Catalyst<\/a>. “Live entertainment is a beautiful thing. It’s been around for a long time, and it’s up to us to keep it alive.”<\/p>\nThompson pledged to “pull out all the stops” and “open up with a bang.” He has built connections with several well-known comedians over the years. Now he’s thinking about how to build upon what worked in Tampa.<\/p>\n
The venue will occupy a second-level space that once housed Locale Market. Mike Connor, CEO of Paradise Ventures and the complex’s co-owner, said it will feature an indoor-outdoor bar.<\/p>\n
“This is going to be, I think, much more thought out as far as the design and circulation,” he said. “For us, I think it’s such a great use for the center.”<\/p>\n
Thompson said the internet and social media have opened the door for more one-night acts. Many sell out in Tampa. They could now pick up extra bookings in St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n
Providing more stage time and increasing ticket sales could also attract bigger names. Pop-up shows are a new trend in comedy and offer “our local guys a place to work.” However, Thompson said a “dedicated club that can bring in world-class talent regularly is something that every city needs.”<\/p>\n
“People in St. Pete like to step out: they love their city,” he added. “And bringing that to them is something I believe people are really going to get behind.”<\/p>\n
Thompson credits connections and word-of-mouth for the Tampa spot’s success since 1992. While the original venue “works really well for what we do,” he said it’s “stuck in the plaza.”<\/p>\n
“Nobody talks more than comics,” Thompson said, and the Sundial and surrounding downtown waterfront will “be such a fun area” for them to come spend a weekend. “The beautiful thing about this is we won’t lose our personal touch.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Side Splitters Comedy Club will open at the Sundial in downtown St. Petersburg within six to nine months.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[8973,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-34181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-comedy","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}