Comedy in Southside and Mandarin

If you want a classic club night in Jacksonville, this is your side of town. The Comedy Zone works out of the Ramada on Hartley Road in Mandarin, and it is the city's main full time comedy club, with touring headliners and local comics on stage most weeks. The club states its rules plainly. It is 21 and over with a valid ID, there is a one item minimum per person, and phones stay away during the show. It has its own bar and kitchen, so dinner can happen at your table, and the hotel has a large parking lot right at the venue.

Farther east on Beach Boulevard, the Wilson Center for the Arts sits on Florida State College at Jacksonville's South Campus. It is a college theater that books touring comedy now and then, with parking on campus.

The Town Center Area

The St. Johns Town Center area has plenty of places to eat but no comedy room of its own. The Wilson Center is a short drive north, which makes dinner at the Town Center and a show on Beach Boulevard an easy pairing.

Getting Around

I-295 ties this side of town together. From Mandarin, the Buckman Bridge carries I-295 west to Orange Park, and Beach Boulevard runs east from the Wilson Center toward the Beaches. St. Augustine is less than an hour south, and its rooms are on the St. Augustine page.

Every club on our list is on the comedy clubs page, and this weekend's shows are on this weekend.