It’s been roughly seven months since Helium Comedy Club opened its doors in Alpharetta last October. Now with the summer looming, the club has a heavy-hitting lineup on the horizon.
Starting May 16, Helium will host comics like Hannibal Buress, Colin Jost, Lisa Ann Walter, and Damon Wayans Jr. Tickets for the summer shows are on sale on Helium’s website.
The metro Atlanta spot joined owner Marc Grossman’s growing roster of comedy clubs, which now includes nine clubs in cities like Philadelphia, St. Louis, Austin, and Raleigh, among others.
Grossman said part of the reason for deciding to expand to Atlanta was the lack of clubs outside of the metro area. The Punchline Comedy Club relocated from Sandy Springs to Buckhead in 2015, and the Funny Farm closed in Roswell in 2008. Marshall Chiles, the owner of Funny Farm, later opened The Laughing Skull in Midtown.
“The comedy scene was definitely missing something,” Grossman said. “Atlanta needed a good, big, A-level club that showed well, that comics wanted to go perform at. Especially as you get farther north, everybody knows that the traffic in Atlanta is really rough. People up towards Alpharetta and those areas, they don’t want to drive Downtown or even close, because it just takes forever.”
Helium has a main showroom with a capacity of 375 where bigger comics will play, as well as a smaller room (dubbed “The Other Room”) for smaller events. In addition to the big shows coming up this summer, their schedule online is filled with smaller comics and open mic nights. Comedy classes are also available at Helium for those who want to better hone their skills.
“It’s deep,” Grossman said about the talent pool in the Atlanta comedy scene. “There are a lot of really good comics. I think that’s a product of a large population, Atlanta being an entertainment capital … and certainly Marshall [Chiles], who owns The Laughing Skull, has done a lot to foster that local scene.”
When it comes to booking acts, Grossman said the “secret sauce” comes in trying to appeal to different audiences and demographics, which means bringing in a wide variety of acts. But there are a few rules he abides by, namely: “who’s funny, who can sell tickets, and who’s easy to work with.”
“We’re trying everything,” he said. “I think the things that work, we’ll do more of. And the things that don’t work, we’ll do less of. We’ll keep iterating constantly, because we do want a club that appeals to broad audiences.”
The May-June schedule at Helium Comedy Club can be found below.
- George Wallace (The Lady Killers, Clean Slate) – May 16 – 17, 2025
- Hannibal Buress (Broad City, Tag) – May 23 – 24, 2025
- Colin Jost (Saturday Night Live) – May 30 – 31, 2025
- David Koechner (The Office, Anchorman) – June 13 – 15, 2025
- Lisa Ann Walter (Abbott Elementary) – June 20 – 21, 2025
- Damon Wayans Jr. (New Girl, Happy Endings) – June 27 – 29, 2025