Meltdown Comics founder Gaston Dominguez-Letelier also released a letter about the news, which reads, in part:
And what a wonderfully surreal run it’s been… we’ve watched every fad, trend, and next big thing come and go while customers became celebrities, children blossomed to adults, geeks morphed into moguls, and fanboys scored Oscars. Throughout it all, I’ve been most fortunate to be surrounded by my family and the best staff anyone could have ever wished for – through thick and thin you supported Meltdown and invested in me, I will never be able to repay you but know that I am eternally grateful and forever in your debt. As I prepare to extinguish Sunset’s neon know that there is a new path for me (more later) and I close Meltdown without any regret. For 25 years I have been enriched by every inquisitive mind I have encountered on this journey and for that I humbly thank you, all of you.
It’s been a rough 2018 for the LA comedy scene so far. Just last month, iO West also shut down with only a week’s notice after a 21-year run.