Richmond calibrates between state-capital institutional gravity and independent-city neighborhood permanence. Carytown rooms fill with government workers who transferred in, while The Fan hosts the families who've been here for generations. Scott's Addition draws the artsy energy. Church Hill and Jackson Ward add the residential layers. The comedy here reads the tension between statehouse rotation and River City stability. Open mics become the space where both identities converge. Comics who grasp Richmond's dual rhythm find audiences relieved someone recognized the city keeps its monument-row soul while the breweries multiply along the James.