Central Valley comedy shows in secret locations? Funny you should ask
A comedy show at a laundromat? While the clothes will be clean, the jokes likely won’t be.
From barbershops to bookstores and even a bank, Offline Comedy isn’t kidding when it comes to bringing top stand-up acts to the region. Not only are the venues atypical, but each is a mystery until the day of the show.
“No phones. Secret location” is the motto that drives the mission of a comedy venture conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic by former Turlock City Councilmember Andrew Nosrati.
In the fall of 2021, Nosrati was building a co-working space in Turlock when construction and cost delays started to pile up and he needed a way to create revenue.
“I wanted to just infuse some life into the space,” he said. “I reached out to my friend, popular Turlock comedian Taylor Evans, and I asked him, ‘What’s the soonest we could do a comedy show if I had a small space for it?’”
Nosrati, an aspiring comedian himself, called in his network of stand-up friends and in five days planned a show at the worksite. With no branding or professional set-up or staging, just a microphone and a desk lamp as a spotlight, Offline Comedy made its debut.
“It was a really great experience that everyone loved,” he said. They came up to me asking, ‘When are you guys going to do this again?’”
Nosrati said he and his comedian friends organized shows for a few months, but the uncertainty of COVID-19 restrictions and other priorities caused him to put performances on pause.
In August 2024, Nosrati relaunched Offline Comedy and has since organized shows in Modesto, Merced, Turlock and other Central Valley locations. There have been performances in retail spaces and salons, and even a surprise pop-up show at a Modesto Nuts baseball game.
In the early show days, Nosrati said, they would collect phones at the start of each performance to ensure people were fully immersed in the experience, that they were fully “offline.” Larger audiences made that harder to manage, so now they just ask people to stay off their phones during shows.
Secrecy is a core part of his business, with locations revealed only the morning of, through email after purchasing a ticket. At first, Nosrati sought out unique places for the shows, but as his popularity grew, so did requests to host events.
“It started with us just going into spaces and just pitching the concept,” he said. “As our reputation grew, audience members began reaching out to us saying, ‘Can I do this in my business?’”
That was the case for the most recent show, held at Mocse Credit Union in downtown Modesto. Mocse Vice President of Administration Vanessa Torquato went to an Offline Comedy show in January and was amazed by the concept.
“I thought, this is different, and wondered if our CEO would be open to hosting a show at our location,” she said.
Torquato pitched the idea to Mocse President and CEO Shane Saunders. “Part of our branding is to be ‘audaciously authentic’ and to be deeply rooted in the community where we were founded,” Saunders said. “We have a commitment to supporting the arts and culture; it is part of our core philosophy. So I thought, ‘Why not?’”
That night, Mocse looked less like a bank and more like a comedy club. Rows of chairs fanned around a makeshift stage illuminated by twinkle lights strung through a large cutout of a wall socket – the Offline Comedy logo – that reminds people to unplug.
Audience members funneled in, some with cans of spirits and beer, because the shows are BYOB where permitted. Local comedian George Brett Olson introduced the host for the night, San Francisco-based comedian Marcus Howard. Howard opened with a short set before introducing a slate of local and out-of-town comedians, including Danielle Arce, Nick Larson, Marcus Peverill, Kiki Anderson and headliner Keith Carey.
“I heard about this event from a friend who went to a show in Merced recently, and it sounded fun,” said audience member Marissa Salazar. “When I got the email this morning that it was here, I thought, ‘At a bank?’ But it seemed interesting.”
The show was sold out, with many audience members asking when and where the next one would be. Nosrati said he has a few locations interested in hosting over the coming months, and there’s no telling where the next show will pop up.
While his project takes off in the Valley, Nosrati is also taking off next month, with a move to Boston. A romantic relationship and the opportunity to pursue stand-up full time in a bigger market are the reasons behind his new adventure.
Offline Comedy isn’t going anywhere, though. As the request for shows grew in earlier days, Nosrati partnered with Modesto comedian Marcus Peverill to manage and book shows, and Peverill has taken up the reins for organizing the events going forward.
Peverill, who has been doing stand-up for over 10 years, is regular at Deaf Puppy Comedy Club in Manteca and has an impressive network of performers he calls upon to stack the shows. “I try to find a voice for every style of comedy. When you come to a show, you can experience different ideas and styles, and I think that is what makes our show so unique,” he said.
Peverill announced Nosrati’s move at the end of the Mocse show and said, “Now I am in control of California’s Offline Comedy, and every time you guys come out to support live comedy, it means the world to us. Because if you weren’t here to fill these seats, we couldn’t do our art,” he said.
Nosrati will continue to oversee the business end of Offline Comedy, while Peverill will manage the shows in California. Nosrati also hopes to take his concept to Boston and grow Offline Comedy into a nationwide venture.
“I want to start a faction out here in Boston, but the Central Valley will always be home,” he said. “My family is here, my roots are here. I am proud that this started here and excited to see where it will go.”
For information on upcoming shows, visit www.offlinecomedy.com. Tickets usually are around $20, and the lineup and locations are announced by email on the day of the show.
This story was originally published July 30, 2025 at 2:35 PM.
