Another month, another Deaf Puppies comedy show at Strings Bar and Grill.
With the recent successes and established fan base that have turned the restaurant shows into a community staple – often reaching capacity – Chris Teicheira and his band of comedy miscreants are back once again this weekend with seasoned comedians that will look to keep The Family City in stitches.
Mark Smalls, an accomplished San Francisco comedian that performs regularly at the San Francisco Punchline, and D Tyler, a Sacramento comedian that came in as the runner-up in the San Jose Comedy Competition (Deaf Puppy Saul Trujillo won), will round out the bill for the evening’s laughs while Teicheira will serve as the host.
The show, which takes place on Saturday, June 23, at Strings Bar and Grill – located at 680 N. Main Street – will begin at 8:30 p.m. The $10 tickets can be purchased in advance at the restaurant, or at the door.
And even though Teicheria is planning on opening up a comedy club in Manteca later this year – currently scouting potential locations and carrying on discussions with leasing agents and property owners about long-term plans – the city’s resident funnyman said that regardless of whether the Deaf Puppy Club gets off the ground, he’ll continue hosting the show at String’s as long as they’ll have him.
“It’s a good room and there’s basically clientele built into those shows – people that were going to the restaurant for dinner and then stay for comedy,” Teicheira said. “If I can’t compete head-to-head with a comedy show that I’m producing on the other side of town, I have no business opening a comedy club – it’ll just make things better for everybody.”
The exact location of the club – which would give the nomadic Deaf Puppies, a band of comedian friends that have built up a name for themselves in Northern California comedy circles, a home base – has not yet been decided, but Teicheira said that plans are being worked out that could have him throwing the doors open by the end of the year. The original plans of finding a temporary location and then moving to a more high-traffic area when it becomes available – with an eye set for the commercial development near the Great Wolf Lodge – seem to be shifting towards sticking with the permanent location and seeing how things go.
“We have a spot picked out, and are talking with the leasing agent and the owner about whether they’re willing to let us have a comedy-theater type business in there,” Teicheira said. “It’s a little bit off the beaten path, but I’d like to just be able to open up a place and die in it 40 years later – or four years later, whichever comes first.
“I’m approaching this as this being the place where I will spend the rest of my life – I want to run a comedy club and restaurant, and if I die there I will have died happy.”
In addition to turning his future business into a comedy hub for traveling comedians passing between San Francisco and Sacramento and San Francisco and Los Angeles, Teicheira plans on incorporating a food element that’s a bar above what is typically served at comedy clubs. Deaf Puppy Saul Trujillo is a classically trained chef that has offered to design the menu that Teicheira says will be things like sliders, tacos and pulled pork – more than just chicken wings and nachos.
“It’s going to be more specialized and it’s going to have some things that are different,” Teicheira said. “Saul has some ideas and lets face it – he’s a man who is not small. He knows what he’s talking about here.”
Strings Bar and Grill is located at 680 N. Main Street. For additional information about the restaurant, contact them at 209.239.0378.
To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.
