Crackers Comedy Club plans to reopen after brief closure

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Ruth-Anne Herber, the owner of Crackers Comedy Club in downtown Indianapolis, can hardly hold in her excitement after striking a new deal with her landlord.

“I am pinching, pinching, pinching. I go to bed every night thinking, oh my gosh, this is the most amazing Hail Mary of my lifetime,” Herber said.

Crackers Comedy Club has been Herber’s life for the past 32 years, and last week she thought she was losing it all. A court ordered her to have everything out of the club by Tuesday.

“I literally went from talking to bankruptcy attorneys and realizing I might lose my home because of a personal guarantee,” Herber said.

She was able to save her business after her landlord’s change of heart. Herber says she struggled to keep up with the rental agreement due to COVID-19.

“We sat down without attorneys and the two of us talked for about an hour. We worked it out, and we came to an agreement. It really is the key as to why Crackers can reopen,” she said.

Herber is thankful, but so is Elle Kizik, a local comedian.

“While other clubs have become corporate, she has kept it local. It is Hoosier through and through, Hoosier hospitality. I love that. It’s a whole community coming together. I am just really grateful to have a stage to return back to,” Kizik said.

Herber now hopes the community will come together to help her reopen.

“I desperately need servers and bartenders,” she said.

Even though nearly losing her business is no laughing matter, she thinks the club’s reopening is just what everyone needs right now.  

“You can laugh about anything and everything if we do it tastefully and together, and that’s what I’m really excited about, is hearing the laughter and being able to say the show can go on,” Herber said.