Bully’s Studios, a local rehearsal studio and performing space, has been a music hot spot in New Westminster for decades. Now, it’s drumming up a new identity for itself — one that’ll have the community in splits.
On Wednesday, June 14, the iconic studio will welcome stand-up comedians on a biweekly basis to grab a mic and give the people of New West the giggles. Which means that, starting next week, comedy enthusiasts will have another venue to stroll into for an evening of laughs besides the longstanding comedy hub, House of Comedy on Columbia Street.
But why is the music studio trying to tickle its crowd now?
Branching into comedy
As history goes, 20-plus-year-old Bully’s Studios used to be Tartini’s Music — a music store famed to have been the first store in the Lower Mainland to feature Fender and Gibson products, the studio's owner Rob Leishman told the Record in an interview. The store was so popular in the '60s that it even saw the American guitar legend Jimi Hendrix play there once, he said.
While continuing to be the spot that hosts local bands with original music, the studio decided to, for the first time in Leishman’s reign, take a step in a different direction towards including comedy, said Leishman.
The main push was brought by a grim trend: Leishman noted there were a lot of arts venues — be it for music or comedy — that were dying out even before COVID. “And COVID put a big nail in the coffin for a lot of them,” he said.
Given the shrinking number of performance spaces, it made sense for Leishman to open Bully's stage for artists other than just musicians.
He reached out to Frantastic Ralston — a comedy partnership between professional stand-up comics Ralston Harris and Fran Tiernan — to firm up a plan. What they came up with is the idea of a no-frills open mic event, where anyone who wants to try comedy — be it amateur comedians or seasoned stand-ups — can sign up for a five-minute slot on stage.
Those who crush it at the open mic, get to perform at the studio's monthly weekend showcase that'll feature a lineup of professional comedians, musical acts and more.
With these events, Bully’s Studios hopes to become a community hub where worlds collide — in this case of music and comedy.
Merging the bubbles
“Our goal is to create one community. One community that can support all arts, one community to promote local talent, one community to enrich the lives of all,” read the studio's press release.
Leishman noted that though Vancouver has a talented community of musicians and comedians, it's all "very fragmented."
“There are different genres of music and different styles of art. Everyone is in their own little bubbles, and for us, to merge bubbles is a big thing,” he said.
Leishman's experiments with blending two seemingly disparate forms of art have so far been a success.
“With our musical gigs, we have vastly different styles of bands playing the same night. And it’s working out really well because the crowd gets to experience something that they would never actually go to a show for.”
Now, he plans to extend that same philosophy to comedy and music.
“We are just starting out,” said Leishman. How it shapes up will depend on the community's involvement, he added.
And partly, on how hard they laugh.
Bully’s Studios (67 Sixth St.) is a short walk from the House of comedy and Columbia SkyTrain station. The open mic event is on Wednesday, June 14, at 8 p.m. and is free for all. Participants can sign up at the venue starting at 8 p.m., the show begins at 8:30 p.m. No prior bookings are required.
