While Chris Teicheria was already hoping to be managing the room at 127 N. Main Street and turning the space he’s been working on into the Deaf Puppy Comedy Club, a realistic date for doing just that is stating to come into focus.

Renovations, Teicheria said, are now underway. 

While it took longer than Teicheria initially thought it would to get through the permitting process, crews are now ready to begin transforming the vacant space into what he hopes will become a Downtown Manteca destination and an institution of its own. Using the existing footprint, the club will have a full kitchen and a bar and a showroom located in the back of the club – which attendees won’t have access to until 30 minutes before the comics are set to take the stage.

While keeping people around the bar and ordering food might seem like it makes good business sense, Teicheira said the staging area serves a vital purpose when it comes to managing the unique culture of a comedy club.

“I’ve noticed the natives either grow restless, or some actually become too comfortable when seated too early,” Teicheira said. “The comedy showroom is no place for obnoxiously unruly Chatty Cathy’s – that’s the job of the comic.”

While it wasn’t his first choice for a location, Teicheira hopes that the investment into Downtown Manteca – and bringing an arts-based nighttime establishment with the potential of sparking a revival of sorts – will fill a need and bring people from outside of town into the heart of a community that he loves.

“People have complained there’s nothing to do in downtown Manteca, but I see new restaurants opening, and a scene of young adults willing to put in the time and effort to create something to be proud of,” Teicheria said. “Manteca is at a weird place and time – our old timers harken and wax nostalgic for their old Manteca, and the Twentysomethings want something new and their own that is bound by the echoes of the past.

“I’m 50-years-old, so I fall right between these two factions of people, I figure I’ll open a spot where they can all sit down, have a laugh and some good food, and realize we’re all searching for the same things.”

Current plans call for opening the club up earlier on the weekends to open the space for more than just comedy – offering things like lunch and an old movie in the showroom as well as art exhibits or small concerts. Teicheria said he’d like to “cultivate a space where people want to stop by for ‘a hang’” and thinks that the three large walls perfect for murals is a chance for him to do so – potentially opening them up to local high school art teachers.

And while his allegiance will always be to Manteca High School, Teicheira said that rotating murals every few months for Manteca, Sierra and – according to Teicheira, “even” – East Union students to showcase their work.

While comedy likely won’t be on the docket for the space in 2022, Teicheria and the Deaf Puppies will be hosting another comedy show on Saturday, Nov. 12, when they welcome San Francisco comic Ronn Vigh to Strings Bar and Grill. Both Chelsea Bearce and Drew Absher will serve as featured acts on the bill, which is set to begin at 8 p.m. and will cost $15. Tickets for the show can be purchased in advance at Strings Bar and Grill – located at 680 N. Main Street – during normal business hours.