Home Club

Up-and-Comers and Comebacks at Acme Comedy Company

Patrick Strait

Minnesota Historical Society Press (March 2025)

Description

A story of hard-won successes, staggering failures, and unlikely redemption, Home Club shows how a soft-spoken Chinese immigrant and his small Minneapolis club changed comedy and kept the lights on.

Before the sold-out crowds, world-famous performers, and national prestige, Acme Comedy Company was in trouble. Too much debt and too few customers. A product no one wanted in an economy where everyone struggled. Then it all changed. 

Home Club is the story of Acme and its owner, Louis Lee, who came from China to Minnesota as a teenager and worked his way from busboy to club owner—only to watch it all come crashing down. Acme Comedy Company was his chance to redeem himself, and he spent years hustling, negotiating, and sometimes cutting corners just to keep it afloat. 

Today, Acme is one of the most iconic comedy venues in Minnesota, and one of the most respected in the country. It launched the careers of some of Minnesota’s biggest comedians, including Mitch Hedberg, Maria Bamford, and Nick Swardson. But it also courted controversy by unapologetically booking comics who weren’t always considered “safe.” 

Home Club is about failure and redemption, the tension between art and business, and the incredible story of how a soft-spoken Chinese immigrant and his 300-seat club in a Minneapolis basement became a home for a new generation of comics and fans.

Author Information

Patrick Strait has been a comedy-beat reporter for City Pages, The Growler, and Thrillist. He is the author of Funny Thing about Minnesota . . . : The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of the Twin Cities Comedy Scene. He lives in Minneapolis.