Wende Curtis is the CEO of Comedy Works Denver, the famous comedy club chain that hosted entertainment legends such as Roseanne Barr, George Lopez and Chris Rock. Today, the club’s windows are shuttered and its doors locked.
“It’s a f**king sh*t show,” said Curtis in frustration.
The organization that once boasted over 150 employees is now maintained by a skeleton crew who have been working desperately to keep the lights on since March 2020.
“I thought we would close for a couple of weeks or maybe a month, ” said Curtis. “Isn’t that what we all thought? I remember that early on, I would be on calls with other club owners from across the country. We studied the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), and one day, we focused on the Safe Harbor date. It was when employees were expected to return to work, which was June 30. And we thought, holy f**k, June 30? We will be out of business if we have to wait that long.”
Comedy Works hasn’t folded, but it sits far from comfortable. With only a short burst of business between July 25 and Nov. 14, Curtis has struggled to balance the books.
“Maybe if I had been a business major, someone would have taught me how to have no revenue come in and keep your business,” quipped Curtis, a CSU theater graduate with over 30 years of business experience.
The strain of the pandemic has forced her to let go of numerous employees, including managers who have worked with her since their college days. Governmental loans and grants have been a respite, but long waiting periods and legislative gridlocks have delayed the support which she urgently requires.
The Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) promised a $2 million cash infusion, but when it arrived, it only consisted of $150,000. Now, Curtis’s last hope comes in the form of the Shuttered Vendors Operators Grant (SVOG). The SVOG is supposed to provide an amount equal to 45% of a business’ 2019 gross revenue.
“There is this great grant that we were hearing about [called] the SVOG,” said Curtis. “But the [website application] portal still isn’t open. And at a certain point, how long do you wait? You have people that aren’t making any money. How many people are you going to lose?”
With sufficient aid seeming unlikely, Curtis turned her ire toward the government.
“When you are mandating businesses to close and restricting the ways they can do business, you can’t expect them to survive without help,” Curtis vented. “I love my country, I support my country, but is it supporting me? I think the government did its best, in the beginning, to try and help people, but it was obviously not enough. I don’t think we realize how many businesses have completely closed and how many lives have been changed forever.”
The state of Colorado has recorded almost 6,000 deaths as of February. 87,000 jobs have been shed in the restaurant business alone. The Colorado Restaurant Association projects that 62% of restaurants may close in the next six months.
“It’s a rude awakening, especially since you don’t have any control over it,” asserted Curtis. “I didn’t make a big gamble and lose. I didn’t make a foolish mistake. I didn’t do anything wrong, but I might lose my business. I kept going back to the question: Do I want to do this [continue running Comedy Works]? Can I do this? In the end, I won’t let this damn thing take me out. I won’t give up.”
She certainly hasn’t—after a three-month hiatus, Comedy Works South plans to reopen on March 11 with new safety protocols. These new conventions include Wex-Cide sanitation backpacks (a disinfectant solution used in hospitals), an HVAC system built to kill the virus, and robust employee cleaning routines. Tickets are still available for both March 11 and 12. Denver comedian Adam Clayton-Holland will be performing on both days.
However, even with the hope provided by this new show and the precautions that surround it, Curtis remains pessimistic about the future.
“I am hoping that we don’t close again, ” Curtis said, trailing off. “But down every path is another collection of unknowns.”
Despite her pessimistic nature and fear of what is to come, Curtis will continue to fight for what is hers. So with uncertainty and hope sharing a distant horizon, Comedy Works trudges onward into the unknown.
