Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Union Comedy has a new home. Only it isn’t in Union Square – it’s moving to Central Square in Cambridge.
In the new plan, a stage and bar will fill the former Daily Table grocery store at 684 Massachusetts Ave., with the stage expected to host more than comedy, said Michael Monestime, president of the Central Square Business Improvement District. Daily Table, the square’s low-cost grocery store, closed abruptly in May.
“The lease is signed and construction is slated to begin soon to fit out the space and bring joy and laughter,” Monestime said on Monday, noting that Union includes some former community members from ImprovBoston. This is a homecoming of sorts, since ImprovBoston was in Central Square – a 40-year institution that closed in December 2023, unable to recover from losing its stage in November 2021 during the Covid pandemic.
Union Comedy in Central Square, with its bar, proximity to mass transit and added size, would level up in presence to join The Comedy Studio in Cambridge’s Harvard Square and Goofs in Somerville’s Prospect Hill. Union Comedy is the only dedicated space in Cambridge and Somerville for improv comedy, which relies on audience suggestions to give comedians the starting point for scenes they make up as they go (sometimes making up songs as they go, too).
This is Union Comedy’s third attempt at expanding beyond its 30-seat space at 593 Somerville Ave. in Somerville’s Spring Hill, where it holds weekend shows and classes.
That space served as a fallback after three years of work fell through building a club space that is now occupied by Goofs. Union Comedy then raised $58,900 via a crowdfunding campaign, planning to create a 90-seat club in Somerville’s Union Square at 73 Bow St., above a Fortissimo Coffeehouse and Hot Tomatoes Italian restaurant.
Union Comedy said in November that it had completed its fundraising and signed a lease, with a planned opening in March.
On Tuesday, the co-owner of the Union Square space, Lubov Volkova, confirmed that the deal with Union Comedy had fallen through and said that lawyers were involved. Beyond that, Volkova deferred questions to Union Comedy.
Emily Holland, Union Comedy’s marketing director, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Losing the comedy club – even if it never quite arrived – was a blow for Union Square’s nightlife, said Jessica Eshleman, executive director of the business organization Union Square Main Streets.
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I wish them well.
BUT the city needs a Non-profit grocery store for its people. The for profit stores are NOT helping an underserved major part of the population that needs affordable food resources with dignity and integrity. The Daily Table, Like the Harvest Coop before it were essential to the well being of our people. The three specialty markets that remain are insufficient, overpriced and not centrally located for the people live below the median income.