Omaha has become a staple of arts and culture over the past three years, not just for local acts, but as an essential steppingstone for comedians on national – and even world – tours. Ilana Glazer, known for their irreverent coming-of-age sitcom “Broad City,” is one such comedian. The 2009 show, which they produced and starred in, propelled them to a career in comedy and activism.
Glazer was the second comedian to bring stand-up to the Steelhouse after it opened in 2023. In September, they returned to the Omaha concert venue for another show. While Omaha was just one stop for Glazer on a comedy tour that included places like Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Barcelona, her Midwestern audience got the distinct sense that there was nowhere else they would rather be.
“The media will dictate that cities like Omaha, Nebraska, will look a certain way, but they look totally different,” Glazer said in a pre-performance interview with Nebraska Public Media News. “Nebraska [has been] dictated to me as a New Yorker, as a lifelong New Yorker, as a conservative place, but [I’m] finding, oh, people are picking up what I am putting down. I feel so energized by it.”
Glazer’s Sept. 17 show at the Steelhouse was conversational and raucously funny. Glazer asked the audience how they preferred to smoke (are vapes out?), mobilized the crowd to protest daylight savings time, and sheepishly shared that they’ve had to promise their husband not to use a Scottish accent in the bedroom.
Omaha Performing Arts, colloquially known as O-Pa, has played an essential role in the expansion of Omaha’s comedy scene. The nonprofit manages the Dick and Mary Holland Campus downtown, which includes three performance venues and an arts center for hosting camps, classes and workshops.
The classically glamorous Orpheum theater will be 100 years old next year and is undergoing refurbishment, while the Steelhouse is comparatively new. The venue, which seats about 1,500 people, created a new opportunity for mid-size shows to stop in Omaha on national tours.
Erica Hanson is the vice president of commercial entertainment for O-Pa, which means it’s her job to book all the acts that come to town. In the past year, that’s included comedians John Mulaney and Kevin James, as well as Jonathan Van Ness of the TV series “Queer Eye.”
“In Omaha, we’re very fortunate,” Hanson said. “We have venues of all sizes that are able to host any size of artists that want to come, from a very small club to a very large arena. And not all markets of our size even have that.”
In Pollstar’s 2026 midyear report, all three of O-Pa’s venues were ranked in the top 200 worldwide for theater ticket sales. Hanson said they host 17 or 18 of the top 50 touring comedians each year.
But Omaha’s comedic foundation was built well before the Steelhouse ushered in a new generation of performers and audiences.
“Omaha has a really long history of strong comedy, starting with The Funny Bone and everything that they’ve built over decades,” Hanson said. “They’ve done a really great job of laying the groundwork in terms of Omaha being a great spot for comedy.”
The Funny Bone, an Omaha improv comedy club, opened in 1988 and relocated to a bigger venue with a bar and a family-friendly arcade last year. Colleen Quinn started working at the club as a receptionist in 1990 and is now the general manager. She’s seen the Funny Bone operate in three different locations, shifting to meet different audience demands. Her first week on the job, the club hosted Jerry Seinfeld.
Her goal is to offer a wide enough variety of comics that everyone in Omaha can find a reason to visit. She sees 2,000 audience members a week – so many that she keeps a wall of sticky notes to remember her regulars. Quinn said the Funny Bone hosts all kinds of acts, from world-famous comics to local stand-up comedians trying to make it big. Some comics do what she calls the “Corn Belt Tour,” which is a night each in Kansas City, Omaha and Des Moines. Others come to her club on bigger tours.
“Joe Gatto is probably big enough that he could fill a theater, but he wants to work on new material, so he’ll do it in a club that he feels is better feedback,” she said. Gatto is a nationally known comedian and former star of the comedy TV series “Impractical Jokers.”
It works out for the Funny Bone’s well-trained audience members, who abide by strict “no heckling” guidelines in exchange for exclusive access to their favorite acts. She runs a tight ship, personally shutting down bad behavior at tables when necessary.
“My audience is thrilled to think that this semi-star from New York or L.A. or Dallas or wherever is here in little old Omaha, and you can see them up close in a nice small comedy room,” Quinn said.
Glazer said that connecting with audiences all over the world, especially in places she didn’t anticipate visiting while growing up in a small town on Long Island, encourages her.
“My faith in humanity is so crystallized by the shared values and shared reality that I get from people in places like Omaha, Nebraska,” Glazer said. “I love it. I am inspired by it.”