Teehee’s Comedy Club will soon be moving into the former Spaghetti Works space on Court Avenue.
Des Moines’ Board of Adjustment voted unanimously Wednesday to allow Teehee’s co-owners AJ Simmons and Dave Boelman operate an entertainment venue at 310 Court Ave. The ground floor of the historic building — which the restaurant occupied from 1978 to 2023 — has sat on the market for over a year.
After Teehee’s closed its Walnut Street spot in June with plans for a new location, rumors circulated that it was eyeing the long-vacant spot.
With multiple parties interested, including longtime Des Moines bar owner Larry Smithson, it seemed Teehee’s may have missed its chance. But now, Simmons and Boelman have a formal agreement to purchase the space.
The pair presented plans to the city that include a small kitchen, a bar and two stages. On a good night, they expect to have some live music in addition to comedy, with two shows on a small stage and two on a larger one. They’ll invest about $4.1 million in the acquisition and remodeling of the old Spaghetti Works, preserving the sign, woodwork and stained glass.
Simmons said the new club will create roughly 20 full-time jobs.
“It will increase traffic in the best way, in terms of driving patrons to other bars and restaurants. It’ll add vibrancy. And it’ll be something different, which is desperately needed on Court Avenue,” said board member Heather Ann Roe, owner of the KIN jewelry shop in the East Village.
The proposal is a far shot from Smithson’s plan, which the Board of Adjustment rejected in October. It called for the revival of his East Village party bar Big Lars. Neighbors roundly denounced the idea, asking instead for a restaurant or a more family-friendly entertainment option.
“We’re not there to sell Jell-O shots,” Simmons said. “We’re here to put on great shows and enrich our community.”
Simmons, a local comedian, and Boleman, an accountant with a passion for the scene, bought the Teehee’s business in 2022. When they decided to leave their leased location on Walnut Street this past summer, they had plans to open in a new one as early as January.
Now, it everything goes perfectly, Teehee’s could reopen on Court Avenue in June.
“It’s a lot of money,” Boleman explained, a million dollars of which he’s self-funding. “At the end of day, I had to get right in my head the financial commitment I was making, and I had to enlist my bank and ask how it was going to come together.”
Boleman said that while he and Simmons don’t have all of their financing identified, they’ll do what it takes to get the job done.
“We’re both chomping at the bit,” he said.
Two months after the Board of Adjustment rejected Smithson’s request to open a bar in the former restaurant, effectively ending his bid to buy it, Smithson showed up at Wednesday’s meeting to tell the board that he wanted Teehee’s to be held to the same standards he was.
“I see comedy as a crutch to get by,” he said, pointing to the city’s proposed requirement that he make at least 51% of his revenue from food sales if he bought Spaghetti Works. “This is just purely a bar, period.”
Smithson added that he saw nothing in Simmons and Boleman’s proposal that was better than his plans for a bar with games and giant beer pong.
Addison Lathers covers growth and development in Des Moines. Reach her at 608-931-1761 or alathers@registermedia.com, and follow her on X at @addisonlathers
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