Austin Comedy History: Esther's Follies, a Pool Hall Fire and the Ritz Before Rogan

On April 1, 1977, Shannon Sedwick and her husband, Michael Shelton, put on the first show at Esther's Pool, a Sixth Street pool hall they named after the swimming movie star Esther Williams. Sedwick told Community Impact they picked her because of all the splashy numbers. Opening a comedy theater on April Fools' Day is either a great joke or a confession, and after nearly 50 years I'm still not sure which.

They'd met as University of Texas freshmen in the late '60s, per the Texas Exes magazine, The Alcalde: she was a drama major from Fort Worth, he studied architecture, and neither finished a degree. She acted, he built the sets, and the Alcalde says they still split the work that way. In 1975 they opened Liberty Lunch, the downtown music venue, and started doing skits between the bands. That's how a lot of Austin comedy begins. The bands need a break and somebody has to stand there.

Then the building burned. The Austin Chronicle puts the fire on October 12, 1983. As it happened, the couple had leased the Ritz back in 1981, a 1929 movie house at 320 E. Sixth that had been running as a punk club, so the troupe walked across the street and kept going. The Ritz lasted until 1987, and Sedwick later said the show felt lost in all that space. Here's the part I like. That same Ritz is now Joe Rogan's Comedy Mothership. So the room Esther's left for being too big is now where a podcaster holds court, and nobody has ever accused him of feeling lost in a big space. History doesn't repeat itself, but it does sublet.

Next came 501 E. Sixth, now a Coyote Ugly, from 1987 to 1990, the Follies' first return to a storefront where people on the sidewalk could watch. In 1990, Community Impact reports, Sedwick bought the current home down the block at 525 E. Sixth. The big front windows came along too, and they turned out to be a cast member. The Alcalde says people looking in off the sidewalk have caught a small dog being fired from a cannon. Magician Ray Anderson works the street into his act, which makes Sixth Street the only bar crawl in America that's also unpaid talent.

The show is sketch, music and magic, with comedy about the news. The Chronicle counted about a million people through the doors by the 20th anniversary in 1997. Sedwick's long-running bit is Patsy Cline pulling things out of her dress more or less forever, and she was known around town for her Ann Richards. Lily Tomlin and Ann Richards once headlined a benefit dressed as dancing Ritz crackers. I've seen governors do worse things in public, and usually with less rhythm. Sedwick told Community Impact the politics go after everybody, and the paper said the show leans liberal. On Sixth Street that counts as balance.

Next door is the Velveeta Room, which the Alcalde says the couple also owns. It's named after Ronnie Velveeta, a character played by longtime Esther's cast member Kerry Awn, and it's been on Sixth since 1988. So one family owns the sketch show, the stand-up club and, in a spiritual sense, the cheese.

Going is easy, if not cheap. Esther's is at 525 E. Sixth. Its FAQ lists 7pm and 9pm shows, with the lobby opening at 6 and 8:20; Wikipedia, citing Texas Highways, has it running Thursday through Saturday. The show is about 90 minutes with a short intermission, there's no drink minimum, and there's no minimum age, though the club warns it's about as clean as late-night TV. When I checked, the ticket page didn't show prices and said its booking system was having trouble, so call 512-320-0198 or email tickets@esthersfollies.com. Parking is the convention center garage at 601 E. Fifth, $15 to $20 a night by the club's estimate, which in downtown Austin counts as a gift.

Most things on Sixth Street last until last call. Esther's has lasted through a fire, three moves and every governor since Dolph Briscoe, which tells you laughing at the government ages better than running it.