Guests who bought tickets to a recent Don't Tell Comedy show in El Segundo had no idea where they were going until a text message landed that Saturday morning — and when they finally arrived, they found themselves inside a corrugated steel, WWII-style Quonset hut. Jenna Lewanda and Manny Aguilar made the trip from their West Hollywood home after Lewanda got the address at 9 a.m. that day, part of a secret-show model that has turned not knowing where you're going into the whole appeal.
The show took place at Boardroom Brewery, a surfer-themed taproom built inside a WWII-style Quonset hut, according to LAist. The lightweight, prefabricated steel huts were developed for rapid assembly in the field during World War II; this one now hosts beer flights. Brewery representative Rick Mathiesen said guests arrived from their Ubers looking confused, unsure whether they'd actually found the right place.
No Address Until Hours Before Showtime
That confusion is the point. Don't Tell Comedy shows only tell ticket buyers the venue a few hours before the event, feeding attendees clues in the lead-up before sending the full address by text or email the morning of the show. Buyers commit to a ticket without knowing the performers or the venue in advance, and past shows have popped up in parking lots, furniture stores, wine shops, and other spaces never designed for a stand-up mic.
The model traces back to 2017, when Kyle Kazanjian-Amory started hosting backyard and living-room pop-up shows in Los Angeles after growing frustrated with the costs of frequent club visits, including parking, tickets, and drink minimums, according to the Los Angeles Times. Nearly a decade later, the company has expanded to more than 200 cities, with Los Angeles-area dates regularly popping up in downtown, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, and Pasadena, per the LAist report. That economic pitch still resonates: traditional comedy clubs can add costs through tickets, parking, and drink minimums. Don't Tell Comedy shows carry no such drink requirement.
A 26-Year-Old Producer Runs the Room
Running the El Segundo show was Griffin James, the 26-year-old emcee and local producer who put away 80 chairs once the night wrapped. The lineup leaned on the format's usual mix — mostly up-and-coming local comics — but the format has also drawn drop-ins from established names including Ali Wong, Nikki Glaser, and Michael Che at various Don't Tell Comedy shows over the years.
The El Segundo bill was headlined by Brad Williams, a comedian with dwarfism who stands 4 feet 4 inches tall and has two Showtime specials and a Netflix stand-up episode to his name, fronting a seven-comic lineup that night. Williams worked blue in the best way, recounting a camping trip where a park ranger, confronted with a bear, told him to get big. “How?” Williams deadpanned to the crowd, in the kind of bit that plays better in a room you weren't sure you'd find than it would under a marquee.
From Secret Rooms to Streaming Deals
What began as word-of-mouth backyard shows has since become a serious digital operation. Don't Tell Comedy began posting clips in 2022 and has built an online following, with more than 1.6 million YouTube subscribers reported in 2024. The company shares short-form specials and clips across its channels, turning a night in a brewery or furniture store into a potential career launch.
Comedian Ralph Barbosa is among the comics whose careers were accelerated by viral Don't Tell Comedy videos, as Axios has reported. The company has since moved into bigger production deals, too — it produced Hannah Berner's stand-up special We Ride At Dawn, filmed live at The Fillmore in Philadelphia, which debuted on Netflix and reached the platform's Top 10 list in July 2024.
Bengali-American comic Usama Siddiquee's 2025 Don't Tell Comedy half-hour special, Usama Bin Laughin', topped 540,000 YouTube views. A Hoodline report said Siddiquee booked the Palazzo Theatre for a headlining Las Vegas date set for January 2027. Axios has also reported that comedian Susan Rice's career was accelerated by viral Don't Tell Comedy videos. For now, the formula in El Segundo remains the same as it's always been: buy the ticket, wait for the text, and find out where you're laughing when you get there.
