The Nitecap is quickly becoming a sought-out destination for comics and comedy club patrons looking for an intimate setting to perform and share laughs in Burbank.
The club was initiated by comic, writer and producer Aaron Mliner in 2020. Mliner, who is originally from Las Vegas and now resides in Burbank, has been a comic for eight years and didn’t always have plans to start his own club. It was only when he heard an interview in which Snoop Dogg advised young rappers to buy recording studio space that he pondered opening a comedy venue. Then, the opportunity arose when a friend of his needed someone to rent out an office space he owned, which would later become the Nitecap location.
When Mliner was first shown the property, he noted that it would need some renovations, but decided to take on this task and transform it into a fully operational comedy spot. From November 2020 to November 2021, Mliner prepped the adjacent indoor venue while the comedy club hosted shows at its outdoor patio space. Since he finished the remodeling, the indoor club has remained open and is thriving amongst the Burbank community.
“I was like, okay, it needs a lot of work, and if I’m gonna put in the money, then I’m not just gonna do [a show] once a month. I’ll make it a legit thing,” Mliner said. “The rest is history.”
Although this endeavor was unexpected, Mliner has found that his stand-up comedy background and production experience has resulted in success, as many comics and visitors have remained loyal contributors to the Nitecap.
“I’m a stand-up comic and I’m also a comedy club owner, so I understand both worlds,” Mliner said. “I understand what it’s like to be a comic, and I understand how to treat comics when they come to a comedy club.”
The club is a cozy indoor speakeasy on Burbank Boulevard that sits near small Burbank businesses and apartment units. As visitors to the venue walk through its outdoor patio area, where hanging fairy lights adorn its illuminated walls, they’re overcome with an instant feeling of cheer and friendliness. The tucked away indoor room where comics deliver their material on stage is likewise welcoming and comfortable. And, most importantly, the entertainers who visit the Nitecap never fail to bring smiles to the faces of audience members.
So far, Mliner has consistently scored lineups of talented comics, including Mo Welch, Chris Fairbanks, Taylor Tomlinson, Gordon Jackson, and Kimberly Clark, a writer and comedian based in Burbank. Clark, who has appeared on Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready and recently performed on The Late Late Show with James Corden, is a regular at the club who enjoys the unique and interactive ambience of the Nitecap.
“I love it here because it’s so intimate and I feel like it’s very visceral,” Clark said of the Nitecap. “With the crowd, there’s a lot of call-and-response, and it’s a really good place to test out work too.”
Since the indoor club opened in late 2021, shows have been taking place around four to five nights a week at the Nitecap. Mondays are open mic nights, Tuesdays are up-and-coming comics nights, Wednesdays offer a kid-friendly show once a month, and Thursdays and Fridays are dedicated to acts by well-known performers. Now, as the word is spreading about the Nitecap, more and more talented comics are continuing to stop by. Mliner says this return of stand-up is a relief for performers, and there is an exciting new wave of talent that’s emerging at comedy clubs like the Nitecap.
“When the pandemic happened, stand-up was the first to go and the last to come back,” Mliner said. “This is our renaissance, and so it’s a really cool thing to see and I think that the space, it lends to that. It’s intimate, it’s small, but it feels great when you’re all in there, and that’s what stand-up is. It’s kind of a hypnosis. Everyone’s on the ride together.”
One of Mliner’s goals is to foster a comedy community in Burbank in which comics can venture around from venues like Flappers to the Nitecap, and perform at various locations in one night, as it’s common to do in comedy hubs like Hollywood or New York City.
He also plans to keep the Burbank Boulevard location as the Nitecap’s staple venue and eventually open more clubs when the time is right. He’s already received an offer to move the Nitecap prototype to a space in New York, but said the model he was presented with wasn’t the right fit for his original concept. Although he never saw himself running a comedy club, Mliner has now become invested in this project, and he intends on maintaining its original charm that continues to draw in visitors from all over Los Angeles.
“I’m very focused on what the vision is,” Mliner said. “I didn’t think it was going to be anything more than this, but now I’m seeing that I can recreate this model, ‘cause I took a little … basement in Burbank and turned it into something cool. If I had the actual backing for it, the sky’s the limit.”
To learn more about the Nitecap, visit its site here.
