The Atlanta Funny Bus Comedy City Tour on a recent sunny Saturday afternoon was cruising down Memorial Drive toward downtown just past Oakland Cemetery. Emcee and stand-up comic Nicole Blue had just informed her riders that country crooner Kenny Rogers was buried there. She then played “The Gambler.”
On the Das BBQ outdoor patio, two men far beyond college age turned their backs to the bus and mooned the 35 tourists from places like Canada, California, Tennessee, Florida and Missouri. The audience whooped with faux shock and genuine laughter.
Now 10 months old, the Funny Bus tour is no standard recitation of Atlanta landmarks and factoids. Rather, it’s designed to be a daytime party with dance music, beer and wine (bring your own!) and jokes galore. Bits of historical info are pureed into the script like carrots in a fruit smoothy. Tours are available Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at $38 per person for a 90-minute tour. Private tours are available for local corporate team-building exercises, birthday or bachelorette parties or any special events.
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On this particular day, Blue didn’t flag for the entire 110-minute tour, which took longer than normal due to unforeseen downtown traffic. “I’m Nicole Blue, just like the color,” she declared up front. “That’s my real name. I was meant to be a star! Let’s go! And you can’t walk on this bus. You have to move. And you wild ones go straight to the back!”
Indeed, she gently goaded folks entering the bus for the first time to boogie down the aisle a la “Soul Train” to songs like “Double Dutch Bus” and “Fantastic Voyage” before seating themselves. Most were game.
“We are in the ATL!” said Blue, a former Zumba instructor and karaoke host. “I represent Atlanta to the fullest. I’m from the Southside. Welcome to the Funny Bus. Welcome to my house. I’ll have you turnt up!”
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
There have been tourist bus tours in Atlanta for decades. Funny Bus’ current competition includes a standard 90-minute trolley tour, a ghost tour, a Segway tour and a civil rights-themed tour. While on the Funny Bus tour, a Tea Around Town bus drove by, a decidedly more sedate and sophisticated affair featuring fancy finger foods and tea.
To build business as a new tour, Funny Bus has relied heavily on sites such as TripAdvisor and Viator to sell tickets. Reviews so far have been almost universally positive. On TripAdvisor and Google, the tour averages 5 stars out of 5 and 4.9 stars out of 5 on Viator.
“Laughter brings people together and everyone is looking for something a little light and fun,” said Summer Rose, who runs Funny Bus Atlanta. “We get to spread cheer and joy throughout the city, not just for the people in the bus but for people in the streets. It surprised me and warmed my heart that people wave at us from the street and dance to the music.”
Rose left technology sales for this more entrepreneurial venture, picking up a franchise from her longtime friends Lisa Schnurr and her husband Kevin Anderson, former Atlantans who used to own a bed-and-breakfast in Grant Park. They launched Funny Bus Charlotte in North Carolina 2015 after years of doing food tours there and turned it into one of the most popular tours in that city. (Funny Bus is also in Cleveland.)
Credit: Dark Rush
Credit: Dark Rush
The concept’s success hinges on the skills of a rotating set of comedians who typically have backgrounds in both improv and stand-up comedy as well as a script that can be thrown out the window when necessary, making every tour distinct.
“It gives me a lot of leeway to be me,” Blue said.
Connor Lyons, an Alabama native who hosts a comedy show every month at The Atlanta Eagle and trained at People’s Improv Theater in New York City, was initially skeptical about the Funny Bus concept, worried it might be “cheesy.” But when he took the Funny Bus tour in Charlotte, he left impressed. “These buses were packed out and got repeat customers,” he said. So he signed on as Funny Bus Atlanta’s first comic and has embraced the challenge.
“I get to holler at people on the streets and be a mobile DJ,” said Lyons, who had previously hosted Segway tours.
When there’s a police officer on the street, he’ll spin “Bad Boys,” the theme from the TV show “Cops.” If he sees a group of construction workers, he’ll play “It’s Raining Men.”
Blue wanted to ensure the tour had a specific Georgia flavor to it by relying heavily on local artists such as Outkast, Usher, R.E.M., T.I. and James Brown.
“If there’s traffic and I run out of notes about a landmark,” Lyons noted, he’ll do crowd work, mining humor from asking people what they do and where they’re from.
Indeed, in early November, one of his scheduled 90-minute tours ended up taking three hours because the converted red Blue Bird school bus got snarled in a combo Billie Eilish event and Atlanta Falcons/Dallas Cowboys game downtown. “I played so many songs and had people dancing in droves on the sidewalk when I played Ludacris’ ‘Roll Out’,” he said. “And the group was fantastic and patient. I got lucky!”
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The tour typically begins at the Margaret Mitchell House, then moves east through Midtown on 10th Street past Piedmont Park. It wends through Virginia-Highland and Inman Park. She noted Atlanta is known for its tree-heavy canopy. “This is why we have so many shady people here!” she cracked.
Blue encouraged everyone to yell “Church!” each time someone spied one, then imbibe a drink. “If Jesus can turn water into wine, let’s thank him every time!” Blue said. Naturally, given this is Atlanta, churches came up frequently. (And yes, the bar named Sister Louisa’s Church of the Living Room & Ping Pong Emporium in Old Fourth Ward counted.)
The bus passed the Kroger that was once dubbed “Murder Kroger” on Ponce de Leon Avenue but was torn down and rebuilt. “They are trying to call it the Beltline Kroger,” she said. “Nah … That’s Murder Kroger! Once you got the name, you got the name!”
While passing the Clermont Lounge, she played Kelis’ “Milkshake” and touted the ladies there as “U.S. Grade A Georgia peaches!” Other spots name-checked: the city’s oldest operating movie theater the Plaza, the city’s only video rental store Videodrome and Jimmy Carter’s former hangout spot Manuel’s Tavern. She blasted the Lil Jon-DJ Snake classic “Turn Down for What?” past Krog Street Market as folks on the sidewalk smiled and waved.
As the tour wound down, Blue asked how many Peachtree streets there are in Atlanta. It was a tourist from Alberta, Canada, Heather Warnock who guessed closest to the actual number: 71. Her prize? A special Funny Bus-embossed condom.
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rose said she’s been happy with the steady growth of the tour, adding more days and times when needed.
“We could have multiple different tours of the city,” she said. “We could do Decatur or just a focus on Midtown or downtown. We have so many great different neighborhoods to explore.”
IF YOU GO
Atlanta Funny Comedy City Tour
3 p.m. Fridays and Sundays; 2 p.m. Saturdays (private tours available as well). $38. 945 Crescent Ave. NE, Atlanta. funnybus.net/atlanta.
About the Author
