As Seen In The Police Academy Franchise

Louie Anderson We met Louie Anderson in 2008, when Bonkerz opened its second office in Las Vegas. We had a location inside Palace Station Casino and learned almost immediately that having a presence in Las Vegas created major opportunities for us.  Many casino corporate offices are Las Vegas based, even in situations where that company [...]

Sam Kinison The legendary comedian Sam Kinison and his Outlaws of Comedy were a fixture at the first Orlando Bonkerz.  Sam made many unannounced appearances at Bonkerz in the late 80’s.  We were also running Orlando’s largest nightclub at the time called Park Avenue and it was connected to Bonkerz. Park [...]

Daniel Tosh In the late 90’s a new generation of Bonkerz bred comedians was emerging in Central Florida.  We were simultaneously running Zuma Beach which was the hottest club in the region and growing the Bonkerz brand at the same time.  One of the Zuma employees told us that her boyfriend was really funny and [...]

Drew Carey DREW CAREY  began working with Bonkerz in the late 80’s as a feature/middle act.  He was and remains a very strong comic and we bumped him up to headliner after his first visit.  He worked the Orlando Bonkerz throughout the late 80’s and early 90’s.  Today, of course, he [...]

Jerry Seinfeld JERRY SEINFELD  is one of the most honest and thoughtful comics I have ever had the pleasure of working with.  After the first season of Seinfeld, Jerry was doing a limited stand-up tour and was probably the hottest stand-up in America.  Bonkerz was lucky enough to get a date [...]

Andrew Dice Clay Shortly after opening the first club in Milwaukee, we decided to book the most controversial comic of that time, “The Dice Man” now known as Andrew Dice Clay.  Dice convinced us that even though we would have people walk out the first few nights (and they did) those who stayed for the [...]

Darrell Hammond Darrel Hammond has been a regular on Saturday Night Live for the past 20 years, but his first time ever on stage was at Bonkerz.  He would hang out on open mic night, but had trouble getting the courage to go up on stage.  Bonkerz co-owner, George Maltezos, [...]

Carrot Top A.K.A. Scott Thompson Bonkerz Comedy Club owner, Joe Sanfelippo, was one of the first in the business who recognized the potential of the young, red-haired son of a NASA rocket scientist.  Joe ignored the comments of many of the local comics who hated prop acts and didn’t think they were legitimate comics. He [...]

Billy Gardell Most of today’s TV audience knows Billy Gardell as the star of Mike and Molly and Monopoly Millionaire’s Club.  Our story runs a little deeper.  In 1987, Joe Sanfelippo was standing in the parking lot of the original Orlando Bonkerz talking to his brothers, John and George, when this big kid who [...]