BRYAN, Texas — Bars have started to reopen in Texas and a lot of local entertainers are glad because bars and clubs are where many perform. Rouge Comedy in Bryan has its first performance after the shelter in place Wednesday night.
The group has local comedians performing several times a month at clubs and bars not only in Brazos Valley but all over Texas.
"It's grown to [where] I've had maybe 20 open mic sign-ups and we have people coming from all around Texas to headline," said Alex Encinia.
As the comedy group and popularity around town started to grow, it all came to an abrupt halt when bars when forced to close down.
"Everything happened pretty rapidly," Encinia said. "We had a show scheduled and [the bar] canceled two hours before."
During quarantine, Encinia saw many comedians turn to podcasts or live streams on social media to do comedy sets. But for him, it was not the same as being at a show in person.
When Encinia heard bars could open again at 25 percent occupancy, he immediately got started on bringing the first Rouge Comedy show back.
"Hopefully everybody's ready to laugh," Encinia said. "It's been a tense few months."
While Encinia can't swear there won't be any coronavirus jokes, he does promise there will be lots of laughs.
"It's going to be weird and it's going to be different, but it's going to be a lot of fun," Encinia said.
Rouge Comedy's show is at 5 Knocks Speakeasy in Downtown Bryan Wednesday night. Doors open at 8 p.m. and the show starts at 8:30 p.m. People are asked to give a cash donation of any amount for entry.