Last Best Comedy

Origins (2018-2019)

Levin and Annie O'Connor, who had built careers on improv stages in Chicago and Los Angeles, relocated to Bozeman, Montana in summer 2018. They connected with local performers including the Bozeman Improverts and began offering classes and producing shows around Bozeman in 2019, building community before securing a permanent home.

Opening Montana's First Comedy Club (2021)

In September 2021, Last Best Comedy opened a dedicated venue in the historic Bozeman Hotel at 321 E Main St, presenting stand-up, improv, and sketch five nights a week with a full bar. The venue claimed the distinction of being Montana's first comedy club, filling a gap that had existed across the entire state.

Ongoing Operations

Last Best Comedy continues to operate in downtown Bozeman, maintaining its five-nights-a-week programming schedule and comedy class curriculum as Montana's primary dedicated comedy institution.

Last Best Comedy presents stand-up, improv, and sketch in a full-service comedy club format, anchoring Montana's comedy scene with a programming depth unusual for a smaller market. The founders' Chicago and Los Angeles improv backgrounds inform the venue's approach to both performance and training, while the community-building mission reflects the necessity of creating an audience from scratch in a city with no prior comedy infrastructure.

Last Best Comedy presents live comedy five nights a week across stand-up, long-form improv, short-form improv, and open mic formats. Bone Dry Comedy is the venue's recurring open mic night, and Risky Quizness: Earth to Bozeman is a nature-themed trivia event. The annual Last Best Comedy Fest, launched in 2023, spans multiple Montana cities including Bozeman, Butte, Helena, and Townsend, drawing roughly 80 stand-up and improv performers from across the country. The inaugural festival featured Josh Johnson of The Daily Show, Rich Hall (Saturday Night Live writer and Montana resident), and Craig Cackowski (Community, Drunk History), and the festival returned in 2024 with Montana comedian Chris Fairbanks among the headliners.

Annie O'Connor and Levin O'Connor arrived in Bozeman in 2018 after running comedy clubs in Los Angeles and touring together as a duo billed as NOW with Annie and Levin. Both had trained and performed in Chicago and Los Angeles improv scenes, and Levin O'Connor returned to his home state with the goal of building a permanent comedy infrastructure in a region that had none. The couple connected with local performer and instructor Molly Hannan, who had ties to the Verge Theatre and the Bozeman Improverts troupe, and together the three founded Last Best Comedy in 2019. When pandemic restrictions lifted, they secured a basement space in the historic Bozeman Hotel on Main Street and opened their dedicated venue in September 2021, claiming the designation of the first comedy club in Montana's history.

Last Best Comedy operates with a full bar managed by mixologist Sara-Paule Koeller, whose drink specials reflect each night's comedy themes, and its programming is overseen by Artistic Director for stand-up Garrison Choitz, who books touring acts and manages local talent. Within three years of opening, the venue launched the Last Best Comedy Fest, a multi-city event that extended Montana's comedy footprint beyond Bozeman. The founders collectively bring more than 30 years of professional theatre experience, and their corporate training programs have become a significant revenue stream. By establishing a permanent venue with consistent programming across stand-up, improv, and sketch, Last Best Comedy transformed Bozeman from a city without a dedicated comedy venue into a regional anchor for comedy in the Northern Rockies.