Wichita’s Loony Bin Comedy Club, closed since 2023, being revived at new address
Wichita lost its only comedy club, the Loony Bin at 215 N. St. Francis, in the summer of 2023 after the owner decided to retire. At the time, the club had been operated for almost 25 years.
But soon, the Loony Bin Comedy Club will be revived under new ownership and at a new address.
Mason Thatcher, the owner of the Loony Bin’s Tulsa location, has decided to bring the club back to Wichita. He’s secured the old Villa Luna venue space at 8406 W. Central and says he should have the club open there no later than May or June.
Don Piros of Landmark Commercial Real Estate represented the landlord of the building at 8406 W. Central in the deal.
Thatcher, who bought the 19-year-old Tulsa Loony Bin just over three years ago, said that he’d hoped to keep the Wichita club open when former owner Larry Marks decided to close it in 2023. But Marks needed to sell the building, so Thatcher needed time to find a new spot.
“We knew we were going to bring it back,” he said. “Ideally, we were going to bring it back sooner. It’s just taken a little bit of time to find the right location.”
When he reopens the Loony Bin, Thatcher said, it will run differently than it did when it was downtown. For one, the club’s patrons will be able to get dinner and drinks while they watch comedy shows. The new Loony Bin will have a full kitchen putting out things like burgers, wraps, quesadillas, appetizers and desserts. It will also have a full bar.
The club will typically offer shows Wednesday through Sunday nights, and on a typical week, people will be able to see all types of comedians, from nationally known to up-and-coming to local.
“Our structure is to bring in well-known comedians, bring in comedians that may not be super famous yet, and bring in comedians that are super funny that are on their way to being famous,” Thatcher said.
He already has some acts booked but he can’t share them just yet, Thatcher said. To give an idea of the caliber of comedian he’ll be able to bring to Wichita: A couple of weeks ago, he had one of the Impractical Jokers —James “Murr” Murray — on stage in Tulsa, and many people from Wichita traveled there to be in the audience.
Typically, the club will book several different comics to perform over the course of a week, he said.
“There’s going to be a lot more of a variety of comedians,” he said.
Thatcher said that he was aware that several Wichita bars, restaurants and venues had started offering comedy shows over the past several years. He wants to work in cooperation with them.
“We support all the local businesses around that are having comedians come in,” he said. “My goal is to work with them to create an environment that there’s always good comedy happening.”
Little Rock, Arkansas, also has a Loony Bin. The Wichita club first opened in 1999 at 21st and Woodlawn and operated there until 2013. It reopened downtown in 2014.
Villa Luna was a venue owned by Wichita’s Blue Moon Caterers, which moved its headquarters to 524 S. Seneca last year. The building on West Central was constructed in the late 1990s to house a Tex-Mex restaurant called Rio Bravo.
.jpg)