The Fat Black Pussycat

The name is borrowed from a 1960s Fat Black Pussycat on Minetta Street, off Sixth Avenue¹. The address came with a history of its own. Gerde's Folk City moved to 130 West 3rd Street in 1970 and closed in 1987, when it lost its lease². The Kettle of Fish took the space that year and left for 59 Christopher Street in 1999³, and the Fat Black Pussycat took over its old spot⁴.

It had three distinctly different rooms⁵ and was the sister bar and lounge to the Village Underground, the nightclub downstairs⁶, which Noam Dworman of the Comedy Cellar had bought in 2000⁷.

The comedy started in the basement and worked its way up: the Village Underground began formal Comedy Cellar shows on weekend nights in April 2013⁷, and in July 2016 the Comedy Cellar expanded into the Fat Black Pussycat Lounge as its third venue⁸. By 2017 the lounge had stand-up twice nightly⁹.

By 2023 Dworman owned three comedy clubs on the one block: the Comedy Cellar, the Village Underground and the Fat Black Pussycat¹⁰. The address has been changing its act since 1970²; these days the act is stand-up, booked by the Comedy Cellar in both the Pussycat's bar and its lounge¹¹.