No joke: Palm Beach Improv gets new home at Kravis Center in West Palm Beach

Kristina Webb, Palm Beach Daily News
Updated ·3 min read
The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts announced Tuesday that it will be the new home of the Palm Beach Improv, with four comedians scheduled for standup shows through February.
The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts announced Tuesday that it will be the new home of the Palm Beach Improv, with four comedians scheduled for standup shows through February.

The Palm Beach Improv has a new home.

The downtown West Palm Beach staple has formed a new collaboration with the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, just months after the Improv lost its longtime home on Hibiscus Street in The Square to a redevelopment project.

Dubbed “Palm Beach Improv at the Kravis Center,” the new joint program already has four comedians lined up for standup shows in the Kravis Center’s Marshall E. Rinker Sr. Playhouse and Helen K. Persson Hall, according to a Tuesday news release from the Kravis Center.

More: This time the joke's on us: Palm Beach Improv closing doors at The Square in West Palm

Jeff Ross, “The Roastmaster General,” is set for shows at 7 and 9:45 p.m. Dec. 8-9. He’s followed by Carlos Mencia at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Dec. 29-30. Former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Kevin Nealon will take the Kravis Center at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Jan. 19-20, and former “America’s Got Talent” finalist Preacher Lawson is scheduled for shows at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Feb. 9-10.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, the Kravis Center said. To buy tickets, go to www.kravis.org or call 561-832-7469.

The Palm Beach Improv shut down its mainstay location in The Square — formerly Rosemary Square, formerly CityPlace — in May, after more than two decades in that space. The adjoining restaurant, Copper Blues Rock Pub, also closed in May, and the neighboring AMC movie theater closed in April.

More: Get your tickets: Kravis Center announces details of 31st season

Brian Tuttle, the lead developer behind the Tuttle Royale mixed-use center on Southern Boulevard in Royal Palm Beach, told Palm Beach Daily News on Thursday that the plan is still "100%" to have the Palm Beach Improv move there once the project is ready.

"We're already drawing the building, doing the layouts, all that's done," Tuttle said, noting that he expects to have a groundbreaking in January or February.

Rene Harte, a partner with Copper Blues and the Improv, confirmed to The Palm Beach Post in May that the businesses will move together to Tuttle Royale.

Palm Beach Improv and Copper Blues will join other tenants who have signed letters of intent with Tuttle to move into the development, including Strike 10 Bowling, Apple Cinemas, Cheesecake Factory, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Lululemon, Sephora, Anthropologie, Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar and Victoria's Secret, Tuttle said. Tuttle Royale also will be the new home of a 7,500-square-foot "superstore" version of Fresh Market with a wine and liquor store built in, he added.

Since the Improv, Copper Blues and movie theater closed, The Square's owners, New York-based Related Cos., began leveling the building with plans to redevelop the site into two office towers.

Who's performing?

  • Jeff Ross' "Take a Banana for a Ride," 7 and 9:45 p.m. Dec. 8-9 in the Marshall E. Rinker Sr. Playhouse. Tickets start at $37.50.

  • Carlos Mencia's "No Hate No Fear," 7 and 9:30 p.m. Dec. 29-30 in the Marshall E. Rinker Sr. Playhouse. Tickets start at $37.50.

  • Kevin Nealon, 7 and 9:30 p.m. Jan. 19-20 in Helen K. Persson Hall. Tickets start at $37.50.

  • Preacher Lawson, 7 and 9:30 p.m. Feb. 9-10 in Helen K. Persson Hall. Tickets start at $32.50.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach Improv gets new home at Kravis Center in West Palm Beach