Influential NYC comedy club Carolines closing after 40 years

Laughter will turn to tears on Jan. 1 at Carolines on Broadway, when the city’s premier comedy venue for four decades closes its doors for good.

Owner Caroline Hirsch told The Post, “I did not renew my lease. New Year’s Eve will be our last night.”

She said that although business has rebounded strongly since the pandemic, the venue’s 10-year lease at 750 Seventh Avenue was due for a rent “reset” at the end of the year and  “My landlord felt they can get a lot more for the space.”

The tower, between West 49th and 50th streets, is owned by a Kuwaiti wealth fund doing business as FosterLane Management.

“New Year’s Eve will be our last night,” she said.

Hirsch broke the closing news to stunned staff Tuesday afternoon.

“This is heart-stabbing for me,” she told The Post. “I love my staff. I love my comedians. I’m on to something new” — likely an expansion of the Carolines brand, which includes the New York Comedy Festival she produces at many venues around town.  “I see this as not the end of Carolines, but a new chapter continuing to produce world-class comedy,” Hirsch said.

Hirsch launched the original Carolines as a cabaret in Soho in 1981.

Jay Leno, an occasional guest performer, first put it on the national radar when he talked about it on David Letterman’s show.

She moved the club to the struggling South Street Seaport in 1987, where many expected it to flop. But it quickly caught on with locals as well as tourists. The location was home to A&E Network’s six-season hit show “Carolines Comedy Hour.” The current venue has been featured in many televised specials on other networks.

Hirsch relocated to Times Square in 1992, a pioneering move when the area was still dangerous and “the sleaziest place in the world,” she recalled. Its ever-changing talent roster included Richard Belzer, Jerry Seinfeld, Billy Crystal, Jon Stewart, Joy Behar, Jimmy Fallon, Michael Che, Robin Williams, Conan O’Brien. Larry David performed “Saturday Night Live” sketches that never made the air.