Janis FontaineThe comedy club opens Labor Day weekend.
A gaping hole left in the local comedy scene will be filled when Palm Beach Improv opens at the Mall at Wellington Green on Sept. 4, just in time for Labor Day weekend.
An anchor at CityPlace in West Palm Beach for two decades, Palm Beach Improv was forced to find a new location in 2023 when the Related Cos. elected to build office space where the club once reigned. Now the club has a new home at the corner of State Road 7 and Forest Hill Boulevard.
Nate Jackson’s Big Dog Comedy Tour opens the season on Sept. 4-6, kicking off more than 40 shows between now and New Year’s Eve. Jackson’s 2025 Netflix special, “Super Funny,” earned him a bushel of new fans, and he’s been touring internationally while producing “OpinioNATEd” podcast.
The other acts are a mix of classic comics, including such fan favorites as Damon Wayans and Mike Epps plus niche talent, including TikTokers and podcasters like Jackson.
“Everything’s changing in this industry,” said Chris Carbo, Palm Beach Improv’s owner/operator. “YouTubers and streamers sometimes want to sell tickets to their podcasts. We’ve done it in the past, and it’s been super successful. When those opportunities arise, we jump on them.”
The improv and its sister company, Copper Blues Rock Pub & Kitchen, in the southeast corner of the mall between CMX Cinemas and Macy’s, will fill 13,800 square feet of empty mall space, with the comedy club occupying about 11,000 square feet.
Pub fare in a modern cozy setting
Carbo describes the décor as “modern cozy.” The walls display photographs of Wellington and Palm Beach, including shots of polo horses, the Flagler Bridge and The Breakers hotel. “The artwork is gorgeous,” he said.
The 450 seats are a mix of booths and high-top and low-top tables. The restaurant features “a mix of healthy items and comfort food,” Carbo said, mostly appetizers, entrees and tapas.
The adjacent Copper Blues is a gastropub that will offer cocktails and pub fare. The family-friendly eatery transitions into a “nighttime club” after the sun sets, Carbo said, with live music on the patio.
Julie Trieste of Wellington has bought tickets for two shows, including Trey Kennedy, who she described to Stet News as “an internet sensation who got us through the pandemic with virtual shows that we watched on a projector in the backyard.”
As soon as dates were announced, she and her friends booked a couples’ night.
“We’ve also booked a girls’ night out,” she said. “It’s exciting to have an option for entertainment right in our community, and as a Wellington resident, I feel that taking advantage of space that was sitting dormant in the mall will reignite the mall and surrounding area.”
That’s the plan.
The mall’s management understands today’s consumer wants more than a shopping trip; they want an experience. Patrons want an excursion with a little shopping, some tasty food (before, during or after the show) and a chance to forget about life’s demands for 90 minutes.
Experts say despite a surge in online shopping, the mall is not dying. The Macy’s at Wellington Green is the top-performing Macy’s in the state, WPTV reported.
Nationally, Capital One bank projects that more than 80% of shopping in 2026 will happen in-store.
Wellington Green manager Asad Sadiq called the opening of the Improv a “game-changer” for the mall, moving it toward its aspiration to be an entertainment destination.
The Improv joins the mall’s new Arcade Time with its 13,000 square feet of games, billiards and immersive experiences.
The nearby CMX 10 Cinemas offer leather seats and high-end visuals and sound.
Before the Palm Beach Improv opened at CityPlace in 2001, the Comedy Corner at the Carefree Theatre on Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach had been the go-to destination for laughs for 15 years.
But in 2001, owner Andrew Dorfman closed the club and became a minority owner in the Palm Beach Improv. He told the Sun Sentinel that he would have kept the Corner open if not for the Improv moving within blocks of him. “I said, ‘Why fight? Why have a comedy war between the clubs?’”
The Carefree Theatre closed at the end of 2005 because the building was in poor repair, partly from hurricane damage in 2004.
Carbo said the Improv brought between 1,200 and 2,000 visitors to CityPlaceeach week. He expects the new location to do the same. These are people who wouldn’t have otherwise visited the venue, he said. “It’ll give the mall a good push.”
