Good Good Comedy Theatre Celebrates A Very Good Good Year

Good Good Comedy Theatre founders Aaron Nevins and Kate Banford, and their ever-growing cast.

The quick clip at which Aaron Nevins and Kate Banford’s Good Good Comedy Theatre has gone from ad hoc scenemaking to actual, realized thing is nothing short of inspiring. After starting up Good Good a few years back as a loose group of improv, standups and sketch players in residence at various venues around town, the collective quickly developed both a knack for the succinct and an adeptness at getting the word out that the Philly comedy scene had seldom wielded. Good Good does shows — lots of little ones, game shows, sketch shows and so on. They’re bite sized, cheap to attend, and like Ramones songs, if you don’t like one, another one is coming up quicker than you realize.

Having established a look, a vibe, a style, and a set of regular players, Good Good Comedy took to Kickstarter earlier this year to establish its own brick-and-mortar home, an actual, honest-to-goodness Good Good Comedy Theatre. Their ask was fully funded in less than 48 hours. The result is the new Good Good Comedy Theatre in Chinatown, just off of 11th and Race. And to take it in on a Friday night is to soak up a level of excitement and engagement that frankly does one better than Philly’s nationally-acclaimed music scene is doing right now. The vibes are good, the crowds show up, and backstage, there’s a sense of community and things going on that, again, is nothing short of inspiring.

As we speak, Good Good has just entered what is now its signature annual event — Five Dollar Comedy Week, which is exactly what it promises: A week of comedy shows (30 to be exact, of every stripe imaginable) each priced at just five bucks a pop. And all of them are hosted in the little black box in Chinatown that Good Good calls home. It’s the feel-good DIY comedy troupe Kickstarter story of the year.