BABS Comedy Club

BABS Comedy Club is a woman-owned, speakeasy-style comedy room on Madison Street in downtown Forest Park, just west of Chicago. Founder Emily Ramirez — a comedian, director, producer and educator who spent a decade as a professional ballerina and later toured with the Broadway National Tour of The Phantom of the Opera — and her husband Chase Maness restored a 1910 storefront into an intimate club built around one idea: everybody should feel welcome enough to laugh loudly and take a creative risk. The club runs a weekly Friday stand-up showcase, Local Laughs, alongside its house improv team the BABS Babes, a monthly Spanish and Spanglish stand-up night (Hahas y Jajas), kid-friendly improv, and free stand-up open mics — including a Femme Feedback mic for women, trans and non-binary performers and a Spanish-language Micrófono Abierto. There's a bar, no drink minimum, and you're welcome to bring your own food. BABS also teaches: improv and comedy-writing classes for kids, teens and adults led by working comedians, with each series ending in a student showcase on the BABS stage.