Tokyo Comedy Bar – Bringing English-Language Comedy to Japan

Dear SpCCJ Members and friends,

Join us on June 26th for another special CLIC series event and hear from Fergal Daly, co-founder of Tokyo Comedy Bar, Japan’s first dedicated English-language comedy venue.

Stand-up comedy — where one person stands alone with a mic and speaks directly to the audience — has become a global phenomenon. But in Japan, comedy has traditionally been more absurd, physical, and broad in appeal.

Since around 2015, Fergal and his team have been building Tokyo’s stand-up scene show by show. In 2021, they took a major step: signing a lease in Shibuya and launching Tokyo Comedy Bar, right in the middle of a pandemic.

In this talk, Fergal will share the story of starting an English-speaking comedy club in a city where English isn’t widely spoken — and doing it during a time when live events were nearly impossible. He’ll discuss the cultural challenges, business risks, and unexpected opportunities of blending global comedy with local culture.

And yes, expect a few laughs along the way.

Special thanks to MIDORI.so for venue support.

About the Speaker

Fergal Daly is an Irish software engineer who has lived in Tokyo since 2011. In 2018, he reconnected with a long-lost dream: performing stand-up comedy. What began as a hobby soon became a mission to build Tokyo’s English-language comedy scene. In 2022, he co-founded Tokyo Comedy Bar, Japan’s only full-time venue dedicated to English stand-up comedy.

About CLIC

CLIC is a loose organization of 12 smaller European Chambers of Commerce in Japan created to organize innovative networking events that promote the exchange of ideas between members. CLIC includes the Austrian Business Council and the Belgian-Luxembourg, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Icelandic, Irish, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish, and Swiss Chambers of Commerce.

Event Details

Date: Thursday, June 26th
Time: 19:00 – 21:00 (Doors open at 18:30)
Venue: MIDORI.so Nagatacho (2F Engagement Space),
2 Chome-5-3 Hirakawachō, Chiyoda City, Tokyo 102-0093
Registration deadline: Thu, June 19th at 17:00