Cardinal Spirits is planning an event that combines Cardinal’s distillery atmosphere with the comedy stylings of Indiana performers.
“High Proof Laughs” will be at 8 p.m. Monday in Cardinal Spirits, and guests 21 years old and older are invited to attend and enjoy the comedic stylings of a variety of Indiana acts.
Jeff Wuslich, co-founder of Cardinal Spirits, said the event will fall in line with the goals of the venue, which include building a feeling of familiarity with anyone who comes in.
“At Cardinal, we’re all about building community and bringing people together to share their stories and experiences, certainly alcohol helps with that in a lot of respects,” Wuslich said. “We think having good comedians there will help bring about a better community.”
“High Proof Laughs” will occur quarterly, and the goal is to continue inviting new and established comedians to Bloomington.
This first event will feature Kristen Lucas, winner of the 2016 “Funniest Person in Bloomington” contest; Austin Reel, an Indianapolis comedian and regular at Morty’s Comedy Joint; Stephanie Lochbihler, named one of the top 10 up-and-coming female comedians on ambitious.com; and Indianapolis-based Dwight Simmons, who is the host of a web series called BrewTube Comedy.
The master of ceremonies for the event will be Limestone Comedy Festival co-director Mat Alano-Martin, who said Cardinal has been a sponsor in the past and recently approached it about the series.
“We’re going to feature a couple of Limestone performers and performers we like, and it’ll be cool to do it in an alternative space,” Alano-Martin said.
Though comedy clubs are more geared toward the specific needs of comedians, Alano-Martin said Cardinal will provide a good vibe for the performance Monday.
“There’s no better place to see comedy than a comedy club — everything is manufactured and thought about for a comedy show,” Alano-Martin said. “The distillery is such a cool space, their tasting room is already cool and chic, and we’re excited to give it a whirl and see how it goes. It makes the comedians change up their game, it changes the atmosphere.”
Wuslich said Cardinal Spirits has been working with the Limestone Comedy Festival for a few years now, though the idea of having Limestone invite comedians is one they had not explored before.
“I love seeing comedians bringing joy to people, and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Wuslich said.
Alano-Martin said there is no reason people should not come out to enjoy the free show and he looks forward to taking this step forward in Limestone and Cardinal’s partnership.
“I hope that we have a bunch of people come out who are Cardinal regulars who don’t get to see a lot of stand up, and a lot of comedy fans to check out Cardinal,” Alano-Martin said.
