Room Report: The Creek and the Cave, the New York Club Reborn in Austin

In November 2020, Rebecca Trent closed The Creek and the Cave for good after 14 years in New York, which in that city is about the natural life span of a comedy club, a deli and a marriage. The lockdown did it. Three days later, Austin producer and comic Marty Clarke of Rough Cut Comedy got in touch, having heard her on a podcast, and talked her into bringing the whole thing to Texas. Most people who hear a stranger on a podcast just feel bad for a minute and move on. Clarke went and found a building.

The building was the old Barracuda music space at 611 E. Seventh St., on the edge of the Red River district, and the club opened there on April 1, 2021. Opening a comedy room on April Fools' Day in the middle of a pandemic is the sort of decision that's either a joke or a business plan, and in comedy those are filed in the same drawer. The plan, per the Austin Chronicle, was an indoor stage and an outdoor stage, seven nights a week, mics every day, local showcases on weeknights and name headliners Thursday through Saturday. Trent said she wanted "a true clubhouse" every comic could call home.

That reputation came with it. In New York the Creek was the place that took chances on new comics, and Colin Quinn worked up his one-man show Unconstitutional there, which tells you what kind of room it was: one where a famous man can be unfinished in public. Five years on, Austin is lousy with clubs, and some of them were built by men who wanted a stage nobody could take away from them. This one was built by somebody whose stage got taken away, and it shows. It's the difference between a fort and a front porch.

A night there goes like this. You're 21 or you're not getting in, so bring ID. Doors open 30 minutes before the show, seating is first come, first served, and there's no drink minimum, which in the entertainment district is close to a civil-rights achievement. A food truck runs until midnight and the bar until 2 a.m. Tickets this week run from free to $35.

Take King of the Creek, tonight at 10 for $10. Touring pros and local favorites face amateurs pulled at random from a bucket, the audience picks the winner, and the winner gets cash and the throne for two weeks. It's the only fair fight in Austin where the house doesn't already own the land. Friday's headliner, Giulio Gallarotti, made his Netflix debut on Pete Davidson Presents: The Best Friends, a title that asks you to accept Pete Davidson's friendships as a credential.

Want stage time? The Sunday 6 p.m. house mic is free with an online RSVP or $5 at the door; email creekandcaveopenmic@gmail.com Monday through Friday the week before, or gamble on a bucket spot. There's also a free 6 p.m. mic every weeknight: the Monday Gamble Mic (sign up in person), Tuesday's Tiki Mic, Wednesday's Off the Cuff riff mic and Thursday's Bear Arms (sign up before the show). Or drop your name in the King of the Creek bucket and be humbled for money.

New York let the place die and Austin gave it a liquor license, which is how most things get resurrected in Texas. There's a lesson in it: a city can't keep everything it loves, but it can generally be counted on to lose it to somewhere with cheaper rent, right up until the rent there isn't cheap either.