By Patrick Crowley
The Cincinnati Enquirer

NEWPORT - Newport on the Levee is finally getting a comedy club.

The Funny Bone Comedy Club is to open by year-end at the riverfront entertainment and retail complex, club operators and levee management said Thursday.

The 7,500-square-foot club will be open on the levee's mezzanine level. It will have capacity for 390 people and feature a large showroom and a full menu, according to its owners Mitch Kutash and Todd Leinenbach.

"The comedy club will showcase national acts of outstanding caliber on a regular basis along with the latest 'up and coming' comedy sensations," said Kutash, who owns a number of Funny Bone clubs across the country.

Kutash is no stranger to the Cincinnati market. He ran a Funny Bone club in Montgomery during the 1980s. He also tried to bring an Improv comedy club to the levee earlier this year, but the deal fell through.

At the time Steiner + Associates, the Columbus-based developer and operator of the levee, said it would work to bring another comedy club to Newport.

"Our visitors ... have repeatedly asked us to include a comedy club," said levee general manager Ellen Prows said. "We anticipate that the Funny Bone Comedy Club will be a great success."

E-mail pcrowley@enquirer.com.