Hannibal Buress, Michael Che, and Simeon Goodson at Isola Brooklyn
On Sunday, March 9, 2025, Isola Brooklyn held their grand opening that featured the club’s owner, Hannibal Buress, serving as emcee, house DJ, comedian, and musical guest all in the same evening. Isola Brooklyn, which is located at 361 Metropolitan Avenue, is the former location of Knitting Factory (they relocated from 74 Leonard Street in Manhattan to this address), and was previously Luna Lounge before Knitting Factory.
Knitting Factory opened on September 9, 2009 with a performance by Les Savy Fav and an opening set by Hannibal Buress. This would lead to the comedian hosting a Sunday night comedy series for a few years, with other comedians following suit (Will Miles, Kenny DeForest, and Clark Jones first took over the weekly series from Buress, followed by Marie Faustin, Sydnee Washington and Aminah Imani inheriting the show as well). Knitting Factory closed in August 2022, and the doors reopened yesterday as Isola Brooklyn.
Isola, named after a town in Mississippi where Hannibal’s mother and grandmother lived, was scheduled to open its doors at 6PM but they were putting the final touches on the space before ticketholders were permitted to go inside. Once doors opened, we were held in the main bar as work finished up in the back room. Buress was behind the front bar when we entered and excitedly yelled “FIRST BEER SOLD” after the first purchase was made.
Once the main space doors officially opened their doors, Hannibal DJed before the first comedian, Simeon Goodson, went on first, followed by Michael Che, and Hannibal Buress performing a few rap songs released under his rap persona, Eshu Tune.
Before closing the evening and returning to his DJ duties, Hannibal advised the sold out room to mark our calendars for March 28th and March 29th for something special, so I’m looking forward to see what else is in store for Isola Brooklyn.