What Happened to Stand Up, Scottsdale After Bar Rescue? (Scottsdale, AZ)

Stand Up, Scottsdale was a comedy club opened by Howard Hughes after a divorce left him wanting to pursue his passion for stand-up, but by "Meat Sauna" the business was struggling under his own hands-on performing schedule rather than active management. Jon Taffer's team found no marquee to advertise shows, a bartender who ignored a planted customer for over ten minutes, drinks that took twenty minutes to arrive and tasted poor when they did, and food grilled near the entrance that filled the room with smoke, giving the episode its title. A stress test unraveled further when a microphone cut out mid-performance and customers began leaving, while Hughes retreated to his office rather than address the problems directly.

Taffer sent Hughes and his business partner, investor Nathan, to Hollywood's Laugh Factory and then rebranded the Scottsdale club as a Laugh Factory franchise location, complete with a new marquee, an enlarged green room, and upgraded sound and point-of-sale systems for the relaunch, headlined by comedian Owen Benjamin. The franchise branding did not last: Hughes reverted the club to the Stand Up, Scottsdale name soon after Taffer left, and the two later had a public, heated disagreement during a Season 4 "Back to the Bar" special that required security to separate them. Hughes told the Phoenix New Times the club relocated in 2016 back to the location where it originally started, trading some seating capacity for an improved room.

Stand Up, Scottsdale closed permanently in April 2017, according to the fan site Reality TV Updates, which also reports that the original Bar Rescue-episode address on East 5th Avenue is now home to a gym. Hughes has continued performing as a stand-up comedian since the club's closure. Reruns of the episode have also been pulled from Paramount Network's schedule and its streaming service in recent years, according to fan sites following the show, though the reason for that removal was not confirmed through a named source in this research pass.