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Midtown Residents Throw Rotten Tomatoes at Comedy Club's Cabaret Plans

By DNAinfo Staff on January 5, 2011 3:21pm  | Updated on January 6, 2011 6:43am

Members of a local block association are at odds with the owners of the HA! comedy club over their plans for the space.
Members of a local block association are at odds with the owners of the HA! comedy club over their plans for the space.
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Flickr/TheeErin

By Jill Colvin

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MIDTOWN — Midtown residents will try to block a Times Square comedy club's application for a license to permit dancing at a hearing Wednesday night.

The opposition, led by the 46th Street Block Association and backed by the Reverend of a Times Square church, argue that owners of the Ha! Comedy Club at 163 W. 46th St. want the license so they can turn the space into a nightclub.

Ha!'s owners say they have no plans for a club and just want permission to stage off-Broadway shows where audience members can get up and dance in the aisles.

After a month's delay, the application will go to vote at Midtown Community Board 5’s Public Safety and Quality of Life committee meeting Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. at St. Xavier High School at 30 W. 16th St.

The HA! Comedy Club in Midtown wants a permit to allow dancing, in addition to drinking.
The HA! Comedy Club in Midtown wants a permit to allow dancing, in addition to drinking.
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From www.hanyc.com/

The application had been scheduled for a vote at a meeting last month, but the committee postponed the hearing to give the club a last-minute chance to make amends with residents and church staff before the hearing.

Lawyer Teddy Gonzalez, who represents Ha! operator Comedy Club of NYC, said the owners were unaware of any opposition to their license until they were alerted by DNAinfo that their case was up for vote.

In the weeks since the postponement, he has tried unsuccessfully to reach out to critics to calm their fears, he said.

But Kathleen Cromwell, a member of the 46th Street Block Association, who has lived on the block for 30 years, maintains that if the license if granted, the shop’s owners will transform the comedy joint into a nightclub that will draw large late-night crowds to the already saturated block.

The stretch is already under siege by an "extreme proliferation of liquor license," she said.

In addition to the debate over the Comedy Stop, the committee is also set to review applications for new liquor licenses at 5 W. 21st St., 34 W. 32nd St., and the first floor of 28 W. 32nd St., as well as renewals for Allegretti at 46 W. 22nd St. and Gagpa Music Studio on the third floor of 28 W. 32nd St.

All decisions must be voted on by the full board at its monthly meeting on Jan. 13.