Wiseguys is a comedy club with three locations in Utah: West Valley, Ogden, and Orem. They take the old fashioned route, with a brick background, a spotlight, and a microphone. Nationally touring comedians frequent all three locations, but routinely host local comedians. Wiseguys is arguably Utah’s best comedy club experience, and is frequently on the top of the list of Utah’s best comedy clubs.
Standup comedy
Standup comedy doesn’t seem to be as popular nowadays as I imagine it would be prior to “big” cinema. Having a place where about 200 people laugh and banter, mostly at the expense of whoever the comedian is heckling, brings back to life more than a smile. Wiseguys has a café feel to it, intimate but spacey, with the majority of seating in rows with longear tables. Beverages of all kinds are served, as well as the classic chips and salsa among other appetizers. I would liken Wiseguys to Seinfeld, but I find the comedians at Wiseguys to be funnier… They don’t always have the most popular comedians, but occasionally bring in popular such as Shawn Wayans from White Chicks. If you can call that popular, I guess. Frank Caliendo from NFL Fox/Frank TV, and Tim O'Rourke from The Drew Carry Show, to name a couple of more.
Rocky Mountain Laugh-off
Wiseguys hosts the Rocky Mountain Laugh-off every year. This competition brings in many flights of eight comedians who are judged on crowd participation, reaction, and, well, humor. The winner has consecutively been a man they call Marcus (whose last night never appears anywhere). The highlight of his best routine includes him doing the “magic dance” cartoon classic while the microphone dangles in his crouch.
Not just comedians
Sometimes Wiseguys tosses up their routine and host a hypnotist like Shawn Paulsen, or even a magician. Both are comedy centric based, however. These occasions are rare, but once a guy showed up in full Mad Hatter costuming. He not only looked like him, white hair, cape and all, but talked just like him too. His humor was very intellectual, hard to follow without much contemplation. The audience laughed most when he actually explained his jokes.
For an up-to-date listing of the comedians going on stage, go to www.wiseguys.com.
Film
Wise Guys is also a 1986 film directed by Brian De Palma, with Danny DeVito, Joe Piscopo, and Harvey Keitel. IMDB taglines the movie with, "What kind of guys gamble with the boss's money, swipe a killer's Cadillac, and party on the mob's credit card?"
Band
The Wise Guys is a British electonrica and hip hop band. Their most popular song, "Start the Commotion" was featured in films Lizzie McGuire, Zoolander, and Kangaroo Jack. It has also been used in Mitsubishi and their "ooh La La" song in Budweiser commercials. The band formed in 1994 with two band members, Touche Theo Keating and Regal Paul Eve.