Laughs in a shopping mall
Still, Carbo said that at first, “I was skeptical of how it would work.”
When the Improv’s first choice, a proposed Royal Palm Beach development called Tuttle Royale, fell through, Carbo searched for a new site. “Then this opportunity popped up, and it kind of checked all the boxes for us.”
As hesitant as he was about the mall, ultimately, he reasoned, “When you get good talent, people are going to come, wherever you put it.”
The Improv has been delivering top talent to South Florida since the 1980s. There are now more than 20 clubs under the Improv umbrella across the country. Carbo has been with the Improv since 2005.
“There’s a handful of operating partners who run the clubs and are also owners,” he said. “I grew up with our CEO, Joel Bachkoff. When we were in college, we started working for the original owner of the Miami Improv and we just kept working up the ranks. The owner retired and we took it over and kept growing and expanding.”
Though they share a name, clubs operate independently. “You can run your clubs the way you want to. You have to have a certain level of talent, but as far as your menus and your drinks, that is up to the operators. We all work together, but we operate independently.”
Ask him his favorite part of the new building, and he says, “The free parking is huge.” CityPlace had paid parking.
He’s also thrilled that, unlike other locations where people line up for shows outside in the elements, guests will assemble inside the mall. “All my customers now can line up in comfort under air conditioning. Those little things are what really make me excited.”
The location has other advantages, Carbo said. The western communities are filling with potential customers.
“We can tap into those people who might not want to come all the way downtown,” he said.
A look at ticket prices reveals they haven’t changed much.
“We usually don’t set the ticket prices. That usually comes from the talent itself. But they can range anywhere from $10 all the way up to about $45,” Carbo said. “Tickets are selling better than we anticipated.”
The club continues its requirement that each guest purchase at least two beverages, including bottled water and nonalcoholic drinks.
Carbo said finding this location was “serendipity. This is going to be a great spot for us, maybe the best location we have anywhere. It’s just been a home run so far.”
If you go:
Palm Beach Improv
Mall at Wellington Green, 10300 Forest Hill Blvd., Wellington
561-833‑1812 or https://www.palmbeachimprov.com/events
2026 lineup
Sept. 4-6: Nate Jackson: Big Dog Comedy Tour
Sept. 9: Josh Wolf
Sept. 10: Dale Elliott Jr.
Sept. 11-13: Ari Matti
Sept. 14-16: Brad Upton
Sept. 17: Rene Vaca
Sept. 18-20: Mike Epps
Sept. 19: The Unteachables Comedy Tour
Sept. 23: Open Mic at the PB Improv
Sept. 24: Tacarra Williams
Sept. 25-27: Craig Ferguson: Pants On Fire
Sept. 27: One Funny Lisa Marie
Oct. 1: Comedy Graduation
Oct. 2-4: Usama Siddiquee
Oct. 7: Misha Brown
Oct. 8-10: Frank Caliendo
Oct. 9: Have-Nots Comedy Live
Oct. 11: Nasser Al-Rayess
Oct. 13: Max Manticof
Oct. 15: Frankie Quiñones
Oct. 16-17: Kountry Wayne
Oct. 18: Psychic Medium Anthony Mrocka
Oct. 21: Arynne Wexler
Oct. 22: Carlos Mencia
Oct. 23-24: Craig Conant
Oct. 25: Caitlin Peluffo
Oct. 29: Don McMillan: Engineered for Laughs!
Nov. 6-7: Ralph Barbosa
Nov. 11: Suzanne Lambert
Nov. 12: Jeff Dye
Nov. 13-15: Chris D’Elia
Nov. 16-17: The Stone Cold and Jackal Holiday Show
Nov. 19: Tony Baker
Nov. 25-28: Jared Freid: The Table For One Tour
Dec. 2: Cliff Cash
Dec. 3-6: Damon Wayans
Dec. 12: Jeff Allen: The Christmas Tour
Dec. 17: Sarper Güven
Dec. 18-19: Trey Kennedy
Dec. 30-31: Gianmarco Soresi
