Funny Business

At 7 on a Friday night, Capt. Brien’s Seafood & Raw Bar is crowded and noisy as servers wind through the maze of tables, delivering plates of peel-and-eat shrimp and Boston-baked scrod. The nautical décor is typical of a seafood restaurant—draped fishing nets, mounted fish, fresh shellfish displayed on ice. What’s different is the poster gallery of comics covering the walls and the small platform along one wall (showcasing a shark head rising from a barrel).

What has drawn the crowd tonight is not the fresh Malpeque oysters or the house specialty grouper. This seafood restaurant doubles as Off the Hook Comedy Club, and fans are crowding in to see this night’s headliner, comedian Jon Lovitz, Saturday Night Live alumnus, star of the animated show The Critic and more.

The din drops as a video begins, previewing upcoming acts. The music from Jaws rises and co-owner Brien Spina introduces the opening act. Then, primed, the audience breaks into cheers as Lovitz makes his way through them and into the spotlight on the little stage.

How does this little club in a Southwest Florida town with barely 15,000 residents manage to attract headliners as well known as Lovitz, Jackie Mason, Shawn Wayans and Tom Arnold? Spina and co-owner Santo Spina, his father, seem to have found a formula that works. Even in June, when most local businesses are struggling, the house is packed. Some in the audience are regulars from Marco. A few are tourists who stumbled across this opportunity. But most, like Mike and Melissa Griffith, Lovitz fans who had never been to the club before, have driven from Naples, Fort Myers or other parts of the region.

Says Dina Pancamo, who made the trip to see Lovitz: “The drive from Naples doesn’t bother me. It’s something that Naples doesn’t offer.”

FISHING FOR A HOOK