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Collin Brogan, a Celina Realtor moonlighting as a comedian, second from left, poses at the now defunct Wiley's Comedy Club, Dayton. Brogan, along with 419 Live and Speakeasy Steak and Ale House, will debut Celina's very own Zeke's Comedy Club with a sold-out show Saturday night featuring: Stephen Hinkle, Rachael Willis and Ty Moore.
CELINA - The public has answered the question of whether rural, agriculture-rooted Mercer County is ready for its own comedy club, snatching up every ticket nearly a week ahead of an inaugural show to be put on by a host of partners in downtown Celina Saturday night.
Zeke's Comedy Club, the brainchild of Collin Brogan and an ornery pet cat given to good-natured hijinks, will make its triumphant debut with a trio of comedians booked by 419 Live, a Lima-based production company. Celina native Stephen Hinkle, Rachael Willis and Ty Moore will try their best to leave audience members in stitches.
The 90-minute event will take place at a club within a club: the well-established Speakeasy Steak and Ale House.
"It blew my mind, actually," Brogan said about selling all 55 tickets by last Sunday. "There was an overwhelming, 'Yes, let's do this,' from the public. So yeah, I think Celina is ready for it. We definitely need more entertainment options around here."
Doors are slated to open at 9 p.m., with the hilarious and skewed takes on contemporary life to begin rolling out at 9:30 p.m. While Brogan and 419 Live are responsible for providing the talent, Speakeasy will serve up food and drinks, together evoking the atmosphere of a traditional urban comedy joint seen in movies and television.
"There will be servers going around as well from the Speakeasy, taking orders," Brogan said. "That was my goal for this, was to have the feeling of a big city comedy club in a small town."
Tickets to the first show Saturday night of Celina's very own Zeke's Comedy Club inside Speakeasy Steak and Ale House are sold-out.
More shows will be scheduled for the future, the next being May 16, with details to be revealed Saturday night.
"These people are regional. I would love to get bigger names in the future. How that looks right now, we're not sure," he said. "There are other venues in this area that we can utilize if need be. But for right now, with just starting out, the Speakeasy is going to be our main place, and honestly will probably be our home venue for quite some time since we have built that partnership together."
Brogan is a 35-year-old Realtor who moved with his family from Florida to Celina in 2007 and has stayed ever since. A budding funnyman himself, Brogan got into standup comedy a few years ago and has immersed himself in comedy scenes in Dayton, Columbus, Indianapolis and elsewhere.
"I started doing standup comedy when I was in therapy and I was having some pretty bad social anxiety," he said. "My therapist at the time suggested put myself in a form of exposure therapy, so I thought, why not standup?"
Brogan enjoyed finding his voice and refining his craft, not to mention learning a thing or two from seasoned comedians, in the various comedy venues.
"It was pretty much biweekly, almost a weekly basis I was going down to Dayton to see stuff. That's kind of what inspired this whole comedy club," he said. "I noticed in northwestern Ohio there wasn't really that big of a comedy club presence, right? I mean we have bars in town. We have lots of restaurants …. gas stations."
Taking to social media to gauge public interest, Brogan said he was inundated with enthusiastic support from scores of locals desiring to yuk it up in a bona fide comedy club. Almost simultaneously, Speakeasy Steak & Ale House reached out to see if they could host his club in the heart of downtown Celina.
Brogan wants Zeke's Comedy Club to function as a "cultural implant into the community." The name was inspired by his mischievous cat, Zeke, adopted from Celina Cares, a local nonprofit.
"Speakeasy is going to be providing the food and drinks. So they're going to have their drink menu available, their full appetizer menu available for the shows," he said. "419 Live and Zeke's brings the talent."
The three entities have been getting along splendidly and looking forward to a bright future of more sold-out shows.
"We have been doing multiple meetings, great relationship … so far," he said.
To stay abreast of and buy tickets to coming shows at Zeke's Comedy Club, follow its Facebook page.
