About the Un-Cabaret

The Un-Cabaret is part of the "alternative comedy" revolution, featuring real life storytelling over one-liners.

It started in the early '90's. Actor/writer/producer/artist, Beth Lapides, tiring of the rigid formulas and offensive "acts" of mainstream stand- up comedy, started taking comics out of the comedy clubs, into alternative spaces like The Women's Building and Highways. The
Un-Cabaret seemed to click immediately with audiences who wanted to laugh at something a bit smarter and more substantive.

In 1993, the Un-Cabaret moved to LunaPark, an eclectic new music club in West Hollywood. The show was scheduled for a three-week run but soon found itself a regular Sunday night fixture and ran for another seven years. Un-Cab became important for comedians who wanted to experiment outside the constraints of the shtick comedy clubs.

During that time, Julia Sweeney developed her one-woman show "God Said Ha!" at the Un-Cabaret. Margaret Cho developed "I'm the One That I Want." And Lapides lured head writers from shows like "Sex and the City" and "Larry Sanders" onstage.

In 2000, LunaPark closed and so did the Un-Cabaret. But the following year, Lapides re-opened the Un-Cabaret at the HBO/Warner Brothers TV Workspace, a small theater in Hollywood, where it played to happy houses live most Sundays for over a year. But then the HBO Workspace also closed.

So, the Un-Cab went on tour to the Groundlings, the Friars' Club, and the Knitting Factory, among others. And their 2002 released CD, "The Un & Only" has been tagged "liberating" by Entertainment Weekly and "incredibly smart, super now comedy" by the LA Weekly - keeping alive the "alternative comedy revolution." Uncabaret is now back at 665 N.Robertson Blvd. (the club formerly known as Luna Park) every Sunday night.