PHOTO: ADOBE STOCK

Editor Virginia Linn, the regular author of this column, asked me to take over this month as we take a look at comedy in Pittsburgh. I’ve been performing stand-up comedy, with moderate success and acceptable frequency, since early 2009 — even longer than I’ve been contributing to Pittsburgh Magazine.

I feel, however, that I have no more than a bird’s-eye view of the city’s comedy scene in 2025; it’s too big, too broad and too busy for me to wrap my arms around. As longtime contributor Amy Whipple details in her feature, “Laughing Matters” (page 33), there are hundreds of young performers making stages anywhere they can find them. Even as some comedy institutions have faltered or shuttered, others have arisen — often thanks to determined performers who will gladly build their own spaces.

The funny part of writing about comedy — or, perhaps, the unfunny part — is that the work of it is often quite serious. Performers are constantly struggling not only to find willing venues, but to actually be paid for their time and effort. Pushes to make stages and green rooms reflective of the city’s demographics are constant and frequently met with resistance. And, in the burden all performing arts must bear, you actually have to convince people to leave their homes to see a show.

The reward for these efforts, however, is great. Pittsburgh has a surfeit of stand-up comedians, improvisers and sketch performers, and they’re onstage nearly every night of the week. There is never an excuse to go without laughter in the Steel City.

In this issue, we’ve expanded our look at comedy beyond Amy’s feature. Comedian Suzanne Lawrence, one of the city’s finest, takes our regular “My Best of the ’Burgh” quiz (page 23). Food Editor Kristy Graver pays a visit to the Derby, a new space featuring food and live entertainment, on page 63. And I took a trip to Jamestown, New York, home of the sprawling and interactive National Comedy Center, for our travel piece (page 24).

Hopefully, all this talk about laughter inspires you to shake off the winter and get back into the city for some live comedy this spring.

Even if it isn’t really spring. How does the old joke go? In Pittsburgh, there are four seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and construction.