Stand-up comedian Tom Thakkar will take the stage at the Comedy Attic this weekend.
Thakkar, who has performed his comedy material on "Conan" and Comedy Central, will be performing at 8 p.m. Jan. 17 and 8 and 10 p.m. Jan. 18 and 19.
He began performing at the Comedy Attic in 2008 during open mic nights, and eventually transitioned to performing weekends with other professionals. The comedy club has long been dedicated to supporting rising Bloomington comedians.
“We believed very early on that we wanted to treat our local comedians as an equal part of the show,” owner Jared Thompson said. “Starting with that belief, we have pushed our local scene to improve and grow and move up the ladder as quickly as possible.”
Since its opening in 2008, Thompson has focused on promoting new stand-up comedians, particularly those in the Bloomington area. One of these is Thakkar, formerly Thomas Brady.
“He’s like my son,” Thompson said. “He started doing comedy the week that we opened in 2008. He’ll be here once a year twice a year until we close, or he quits.”
Next month, Thakkar is slated to record a 30-minute comedy special for Comedy Central. Yet, he consistently returns to his Bloomington roots.
"It’s always great to see him after time has passed because he gets better every time,” said Thompson. “He has earned everything he has gotten.”
Thompson said he believes in supporting aspiring performers. Because he recognizes the importance of performing often when working in comedy, he is always on the lookout for new potential talent to put on stage.
One example of this came in 2008, when Thompson hired John Mulaney.
In 2008, all Mulaney had to his name were a few appearances on the VH1 show “Best Week Ever.” Since his performance at the Comedy Attic, Mulaney has worked at Saturday Night Live as a writer, performed on shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and even voiced the character Andrew Glouberman in the Netflix original animated Show "Big Mouth."
Mulaney returned to the Comedy Attic in June 2017 and performed his stand-up special "Kid Gorgeous," which was eventually taped at Radio City Music Hall and is now found on Netflix.
“With John, it’s such a compliment that he wants to come to Bloomington every time he’s getting ready for a new special,” Thompson said. “In a way, it validates all of our hard work to make the Comedy Attic a special place for comedy.”
