Seattle’s most popular comedy show has a new home, and it looks a lot like the old one.

Less than a year after leaving their original venue in the lower level of the Capitol Hill Arts Center (CHAC), Laff Hole, the critically acclaimed weekly comedy revue produced by the Peoples Republic of Komedy (PROK), begins a return engagement May7th. Only this time, they’ll be in the spacious upstairs theater.

“It’s big,” says PROK member Paul Merrill of the new space. “Three years ago we were doing shows in front of twelve people at a bar, and now we’re putting on shows in a 200-seat theater. It’s pretty amazing.”

Laff Hole has had near-capacity crowds at Chop Suey since August, but the limited seating and rock club elements forced PROK to look elsewhere.

“The performers at Chop Suey had to struggle with loud, drunken chit-chat at the bar,” says comedian Aziza Diaz, one of the producers of Laff Hole. “The theater style seating will hopefully bring the attention of even the very most soused of our guests back to the stage.”

Diaz isn’t the only one looking forward to the new venue.

“The way CHAC is set up, the audience is looking down at the performer, rather than up like at Chop Suey,” explains Travis Vogt, a local comedian and filmmaker. “It makes you feel like you’re standing in front of a tidal wave of (hopefully) laughing people.”

The inaugural show, which will be filmed for the Seattle Channel, will include some of Seattle’s best young comedians, including Derek Sheen and PROK founding member Kevin Hyder.