After only two weekends, new comedy club 'The Joke Store', owned by John Souza a.k.a. Johnnie Armani, closed without paying any of the comedians. The Cranston location had a dismal showing on opening weekend, with only a few dozen customers on Friday Night and Saturday Night. The second scheduled show on Saturday Night had to be cancelled for lack of ticket sales. Headliner Nick Albanese has yet to be paid (as of this story), along with most of the other comics who were promised payment for their performances on the weekend.
On the second weekend, only one customer showed for the Friday Night show causing the club to close down after more comics, including that weekend's headliner Rockin Joe Hebert, got upset at the lack of payment for their commitments. Owner Johnnie Armani has vowed to pay all comics involved, but so far no one has received any payment. His last message on The Joke Store Facebook page was "Closed until further notice". The website for the club is also blank.
The story has caught the attention of local media with the Cranston Herald releasing a story about the situation. And later in the week, WJAR-TV Channel 10 news interviewed Albanese, Hebert, and Armani as part of a story on the 11:00pm news broadcast. Read the story and watch the news video below.
Click HERE for the Cranston Herald Story - CranstonOnline.com
Click HERE for the WJAR-TV 10 News Story - TurnTo10.com
On the second weekend, only one customer showed for the Friday Night show causing the club to close down after more comics, including that weekend's headliner Rockin Joe Hebert, got upset at the lack of payment for their commitments. Owner Johnnie Armani has vowed to pay all comics involved, but so far no one has received any payment. His last message on The Joke Store Facebook page was "Closed until further notice". The website for the club is also blank.
The story has caught the attention of local media with the Cranston Herald releasing a story about the situation. And later in the week, WJAR-TV Channel 10 news interviewed Albanese, Hebert, and Armani as part of a story on the 11:00pm news broadcast. Read the story and watch the news video below.
Click HERE for the Cranston Herald Story - CranstonOnline.com
Click HERE for the WJAR-TV 10 News Story - TurnTo10.com