 | | Vanessa Ragland and Jamie Flam. Photo: Mindy Tucker | | |
Just as with other forms of nightlife, comedy venues come in and out of vogue. Over the past few years, sex-pest allegations, labor controversies, and overall changes in taste have reshaped L.A.’s alt-comedy scene. Some factions of its audience now pause before spending money at once-sacred comedy institutions. Fortunately, a relatively new venue has quickly become the next big unproblematic fave for comics and audiences alike. Founded by friends and creative collaborators Vanessa Ragland and Jamie Flam in late 2017, Dynasty Typewriter has spent its brief existence racking up a jaw-dropping number of performances from comedy’s heaviest hitters. On one night, you may have sets from rising stars like Sasheer Zamata or Joel Kim Booster, and on the next you might have Adam Sandler filming a Netflix special or Dan Harmon recording his podcast. The elegance of the venue (the newly renovated Hayworth Theatre) and elevation of the stage lends Dynasty performances an air of theatricality that you just can’t get at the black-box theaters or comedy clubs. We recently got in touch with Dynasty’s proud proprietors to learn a bit more about what compelled them to roll the dice on their comedy venue dreams and what the future holds for the space. Tell us a bit about your industry backgrounds and how you two got paired up.
Jamie: I started doing comedy in San Francisco and moved back to L.A., where I grew up, in 2005. I very quickly got a job at a brand-new comedy theater called, at the time, the Westside Eclectic — now the Westside Comedy Theater — in Santa Monica. I was the first employee, and there I learned the ins and outs of opening a theater from the ground up. The first person I hired to help me run the theater was Vanessa, who’d just moved here from Virginia. We very quickly started writing and performing together, too. When the job ended, I wound up at the Hollywood Improv, where I became the booker for five years, and all throughout that, I had a dream of opening a venue. Vanessa: I’d been in L.A. for maybe two weeks and Jamie was my first Los Angeles friend, and he got me my first job out here, and we very quickly realized we loved working together. I’d studied theater as an undergrad, and my best friend in college was putting on a lot of shows, so I was always finding venues we could use there, so it’s something I’ve always been interested in. How did you initially become aware of the Hayworth? Did you already know its new owner, Jenji Kohan?
Vanessa:We’re both fans of Jenji’s work, but we’d actually worked the venue years prior to her taking over the lease. Jamie:In 2013, Vanessa was doing a campaign to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Long story short, a family member introduced us to the venue, and we put together what I think still stands as one of our greatest live-show achievements with one of the best lineups we’ve put together. It was calledFancy & Enchanting. It was the first theatrical thing we’d done on this scale, and we fell in love with the venue. At that time, we were close to being more involved there, but the building needed millions of dollars of renovation, and we didn’t have millions of dollars, so I went back to the Improv, and the dream still sat in the background. Vanessa:Years later, somebody who knew the lease was up reached out, knowing we were looking for a space to set up shop, and lo and behold, it was the Hayworth under new ownership. And Jenji had done that expensive renovation work to get the place looking beautiful and the plumbing fixed and all the things up to code, so it was perfect how it all came together. Then, it was just a period of time while we sorted the details out and made a Kickstarter that raised $100,000 and, more importantly, let people know about the vision we had and tapped into the comedy community. In November [2017], we reached our [Kickstarter] goal, and everything has kind of been a blur since. Jamie:Dynasty was born of our desire to create something new and hopefully innovative that speaks to a new generation of not just comedy fans — we think we do a lot more than just comedy. Is there a specific niche genre or comedy ethos you think best describes the sort of acts that play Dynasty? And are there types of comedy you don’t want to host?
Vanessa:Overall, I think we both like “non-cynical” as a point of view. We’re of course open to all personalities, but in general, our favorite shows have been non-cynical, but are filled with energy and have a clear point of view. There are no performers negging the crowd or showing up drunk and doing something sloppy. You’ve already had so many great acts come through, but is there a dream performance, be it stand-up, theatrical, or whatever, you’d love to play Dynasty?
Vanessa: Carol Burnett doing a revue. Really, though, we’ve already been pinching ourselves at everyone we have had. We’ve been so lucky. Jamie:Weird Al. What has been the most unexpected challenge presented by hosting shows in this space?
Vanessa: Learning boundaries. Jamie:Running a business and having creative aspirations do overlap, but there’s much more of a learning curve for the day to day of running this type of business. What’s the meaning behind the name “Dynasty Typewriter”?
Jamie:I’m a fifth-generation Angeleno, and my great-grandfather and great-uncle opened Angelus Typewriters at Spring and 6th in 1919. When I was a kid, it was still around. But when we were searching for names for the venue, we were looking for something to fit with the typewriter aesthetic. Within minutes of deciding that, Vanessa just blurted out “Dynasty Typewriter!” What’s your favorite bit of trivia or history about the venue?
Vanessa:The guy who designed this, Stiles O. Clements, also designed the Wiltern, El Capitan, and the Mayan theater, so to have something from that architect is pretty magical. The history of the space is pretty wild, too. It’s been a lot of things. The attached space next door was home to L.A.’s first tiki bar and the first mariachi restaurant in North America. Jamie:For me, one of the “this was meant to be” moments was learning that the marquee was featured in The Naked Gun. Given the ephemeral nature of the building’s history and change being the only constant in life, what do you hope will be the next purpose the Hayworth serves after Dynasty’s final show?
Vanessa:Hopefully a museum about us. Jamie:Honestly, this is something we want to do for the rest of our lives that will hopefully extend beyond the walls of the theater and serve as a beacon for all the fun, non-cynical stuff we want to create and serve as a reminder that, in spite of the world falling apart, there’s still some magic left in it. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. Subscribe for $5 and get unlimited digital access to Vulture, New York, Intelligencer, the Cut, and Grub Street. | 
