The Twin Cities are in a prime spot to attract big-name performers with Portland and Seattle shows on their tours, but securing those acts requires a venue with the seating capacity to make it affordable for both the performer and the show organizer.
With a capacity of up to 450 and a carefully-curated ambiance, McFiler’s Chehalis Theater meets that criteria.
The theater has partnered with HUB Comedy to bring Kabir Singh, a headlining comedian who was on “America’s Got Talent” in 2021, to Chehalis for a Friday night comedy show — and the two have plans to bring more big comedy acts to Chehalis in the near future. (Buy tickets here: https://www.hubcomedy.com/)
“I think that with HUB Comedy and (McFiler’s) Chehalis Theater together, we're offering people something that they can't get anywhere else,” said McFiler’s Chehalis Theater owner Tim Filer.
HUB Comedy producer Gabe Botten had previously hosted shows at Filer’s other venue, McFiler’s Bar & Restaurant, and talked to Filer about his interest in bringing comedy shows to the Chehalis Theater when Filer took ownership of it in 2020.
“Now I can start reaching out to these people that I wasn’t able to because the other venues just didn’t have the size,” Botten said.
For a performer doing Friday and Saturday shows in Portland and Seattle, adding a weekday performance in Chehalis would be a “no brainer,” Filer said.
“And we have a lot of people in our area that will come here,” he said, referring not just to Lewis County residents, but residents of neighboring counties who are closer to Chehalis than they are to Seattle or Portland.
“There’s a lot of people here. We’re only a 35-minute drive from downtown Olympia, so we can support that as long as we are getting acts in here that will make people drive half an hour,” Filer said.
Given that the comedy show McFiler’s Chehalis Theater hosted in November as a “trial run” for bigger acts sold out, Filer and Botten expect a high turnout at Friday’s show.
In addition to his stint on America’s Got Talent, Singh has been headlining for nearly a decade, and has been featured on Amazon Prime and “Family Guy” on Fox.
His YouTube Dry Bar Comedy Special, titled “Stay Single,” “has been one of the best-reviewed comedy specials of all time,” according to event organizers.
Additionally, Singh was on Gabriel Iglesias’ show “Stand Up Revolution” on Comedy Central as the lead-off comedian on episode one of season three and was the winner of the San Francisco International Comedy Competition, Big Sky Festival, and a finalist in the nationwide NBC Stand Up for Diversity showcase, according to show organizers.
The Feb. 10 show will feature several opening acts from Seattle-area comedians, according to Botten.
For the first time, McFiler’s Chehalis Theater will offer food service ahead of the comedy show. “We’re kind of getting our legs under us as far as that’s concerned,” Filer said. “But I think in the future, when we book comedy in here, we’ll have a different rung of tickets for people to come in and enjoy dinner before the show.”
A smaller menu will be available to patrons during the show.
HUB Comedy has monthly comedy shows planned at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater for at least the next three months, with the intention of continuing the monthly comedy show after that.
Outside of the comedy shows, McFiler’s Chehalis Theater continues to hold dinner service Thursday, Friday and Saturdays and can be reserved for events.
If You Go
Show: Sponsored by Melissa Wallace, HUB Comedy Presents Kabir Singh from “America’s Got Talent!”
Time: 8:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 10. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.
Place: McFiler’s Chehalis Theater, located at 558 N. Market Blvd. in Chehalis.
Tickets: $25 each, available for purchase online at https://www.hubcomedy.com/.
