Manteca comedy club opens to eager crowds, spotlights Central Valley homegrown talent

Starting with a sold-out opening weekend at the end of February, the Deaf Puppy Comedy Club has marked its territory as a comedy powerhouse in the Central Valley.

No one is more grateful than club owner Chris Teicheira. On the Monday morning that followed the rush of that opening weekend, he went to the roof of his Manteca venue to hang the next show on the marquee. “As I was doing this, I could see out over my hometown, standing on my own comedy club, and it just felt great, like we arrived.”

The Bay Area and Sacramento have long been strongholds for live comedy, but Deaf Puppy already is drawing big names to perform, and the community response has been overwhelming for Teicheira.

“Up-and-coming comics used to have to drive far to just get started, but now they have a place, right here in the Valley, to work on their act. It’s been amazing seeing all the local talent we have,” he said.

The Modesto Bee profiled Teicheira and the club late last year, when he had hoped to open in early February. But three days before the first scheduled show, his beloved deaf dog, Banshee, died unexpectedly. Banshee was the namesake of his comedy club and performance troupe.

“That was the worst call of my life,” Teicheira recalled. “Maybe some people can’t believe we would postpone the opening, but I was just wrecked. We have a mural of her on the side of our building, and in our logo, her legacy lives on.”

The club opened Feb. 22 with Modesto native Marcella Arguello performing three days of sold-out shows.

It was important to Teicheira to highlight the best of what homegrown talent looks like. Arguello most recently released a special on HBO Max, titled “Bitch, Grow Up,” in early 2023 and a comedy album in October, “Mercury in Reggaeton.” In January, she debuted a podcast, “Comedy is Dead,” on YouTube where she discusses the current state of comedy.

This weekend, audiences will have the opportunity to see another notable Valley native, Kris Tinkle, on stage for five shows Thursday through Saturday. Tinkle was profiled by The Modesto Bee in 2009 as he was getting ready to release his first stand-up album, “Almost Awesome.” Since then, he has released two more comedy albums, “Maybe I Don’t Feel Like Smiling” in 2014 and “Not My Cup of Tea” in 2019.

Tinkle can be seen in the documentaries “I Am a Road Comic” (2014) and “Such Great Heights” (2012). The latter is about mixed martial artist John Fitch, whom Tinkle later collaborated with for a podcast, “Fitch and Tinkle Smash Everything.” Currently, Tinkle is the co-host with Vic Garcia of “Tinkle and Vic,” a podcast about pro wrestling.

“I have known Kris for over 10 years,” Teicheira said. “When I started, he was already well known. When I was first doing shows, I could bounce ideas off of him and he has always been so supportive of up-and-coming comics. Both Kris and Marcella have done so much for the scene here. They are 209 people and they get it.”

Tinkle recently moved back to California after establishing himself on the New York City comedy circuit over the past few years. When the pandemic hit, he moved briefly to Las Vegas to keep working as clubs across the country temporarily shut down. When things began to return to normal in California, Tinkle moved to San Francisco in part to be closer to relatives who still reside in Modesto and Ceres.

Tinkle said he believes the Central Valley was starved for a dedicated comedy venue and he is eager to return to help usher in the next generation of local talent.

“There are so many good comics here. What’s cool about doing comedy here, it’s a little more open. The crowds are just different, more open to material that might not land as well with Bay Area crowds, that can sometimes be too serious.”

Tinkle says his entry into comedy might have come easier if a venue like this had existed when he started. “I definitely would have started earlier when I was young if we had a club like this. It would have happened way sooner. I had to figure out how to get to the Bay Area. It’s cool there is a club like this where new comics can really hone their skills.”

On Wednesdays, Deaf Puppy hosts an open-mic night and the response has been incredible, with packed audiences and overwhelming sign-ups.

“In our first show, we had about 50 comics show up, some from hours away. We only had room for 20 people in the lineup and the showroom was sold out. So you are getting a great and lively show, just 20 comics throwing their best stuff on stage for a few minutes. The crowd is really supportive and gets to see some of the best in the Valley, even people that are still unknown,” Teicheira said.

When not offering laughs, the venue serves a full menu and operates as a bar and grill Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The comedy club is open Wednesday through Saturday with open mic on Wednesdays at 7 p.m., Deaf Puppy All-Stars on Thursdays at 7 p.m. and a headliner show Fridays and Saturdays.

For tickets to Tinkle this weekend, visit www.deafpuppyclub.com/events/91359.