Just like your plans to move out of your mom’s basement have been delayed, so are Ryan Howe’s plans for his Duck Duck Goofs comedy club to leave the basement of the Cambridge Community Center. The grand opening for a new Somerville space once scheduled for March 15, and then set for this coming weekend is now delayed to June by a medical emergency among the team and final permit details with the city of Somerville, Howe said Tuesday. Ticketing, for now, points buyers to June 14-15.
Whenever the opening happens, it leads into Friday and Saturday shows at the new permanent location at 432 McGrath Highway, Prospect Hill, Somerville – ending the Cambridge Community Center shows but not, for now, Thursday shows at The Cantab Lounge in Cambridge’s Central Squares. “We now have the ability to add a Sunday and a Thursday and a Wednesday. We also want to expand our classes pretty dramatically on weekdays,” Howe said, “as we, you know, figure out the kinks.”
Duck Duck Goofs was founded in 2022 by Howe, whose vision was to have “the best comedy show in the area” and already serves as a venue for professional comedians and a learning space for up-and-coming talent. The new location is intended to offer a range of creative programs and serve as an event space to become “the community hub for creativity and comedy”; the delay in opening has just allowed Howe and his fiancée more time for improvements. They’ve been thrifting locally to reach the perfect underground atmosphere Howe is looking for to maintain the intimate atmosphere of the community center basement.
At the center, you could find a makeshift folding table bar supplying cheap drinks right out of the cooler; expect that to stay. “Some of the most popular stuff that we sell is like a cider, a PBR, a seltzer and an IPA, and we’re working with our distributor to maintain some $4 drink offerings,” Howe said. “People come because they don’t have to spend too much money. That’s really important to us, that we’re accessible.”
Is the new Duck Duck Goofs accessible, though? While it was affordable, especially for the size, Howe said the location along an asphalt expanse of McGrath Highway had him wondering, at first.
“That was obviously a thing that we took into consideration when we picked this space. The area is, at first glance, less accessible. But having been there as many times as I have and having gotten there in multiple ways, via biking, walking, driving” showed the challenges of the area were more of a first-glance problem, Howe said. “It’s halfway between Assembly Row and Union Square, and a short walk from Union Square where a green line T stop has just opened. There’s an exit from the Somerville Community Path that’s less than a five-minute walk away, across McGrath, but it is there. There’s a bus stop right out front.”
And Howe has been through this worry before at the community center.
“We had very similar concerns about that: Who’s going to come to this basement at a community center where there’s no parking and it’s a 15-minute walk from the red line?” Howe said. “But what we’ve discovered is that people find a way, and we have such a loyal fan base. At the beginning of every show I always ask people to make some noise if you’ve been here before or if it’s your first time. And over the two and a half years we’ve existed, the amount of people who’ve been there before has dramatically increased. We’re a destination business.”
Tickets are nearly sold out for the grand opening, and Howe said that when he sent buyers emails about the changed dates, “the overwhelming response has been, ‘We’re just excited for it to open. It’s okay.’”
Another thing making Duck Duck Goofs a destination is that, for now, it’s the only place to go for the food of David Wade, whose buzzy Wade BBQ had a surprise closing in Union Square. Wade is working with Howe on the comedy club menu, which is still in flux to find the perfect offerings for the space’s small kitchen. “I know our offerings are going to include high-quality sausages. We’re looking at the things we can do with air frying and convection ovens,” Howe said. “He’s making us a menu of stuff we can cook with limited facilities, because it’s really important to us that the food is high quality, that it’s both affordable and something people will be happy to be eating. I’ve been to comedy clubs where there’s a two-item minimum – and we’re not doing anything like that – and then the food’s just, like, fine.”
The community center had been a great incubator for his Duck Duck Goose, allowing it to go from one show a month to four shows a weekend. “It’s time for us to have our own thing,” Howe said.
The grand opening weekend will have a mix of 6, 8 and 10 p.m. shows at Duck Duck Goofs, 432 McGrath Highway, Prospect Hill, Somerville, for $20 to $50 and 21-plus. They begin with a musical guest followed by a handful of comics, including a nationally touring headliner. The opening weekend is expected to include the talents of Indigo, Mo Mussa, Katlin McFee, Janet McNamara and Daniel Simonsen.
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