Jokes on Zoom and virtual bouncers. Fresno stand-up takes his comedy club online

When the coronavirus outbreak hit, Danny Minch thought he would take a vacation from comedy, given local and state stay-at-home mandates and the fact that stand up comedy kind of relies on an audience of people “going out.”

Never mind that DiCicco’s, the Clovis restaurant where he’d been hosting weekly comedy showcases the past three years, stopped its dine-in and bar service, and everything he’d booked for the next four months had disappeared.

For a few weeks Minch stayed at home as a full-time parent (and now teacher) to his son. He started a periodic cooking show on Facebook. And that was OK.

“But it wasn’t comedy,” Minch says.

So, Minch started booking his comedy shows again. Only this time the show were seen through the video conference platform Zoom and paid for by tips, accepted through Venmo.

His weekly “Just The Tips” showcase happens at 7 p.m. Mondays.

On Tueday, Minch is hosting his annual birthday bash. This year it’s a charity event with more than a dozen local and regional comedians taking part. Any tips will be passed along to the waitresses/dishwashers/bartenders at DiCicco’s, as a way to give back to the people who took care of him the past three years, Minch says.

Audiences are no doubt used to seeing comedy in digital formats, thanks in big part to Netflix. But these virtual comedy shows are more like their in-person counterparts than any Netflix special, Minch says. Comedy specials are carefully curated for the best jokes and biggest audience response. They are edited together until “you get this beautiful a Fabergé egg of a comedy show,” Minch says.

With virtual shows, there’s always a chance the jokes will fall flat or the applause might be off.

“It’s more like an actual comedy show,” he says.

They’re better in a way, because they allow the audience a direct (and literal) link to the comedians via Venmo and other payment apps. Which means everyone, even the less-practiced open mic comics, can (and do) get tips, Minch says.

“Which is something that never happens.”

So far, Zoom seems to be a workable format, Minch says, even with the change of tempo that happens when the audience isn’t in the room.

“Comedy is all about timing,” he says.

“You’ve got to learn a whole new timing,” that includes any lag between devices.

You also have to really police the crowd for hecklers or those looking to otherwise disrupt things, which Minch discovered quickly. He now has a virtual bouncer that’s ready to mute people or boot them from the shows.

And Minch isn’t the only comedian venturing into the virtual comedy club space.

Sammy Obeid, comedian and co-host of the Netflix’s documentary project “100 Humans,” started his own KO Comedy Club earlier this month. His show runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday; the latter being a clean show. Guests RSVP for a Zoom link to the free shows. The club also hosts open mics throughout the week.

Like with Minch’s shows, tips are very accepted and appreciated.

While the format and medium might change as comedy promoters figure out what works best, Minch doesn’t see the idea of virtual comedy clubs going away, even when restrictions are lifted.

“People are going to be hesitant to go into a crowd room, with no windows to see a comedy show,” he says. The big comedy clubs, places like the “The Laugh Factory” and “The Improv,” will endure. Smaller, independent places, not so much.

“Comedy is being forced to evolve in whole new ways,” Minch says.

“And we’re going to have to do it pretty quickly.”