While the Time to Laugh comedy club is expected to be roaring with laughter this weekend, there will also be an undercurrent of sadness as it will also be its last.

After almost a decade, time has run out for the downtown comedy club, located on Princess Street in the heart of the city’s Hub district, as it will shut its doors for good.

Owner Chris Hausen has known this day was coming, but only recently has he started to realize how much he’ll miss it.

"I knew even months ago what was happening with this building — there was talk about it — and at that point it didn’t really bother me, but the emails I’ve received not only from some of the comedians, but customers and other business owners in the community "¦," Hausen said, trailing off.

"I’m not an emotional person, but it brought me to tears a few times what people had said about the memories they had from here."

Time to Laugh first started at the turn of the century inside the Confederation Place Hotel, which, back then, was a part of the Howard Johnson chain. After four years there — comedians performed there three nights a week — and a four-month break — Hausen and wife Tracy had just become parents to their daughter, Sydney — decided to open their own club in the Hub.

Even though a friend of Hausen’s, who owned a comedy club out West, once told him that a club wouldn’t survive in a city with a population with fewer than 400,000 people, they took the plunge.

"The first couple of years we did well," observed Hausen.

The novelty of a comedy club likely drew many visitors in the beginning, and then "we realized that people only come out to see comedy so often," Hausen said.

Like before, the club offered comics on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Soon enough, though, the club would make Thursdays amateur night instead.

After a live-music venue downtown closed a few years later, promoters went looking for a place in which they could book bands, and approached Hausen.

"It was definitely needed income at that point," he said.

The last three years have been particularly difficult, Hausen said. In addition to he and his wife going their separate ways recently, he has been plagued with health troubles, which he attributes to chronic lyme disease.

Hausen, who described himself as an energetic person before his illness, suffered from persistent headaches and joint pain, which, at times, left him immobilized or lethargic.

"My health became more important than the club," he said.

Running the club also wore on him, he said. He regularly had to deal with people who were intoxicated — and who would often heckle the performers — and usually unco-operative when asked to leave. Not only that, but another comedy club opened its doors in the city recently, too.

For stand-up comedian Ryan Dennee, the club was one of the reasons he pursued comedy. Now a performer with Yuk Yuk’s, he won the local Comedian Idol competition held there annually.

"It definitely gave me confidence," he said, adding that he even proposed to his wife onstage.

Hausen, too, saw something in Dennee and helped him connect with people in the industry.

"Chris and Time to Laugh gave me my first push for sure," noted Dennee.

So, for this weekend, Dennee has helped Hausen assemble what he calls a "mini comedy festival" to close the club in style.

Thursday night will see the best local amateur comedians — distilled from the many Canadian Idol competitions — perform for the last time.

Friday and Saturday nights will see three Kingston comedians — Dennee, Dave Hudson and Steve Dylan — perform alongside circuit favourites K. Trevor Wilson and Arthur Simeon. All of them are headliners, Dennee said.

"This isn’t like we patched together a couple of decent comics," he remarked. "It’s going to be a killer show."

Dennee is sorry to see the club in which he got his start close.

"It really sucks," he said, adding that Saturday just happens to be his birthday as well.

"It’s going to be a really emotional night for everybody."

peter.hendra@sunmedia.ca

That’s all, folks

What: Three nights of comedy to close Time to Laugh, starting with the best local amateur comedians Thursday night. Friday night sees five headlining comedians — Dave Hudson, Ryan Dennee, Arthur Simeon, K. Trevor Wilson and Steve Dylan — each perform a 15-, 20-minute set.

Where: Time to Laugh comedy club, 384 Princess St.

When: Thursday, Aug. 21, Friday, Aug. 22, and Saturday, Aug. 23.

Cost: $10 cover for Thursday night, $20 for Friday and Saturday nights.

For more: Go to www.timetolaugh.ca.