Bill and Susan Smith | Laughing Matters

You can’t have lived in the Upstate of SC for long without hearing something about the live, local comedy at the Cafe and Then Some. A staple in downtown Greenville for decades, no stone is unturned and everyone is a “target” in their distinct brand of dinner theater. Tent cards on the table give a running history of the characters, parts of town, and situations that may be unfamililar to anyone who didn’t grow up off of Augusta Road (and yes, locals will always call it “road”). “Satire,” Susan once read from the stage, “is a form of freedom of speech, protected by the First Amendment,” and then opened a biting, at times fantastically awkward play about eminent domain and the development along the Reedy River. How these locals — friends of the community, philanthropists, mother/father/cousin/neighbor — make a living by poking fun at the very people living across the street, is just this short of a miracle.