This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

The Bad Cat is a jazz bar at 1220 W. 103rd St. in Watts Mill Plaza, south Kansas City, Missouri, the sister room of The Comedy Club of Kansas City across the parking lot. Owner Dustin Kaufman told The Kansas City Star it would debut 18 September 2026; on that date the first-party event page stated that opening week had been pushed back a week and that the weekend’s shows were moving into the Comedy Club. Tickets and a calendar are live at thebadcatkc.com.

Description

The Bad Cat is Kaufman’s attempt to give Comedy Club patrons somewhere to go after a set without leaving Watts Mill, and to give musicians a small room that does not hand them a must-play list or a dress code.1 The Star reported it as a sister concept of the Comedy Club at 1130 W. 103rd St., occupying Happy Dragon’s former dining room while that restaurant continues primarily as carry-out.1 Kaufman described the offer as cocktails, spirits, wine, sweet appetizers and charcuterie — not a full kitchen — and said he already had 25 bands booked for the first six weeks, a mix of local and out-of-town acts.1

Thursday was announced as open-jam night; Fridays and Saturdays as scheduled performances from 7 p.m. Saturday happy hour (5–6:30 p.m., live music, full band at 7) was to start the second weekend.1 On 18 September 2026, the first-party page for that night’s Nate Nall Trio (Nate Nall, flugelhorn; Sebastian Arias, bass; Brant Jester, piano) carried a banner that the weekend’s shows had moved to the Comedy Club and that opening week was delayed one week.2 The room at 1220 is therefore a documented, ticketed business whose public debut at its own address had not yet happened on the day this page was drafted.

The Star placed the opening in a 2026 run of new KC jazz rooms that also includes Ted’s Taproom and Cafe 333.1 Those two Crossroads rooms are on disk; this page does not rest on them.

Ownership and history

Dustin Kaufman is the named owner. The Star (10 September 2026) calls The Bad Cat his third concept: the Comedy Club opened 12 April 2019 at 1130 W. 103rd St., a second Comedy Club opened November 2025 at 811 New Hampshire St., Lawrence, Kansas, and The Bad Cat follows.13 Lawrence sits outside Geographic-Scope (no Lawrence); the Lawrence room is recorded here only as owner-history, not as a Registry subject.

Kaufman is a Kansas City comedian who, on the Comedy Club page, is documented as starting at Stanford & Sons in Westport in 2000 and returning from Los Angeles to open his own club.3 The Star’s Bad Cat piece identifies him as “a comedian and jazz-enthusiast” and quotes him: “It’s the same as The Comedy Club, where it’s run off of passion. It’s not just the space, it’s the people at the space.”1 Legal entity name and Missouri registration were not searched to completion this pass. ****

Happy Dragon’s continued carry-out operation next door is The Star’s account; the 1230 W. 103rd figure circulating in secondary roundups was not in the Star piece and is not asserted here.1

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Jenna Thompson, “A new jazz bar is opening in Kansas City. It will be ‘run off of passion’,” The Kansas City Star, 10 September 2026, 5:00 AM. URL (Asserts: Dustin Kaufman, owner of The Comedy Club at 1130 103rd St., opening The Bad Cat at 1220 W. 103rd St. on Sept. 18; sister concept; taking over Happy Dragon’s dining space while Happy Dragon “now primarily operates through carry-out services”; Thu–Sat; Thursday open jam; Fri/Sat scheduled performances from 7 p.m.; ~55 seats; Comedy Club confirmation email = free admission; Kaufman’s third concept after Comedy Club 2019 and a Lawrence Comedy Club at 811 New Hampshire St. opened “last November”; 25 bands booked for the first six weeks; no must-play list, no required suits; no full kitchen — sweet appetizers and charcuterie, cocktails/spirits/wine; Saturday happy hour 5–6:30 p.m. starting the second weekend, full band at 7; $20 cover; tickets at thebadcatkc.com; at least the third jazz club to open in KC in 2026 after Ted’s Taproom and Cafe 333.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  2. “Nate Nall Trio” event page, The Bad Cat Jazz Bar, accessed 2026-09-18. URL (Asserts, in all-caps on the live page: “ALL SHOWS THIS WEEKEND HAVE BEEN MOVED ACROSS THE PARKING LOT TO THE COMEDY CLUB.” “Our opening week has been pushed back a week so we are taking this show across the street to The Comedy Club and adding comedy with comedians Keith Lewis-Spencer and ACE! Show is at 10pm.” Personnel: Nate Nall, flugelhorn; Sebastian Arias, bass; Brant Jester, piano. Door 9:45 p.m.; listed time 09/18/2026 10:15 p.m. Full bar and appetizers. General admission.) ↩

  3. comedy-club-of-kansas-city — Registry page for The Comedy Club of Kansas City (VENUE-COMEDY-CLUB-OF-KANSAS-CITY). Founded 12 April 2019 by Dustin Kaufman at 1130 W 103rd St. Used here only for the club’s founding date and Kaufman’s already-sourced KC comic biography; the Lawrence address in 1 is not on that page. ↩ ↩2

See also

Categories

On the record — ks.city/registry/the-bad-cat-jazz-bar · record updated 2026-09-18