Ten years ago, strangers on the street told Adam Norwest that a comedy club in Spokane would simply not work.

Norwest, 40, attributes earlier skepticism to the building itself, where several bars had been shuttered over the years. As a former comedian, Norwest also knew that Spokane was often omitted from national comedians’ tour schedules and wasn’t particularly known as a comedy market. 

However, the city's proximity to Los Angeles — a two-and-a-half-hour flight from LA to Spokane International Airport — coupled with an enthusiastic audience, has helped establish the city’s reputation among performers, he says. 

"The crazy thing is, Spokane was never a major comedy city,” Norwest says. “(Spokane) would get maybe a couple shows a year. We opened the club and a ton of comedians liked the market because it was such an easy flight from LA.”

The Spokane Comedy Club, which operates at 315 W. Sprague, opened on St. Patrick’s Day in 2016. The business is owned by Norwest and his parents, Kevin and Renee Fandt, through Bark Entertainment LLC.

Over the last decade, the venue helped establish Spokane as a comedy market, Norwest contends. Comedians, who often perform in theaters, are choosing Spokane Comedy Club when developing material for upcoming specials, and larger comedians are increasingly booking theater and arena shows in the city.

“We’ve started to lose acts to theaters because now they see that the city will support it,” Norwest says. “It’s really cool to see.”

Norwest and his parents have also expanded Bark Entertainment to include bars and upscale lounges. Shortly after opening the Spokane Comedy Club in 2016, the family opened Gamers Arcade Bar — a retro coin-operated arcade with a full bar at 321 W. Sprague — two doors west of the venue. Last month, the family opened The Lilac Room, an upscale craft cocktail lounge tucked between both venues, at 319 W. Sprague.

The three establishments operate under one liquor license, giving comedy club ticket holders a place to sit and drink before a show, Norwest says.

The Spokane Comedy Club is the second venue Norwest and his parents opened. Their first foray into show business was in 2010 in the Puget Sound region when the family converted a former nightclub into the Tacoma Comedy Club.

Since 2016, Bark Entertainment has grown its portfolio of comedy clubs to nine venues in six states, including Washington, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Companywide, Bark Entertainment employs about 350 employees, 40 of whom are based in Spokane, Norwest says. 

Bringing comedy clubs to cities without a comedy scene has been a major motivator for expansion, says Norwest.

“I just have always had a drive for what’s the next big thing, what else we can do,” Norwest says. “Getting to bring comedy to cities that didn’t have it before is really cool to me.”

Renee Fandt, a born-and-raised Spokanite, says she and her husband had no experience in show business before opening their first venue. Renee Fandt worked for The Boeing Co., and Kevin Fandt had a military background. Norwest, at the time, was traveling around the country performing stand-up, even winning the top prize in the now-defunct CMT reality show “Next Big Comic” in 2012.

“I spent a handful of years traveling the country and sleeping in my car between cities and seeing what did well and what didn’t,” Norwest says. “And then the opportunity presented itself. My parents and I started a club together with no real experience in all that other than having worked in restaurants and me having done comedy.”

Spokane was a natural choice, Norwest says. His parents had met here while his father was based at Fairchild Air Force Base and his mom was a student at Eastern Washington University. They always wanted a reason to come back to Spokane, and opening a comedy club helped them make their return, he says.

The club typically operates Tuesday to Sunday, with an occasional show on Mondays, Norwest says. Unless a touring comedian is scheduled, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are reserved for open mic performers. Fridays and Saturdays, the club often features national headliners, while Thursdays and Sundays feature a mix of national headliners and local or regional performers. Although comedy accounts for most of its programming, the venue also occasionally hosts alternative entertainment, Norwest says.

The venue seats about 300 people, and ticketed shows typically cost between $25 and $35, Norwest says. Tickets for larger acts can run between $40 and $60. 

Business has slowed in 2026 compared to previous years, Norwest explains, attributing the slowdown to broader economic conditions. He declines to disclose the company’s latest revenue but describes the business as financially stable and continuing to move forward.

Even through its expansion, Bark Entertainment remains fundamentally a family operation, Norwest contends. While Norwest oversees booking and marketing; his sister Jessica Norwest is the company president; and his other sister, Taylor Fandt, also is involved in operations. For the past 10 years, Renee and Kevin Fandt have lived across the Midwest for months at a time while getting a new comedy club up and running.

Norwest occasionally performs at comedy shows for fun but says he isn’t actively pursuing a career as a stand-up comic anymore. Outside of work, he spends time with his children and coaches a soccer team on the weekends. His focus is on running the business and encouraging others to go out to a show, even if they don’t know who the performer is.

“If you don’t know a comedian, look them up on YouTube, make sure it’s a good fit for you,” Norwest says. “If you don’t know their name, that doesn’t mean they’re not funny. Sometimes the best comedians are the ones you haven’t heard of.”