Lo-Ball returned to its temporary home in Bergen Place Park Friday night. After their former venue, Mr. Spot’s Chai House, decided they didn’t want to do comedy anymore, Lo-Ball was forced to the streets (or in this case, the park next door). This stinging rebuke turned into a stroke of luck, however, as they’ve been pulling  bigger crowds than ever, while the Chai House has been largely empty.

Friday’s show, hosted by Ron Placcone, included local talent Travis Vogt, Kevin Hyder, and Lizzy Pilcher. 

On Friday night, a PROK comedian took an entire audience outside with him to protest poor treatment from a club and performed the rest of the show in a nearby park.

Lo-Ball (The Local Ballard Comedy Show) had been a staple of the Seattle comedy scene for the past two years, bringing in big crowds to Mr. Spot’s Chai House in Ballard to see a mix of amateur and professional comedians try out new material. Produced by the People’s Republic of Komedy (who will be hosting their own stage at Bumbershoot this year) the show had been featured in the Seattle Times, The Seattle Weekly, The Stranger and Seattle Magazine.

Six months ago, however, a new booker was brought into the Chai House who clearly had no love for comedy. Shows were being booked at odd times or suddenly canceled at the last moment. Soon the crowds, who never knew when to show up anymore, stopped coming. Last Friday, two hours before the show, the Chai House sent a MySpace message to Paul Merrill, the producer of Lo-Ball, informing him that they no longer wanted comedy at their shop.

After two years of bringing packed houses to the Chai House every Friday night for no compensation (the show was always free and all-ages), Lo-Ball was history.

Instead of going out with a whimper, however, Merrill decided to show the Chai House what they’d be missing. At the start of the show, he asked everyone in the audience who had come to see comedy to stand-up. All of the 20-30 people in the crowd stood up. He then announced that they’d be moving the show outside. The entire crowd then followed Merrill outside to nearby Bergen Place Park, where they preceded to put on a comedy show to a loyal (and shivering) audience.

Over the course of the show, the crowd grew as curious passersby stopped to enjoy the free entertainment. After the comedians finished, Merrill offered to buy everyone a drink—provided it wasn’t at the Chai House.