Austin Comedy Weekend Picks: Craig Robinson, Terror Terrace and a Velveeta Spooktacular
Halloween lands on a Saturday, the clocks go back Sunday, and Darryl from The Office costs less on the holiday than the night before.
By the Heckle Desk · · 3 min read
Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, so Austin gets three straight nights of grown adults in store-bought capes paying a service charge to be told they look tired. The clocks also go back early Sunday, which hands you one extra hour to think about what you did. That hour is the one thing in this town nobody has figured out how to add a fee to.
We can't vouch for Joe Rogan's Comedy Mothership this weekend. Its listings page turned this desk away with a too-many-requests error, which as far as I can tell is the club's entire door policy, now extended to the internet. A man can buy a historic Sixth Street theater with podcast money and spend the rest of his days keeping people out of it, and there are pharaohs who managed less. So here are five shows that took our call.
A word on Cap City, home to two of them: it's at 11506 Century Oaks Terrace at the Domain, not the old Research Boulevard address your uncle will swear by. It's 18 and up, all sales are final, and there's a two-item minimum that any two menu items will satisfy, so a person can see a television star and technically have only eaten fries. The prices below come from each club's own ticket pages as of Friday evening.
If those are too rich, Cap City's Red Room has Charles Haycock, a Just for Laughs regular with Kill Tony on the résumé, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 and 9:45 for $18 plus $2. And if you want Halloween night dirty and late, the Creek and the Cave has Jason Rouse at 9 and the adult showcase FREAKY at 11, both 21 and up; neither page shows a price, so you'll find out at checkout, like a colonoscopy.
Go in costume if you must, but remember that a costume is like an Austin lease: it looked fine in the store, it cost more than you were told, and you'll be a long time getting out of it.
- 01
Craig Robinson · Cap City Comedy Club · Fri 7 and 9:15 PM, Sat 7 and 9:30 PM, Sun 7 PM
Darryl from The Office taught K-8 in the Chicago public schools before Second City, so he has already bombed in front of the toughest room in America, and they couldn't leave. Saturday general admission is $35 plus a $5.99 service charge, Sunday $43.40 plus $6.99, and Friday $48.57 plus $6.99, which makes Halloween the cheap night and $48.57 a number that looks calculated by someone trying to get out of a fire. Friday's 7 PM general admission is gone, leaving a few balcony seats; 9:15 still has room.
- 02
Welcome to Terror Terrace · Fallout Theater · Fri 9 PM, Sat 7 and 9 PM, Sun 7:30 PM
Monster tenants learn their landlord plans to sell the rundown building, the most frightening thing anyone has staged in Austin since the last appraisal. It's musical sketch comedy with burlesque, drag and dancers, 1 hour 45 minutes at 616 Lavaca, strictly 18+ for sexual content, and funded in part by a City of Austin grant, so your taxes finally bought you something with a ghoul in it. $20 online plus fees, $25 at the door.
- 03
Halloween Spooktacular · The Velveeta Room · Fri, 10 PM
The club promises jokes, candy, costumes and a likely "costume malfunction mid-set," which is a bold thing to put in writing on Sixth Street. No lineup is posted, so you're buying a mystery box from a bar. $20 plus $2.25, $25 plus $2.50 for the front row, doors at 9:30 at 521 E 6th St; no refunds, only credit.
- 04
Prom Com: Monster Mash · ColdTowne Cabaret · Fri, 8 PM
A four-hour immersive Halloween prom with variety acts, for people who felt the first one ended too soon or never got invited. It's pay what you can: RSVP for $0, name your price, or pay $7 with fees, making it the second thing this weekend without a charge, after the hour. It's at ColdTowne's 1700 E 2nd St home, with free parking.
- 05
Led Varela · Cap City Comedy Club · Sun, 4 PM
The Venezuelan-Uruguayan comic has four specials with millions of YouTube views and works entirely in Spanish, a fact the club puts in capital letters in the show's title, with no translation, in case anyone from Lakeway wanders in. General admission or balcony is $37 plus $6.99.
- Cap City Comedy Club: Craig Robinson
- Cap City Comedy Club: Charles Haycock
- Cap City Comedy Club: Led Varela
- Fallout Theater
- Eventbrite: Welcome to Terror Terrace
- CTX Live Theatre: Welcome to Terror Terrace
- The Velveeta Room: Halloween Spooktacular
- ColdTowne Theater: Prom Com: Monster Mash
- The Creek and The Cave: Jason Rouse
- The Creek and The Cave: FREAKY
- Wikipedia: Comedy Mothership