Open Mic Night
The Comedy Club at the Elbow Room
West Hartford
Sept. 9, 2025
“What newspaper do you work for? The Courant?”
“No, I work for the New Haven Independent.”
“Oh OK, the one nobody reads.”
That’s how Emily Siero worked me into her comedy routine at the Elbow Room Tuesday night.
I try to stay low key at events that I’m working, but that becomes difficult when you ask permission to take pictures. Once the comedians know that you’re a reporter, then you become part of the jokes, too.
“The comedians” are the regulars at the Comedy Club at the Elbow Room, a sleek restaurant in West Hartford Center. Every Tuesday is Open Mic night, so I decided to go check it out.
The club itself is in the basement of the restaurant, a cozy space with wood paneling and a blazing Comedy Club symbol directly behind the stage. I arrived about halfway through the set of Ali Ezedine, who was talking about the cruel fate that current events can play on us.
“I was born a month after 9/11, so my parents hadn’t truly grasped the impact of the event,” he explained. “So they named me Ali.”
“They learned their lesson with that one. Guess what my little brothers are named? Adam and Ryan.”
As with all good comedy, the performers at the Elbow Room distilled their comedy through their personal experiences. There were jokes about relationships, family, current events, and, of course, work.
Will Height, who has been doing comedy for about two years, told a story about a scheduling app that his employer asked him to download. In an act of petty defiance, he refused Then a new, eager employee begins berating him with questions about the app. Will gave a less than diplomatic response.
“Needless to say, I don’t work there anymore,” he said to chuckles around the room.
The thing that stood out the most about the evening was the camaraderie between the performers. Most of the people in the room were there to perform, so it was a tight-knit group.
I asked a performer who uses the stage name The Human why she chooses to do comedy. She answered with no hesitation.
“The community,” she said. “For art, to communicate ideas to other people. And they actually listen because it’s funny.”
Not all of the motivations were quite as lofty and idealized. No less than two people said that they had turned to comedy as an escape after a bad breakup, and the community had kept them coming back.
Zach Mandell, who’s been doing standup for three years, offered a different reason. “I’ve always wanted to fail at something on my own terms,” he said. That message resonated with me as a father who’s been talking to his newly adult son about the necessity in life of looking silly on his own terms.
There were no failures in the Comedy Club at the Elbow Room that night. Just a bunch of friends telling each other jokes. What a great way to spend an evening.
NEXT
The Comedy Club at The Elbow Room has open mics every Tuesday and Thursday.
Jamil is taking a couple days off.
