Entertainment

LOL, LIC!

Louis C.K. was bored. The world-renowned funnyman had given his comedian friend Ron Lynch a lift to a comedy club across the East River in Long Island City, where his pal was slated to do a set.

C.K. waited outside the club — the Creek and the Cave in LIC’s Hunters Point section — but he got tired of sitting in the car by himself. It wasn’t fun. Or funny.

So he stuck his head inside — and the crowd lost their friggin’ minds.

“We had comedians in the audience, and they were like, ‘Oh my God! It’s Louis C.K.! What do we do?’ ” says Rebecca Trent, owner of the club, which is known as the Creek.

“I asked him if he wanted [stage] time. The room was not full when he took the mike, but Louis goes onstage, it takes three minutes, and the place is full. As soon as people hear Louis C.K.’s in the door, they’re running up the stairs, and there’s a tweet or something. He did 16 minutes and 22 seconds.”

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That was one exciting night. But wait . . . there’s more!

Nine months later, in August, Jerry Seinfeld also stepped onstage at the Creek, causing another tidal wave of excitement. OK, he was just there to introduce his pal, the former “SNL” star Colin Quinn, but Seinfeld’s presence on the scene was a statement.

There’s a new hotbed of comedy in — don’t laugh — Long Island City.

“You can tell the vibe is great. There’s just something exciting here, and everybody knows it,” says Quinn, who has been performing regularly at the Creek, testing new material in 45-minute sets.

The Creek and the Cave, a 10-year-old bar, found cash in comedy in 2008 and now it has company: the Laughing Devil Comedy Club opened three blocks from the Creek in December; nearby Secret Theatre started adding Friday-night improv sessions six months ago; and the BreadBox Café, two blocks over, launched in August where it began hosting a weekly open-mike night.

“These clubs feel like a safe place — a home game as opposed to an away game,” says Christian Finnegan, a Long Island City funnyman who’s had his own hourlong Comedy Central special. “I love that there are two very different clubs a couple of blocks from each other, because while one club in a neighborhood is an anomaly, two clubs is a scene.”

The Creek’s Trent, 35, started there as a bartender when it was still a dive bar and music venue whose excessive noise and graffiti was making it “a blight on the community,” she says.

She and two partners bought the venue in 2006, and began adding comedy the next year. After buying out her partners, she made comedy the space’s sole function in 2008.

“[The comedians] were the coolest guys hanging out at the Creek, and I didn’t have to have a bouncer anymore,” says Trent, who also lives in Long Island City. “I didn’t have to worry about people fighting over who cheated who in pool. They’re just good people.”

Today, the Creek and the Cave includes a black-box theater that seats up to 80 guests, a Mexican restaurant upstairs; a bar/lounge room and a smaller theater one flight down — as well as an outdoor patio just for hanging out. It’s pretty cheap too. With a few exceptions, there’s no admission charge and no drink minimum.

Comedian Steve Hofstetter’s Laughing Devil, a narrow, bowling-lane-shaped space that seats 55, features two nightly shows from Wednesday though Sunday (comics include Mitch Fatel, Ted Alexandro and Finnegan). Cocktails, named for comedic legends, include the rum-based Richard Pryor and the George Carlin (Godiva Chocolate Liqueur, Hennessy and cream).

At both the Creek and Laughing Devil, “30 Rock” star Judah Friedlander has sent laugh-seeking patrons into guffaws. “I was like, wow. This neighborhood has officially changed a lot,” the Queens resident says.

Hofstetter claims that the audience is different that a typical Manhattan comedy club. “Our crowd is often young professionals. In Manhattan, you get a lot of tourists and bachelorette parties. We don’t do that here,” says the 33-year-old, who launched the Laughing Devil Comedy Festival last May and will host the She-Devil Comedy Festival, an all-woman event featuring 70 funny ladies starting Oct. 24.

During the club’s “Devil Science Theater 3000” every Thursday, comedians and audience members play drinking games while mocking old B-movies. At last Thursday’s selection, “Teenagers From Outer Space,” the host asked the audience to drink “anytime someone mentions that it’s night when it’s clearly daytime, and anytime someone is turned into a pile of bones.”

What will you get at the Creek? Recent shows include, “Cookies,” billed as “a stand-up comedy showcase and cookie baking competition”; an improv troupe, Big Make Me, that blends a kitten-obsessed stripper with a barbershop for trolls; and a hilarious, physical and largely unprintable bit by comic Victor Varnado.

Over at the Secret Theatre, perfomer Jaime Morris leads improv troupe Ricki’s Lake, turning audience suggestions into sketches.

“Living in Astoria, people have a lot of pride that so many amazing comedians choose to perform in Long Island City,” says Morris, 32, who is also Tony Bennett’s production manager. “Everybody thinks comedy’s only in Manhattan, that that’s where the good stuff is. But there’s a nice community feeling here. It’s a very freeing feeling.”

People outside New York have taken notice. South by Southwest Comedy Festival producer Charlie Sotelo has scouted talent at the Creek. “Stand-up comedians tend to be more lone wolf than other performers. So when you find a place where comedians have a sense of family, it feels special,” he says.

Comedian Michael Somerville made his debut on Letterman in August, after a booker for the show saw him at the Laughing Devil.

“I never even heard of Long Island City until Steve [Hofstetter] booked me,” says Somerville, 36, who lives in the West Village. “If you’re gonna get seen at all, [you’d think] it would be at the club like Gotham or Carolines. I was surprised and thrilled.”

Jeff Sproul, a 40-year-old graphic designer and Kensington, Brooklyn, resident, has made repeat visits to the Laughing Devil. “I had no idea until I started coming here that there were so many good comedians here,” says Sproul. “I feel like I’ve gotten to see some really talented people getting their starts.”

Which is exactly what Hofstetter and Trent want: Long Island City to become a well-known, viable alternative to Manhattan and Brooklyn for comedy lovers citywide.

“Comedy fans in Queens would never have imagined staying in Queens to see comedy,” says Finnegan. “Now, you don’t have to go to Williamsburg or the city. It’s right here for you.”

And he’s serious, folks!