Over the many years, the basement of the Maverick Constructing on Presa Avenue has been a speakeasy, a marriage venue and a cupboard space.
Then, on Oct. 30, it grew to become what downtown San Antonio has been lacking since 2018: a spot to catch weekend comedy headliners, specialty showcases or watch open mic stand-ups bomb spectacularly.
The not too long ago launched Riot Riverwalk is filling a spot left by the 2018 closure of Rivercenter’s Improv Comedy Membership. It’s additionally rewriting what a comedy membership can imply for San Antonio’s scene.
The brand new venue took place when Houston’s Brian Gendron — who constructed that metropolis’s The Riot Comedy Membership and the annual Riot Comedy Pageant into comedy establishments — was actively scouting enlargement into “Better Houston; Brooklyn, New York; and San Antonio, totally anticipating that we’d ultimately enter all of them.”
After a complete day of potential San Antonio venues, Gendron was exhausted and able to head residence to Houston. That’s when AREA Actual Property threw him a Hail Mary: what concerning the basement area on the Maverick?
“Truthfully, I virtually stated no — I used to be that drained — however I’m extremely glad I didn’t,” Gendron recalled. “The second I walked into the constructing, down the steps into the already built-out Library [Cocktail] Bar, after which again to what was a basement wedding ceremony and occasions venue, I noticed it was really good for a comedy membership.”
Maybe it was destiny that David Adelman, one of many possession companions of the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations-listed Maverick, had been trying to find the best tenant to enliven the basement.
“After we re-developed the Maverick we had all the time hoped to discover a method to flip the basement into an asset versus a forgotten area,” Adelman stated.
Heat burgundy and black decor changed the previous wedding ceremony venue’s white aesthetic. The stage options skilled sound and upgraded lighting. It’s intimate in the best way storied golf equipment such New York’s Comedy Cellar ought to be — the comedian is shut sufficient to the viewers that they know whether or not the gang is rapt with consideration or daydreaming.
The adjoining Library Cocktail Lounge, with its book-lined partitions and brightly coloured portraits of comedy legends together with Robin Williams, Richard Pryor and Joan Rivers, serves as an impromptu inexperienced room.
“I personally love comedy golf equipment, having hung out in lots of the greatest in New York, Chicago and LA,” Adelman stated. “Now we’ve a jewel of a membership in downtown San Antonio.”
Rising a comedy scene
Riot Riverwalk is open seven nights every week. Each single evening provides growing comics stage time to hone their craft.
In the course of the week, open mics observe the ticketed showcases. These classes provide the form of stage time that turns anxious first-timers into working comics. Extra reps means sooner growth.
At a mere 90 minutes from Austin, Riot Riverwalk provides comedic cross-pollination for capital-city comics wanting follow in entrance of San Antonio audiences.
Weekends carry touring headliners. Riot Riverwalk’s first, Jeremiah Watkins, has labored with The Riot Comedy Membership in Houston for years.
“I like working with Brian as a result of he not solely cares concerning the comics, he cares about comedy,” Watkins stated. “Every year I do the membership he has discovered methods to make it a greater and extra seamless expertise not just for me, however the audiences as properly.”
Two weeks after Riot’s San Antonio opening, Gendron introduced again FIST — Funniest in South Texas — an area comedy competitors that had been dormant for years. Previous winners embody Huge Al Gonzalez, Raul Sanchez and the late Larry Garza.
The 2025 competitors kicked off in November and is anticipated to crown its winner Dec. 11. The winner earns the title, a money prize and a spot on The Riot Comedy Pageant in Houston in April.
Coming into a brand new part
The Maverick Constructing location isn’t incidental. Along with Riot Riverwalk, the mixed-use downtown construction provides flats, a lodge, espresso, eating and a bar. It’s the form of integration that retains downtowns alive after workplace employees go residence.
For vacationers, comedy is now as straightforward to seek out as a bowl of gooey queso on the Riverwalk. For locals, it’s an elevator trip away.
San Antonians are naturally skeptical of outsiders planting roots of their metropolis, however Gendron’s observe file suggests he’s able to creating one thing actual. He constructed The Riot model in Houston with its membership and comedy competition earlier than increasing exterior his residence metropolis. His background in advertising and marketing and company occasion organizing interprets on to working a profitable membership. And he is aware of comedy: he was a 2019 semi-finalist within the Funniest Comedian in Texas competitors.
The arrival of recent venues in 2025 — first Woodlawn Comedy and now Riot Riverwalk — additionally indicators that San Antonio’s comedy scene is coming into a brand new part. Extra venues imply extra alternatives for native expertise, extra causes for touring acts to route by way of city and extra motive to take the town’s homegrown comics significantly.
The Maverick’s basement seems integral to that by providing comics a spot to grind seven nights every week. They’re displaying up, they’re laughing and the Riot is rising, Gendron stated.
“I hope an increasing number of San Antonians will meet up with the numerous guests to our lovely and enjoyable metropolis for an ideal evening in town,” he added.
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