Nightlife in Baton Rouge

Improv comes in as many flavors as there are forgotten MySpace passwords. The performers make up situations and details as they go along and what hilarity emerges is a result of training, audience suggestion, and underlying psychological issues. Experience this comedic instability first hand at one of NCC's shows. Their Fringe show at the Shadowbox is all ages and the oddest of the bunch, appealing to those with a taste for the weird and wild. The New Dinner show at the M.I.C.A. offers a chance to combine food and guffawing (softer, mashed foodstuffs are recommended for safety reasons). The Usual Saturday Night show at Yo Mama's is adults only and extremely competitive. Audience participation is not just encouraged but enforced; the crowd is split in two like a sentient watermelon with two mothers, and teams are pitted against one another in troupe-led games throughout the show.

Cooking and saucing wings in a 100% aerodynamic kitchen is a tall task, though the sweet and spicy dividends make the effort fully worthwhile. The award-winning commitment to highlighting flavor through the medium of sauce has manifested 17 varieties that will immediately boost the stock of your wings, your fingers, your T-shirt, and the part of your forehead that always gets wing sauce on it. Dip into the regional flavors of Bombay, Parisian, Polynesian, Santa Fe, Australian, Acadian, Key West, Texas, Jamaican, and more as your taste buds globe-hop like a gumshoe in hot pursuit of Carmen Sandiego. Aside from fresh and never-frozen wings ($6.99 for single, $9.99 for double), the wingery's menu features other grabbable grub such as Texas toast burgers ($7.49–$8.99) and wraps and sandwiches ($8.45–$8.99). WOW also offers sizzling fajitas ($10.99–$12.99), a half platter of golden catfish ($8.99), and limited-edition copies of Swiss pop duo Double's final and greatest album, Dou3le. Located near Audubon Park, WOW Café and Wingery's Magazine Street location will sate your appetite and turn you loose on the world ready to romp without the wet blanket of hunger.

Phillips Bar & Restaurant features an upscale, elegant party environment made palatable by a menu of savory, house-made appetizers and pizzas. Backed by the tasteful din of eclectic musical beats, customers can begin their night by decorating fresh bread sticks with roasted-garlic hummus ($7) or coating tortilla chips in a creamy spinach and artichoke dip ($7). Then, before the kitchen clock strikes 9 (or 10 on weekends) and turns everyone's glass slippers into pumpkins, score a 16-inch pizza ($12) with a choice of pesto, alfredo, vodka, or marinara sauce and a dream team of toppings ($0.50 each). Pepperoni pizza slices ($2) are available until the kitchen runs out of slice shapes. Clients interested in honing their drinking skills may opt for Phillips’s mixer- and glassware-inclusive bottle service, contenting themselves until closing time with a Mandolin reisling ($26), a Piper Sonoma Champagne ($35), or 375 milliliters of Maker's Mark ($40), served without superfluous mariners rambling on about dead seagulls.

Though its name implies a quick chug or hurried meal, most customers tend to linger at Down the Hatch. That’s because the bar and grill offers scads of activities and creative Cajun-inspired bites to keep loungers happy long into the night. Most evenings here start at a dining room table, where alligator po-boys, smoky pulled pork, and Angus beef burgers are some of the menu’s biggest crowd-pleasers. As the food disappears from plates and more drinks get ordered, crowds diverge onto the brick patio or linger around the bar or jukebox. Amid the festive groups, there are even folks getting work done courtesy of the free Wi-Fi and the belief that the best writers are inspired by whiskey.

As ceiling fans whir and beer signs cast a neon glow inside Rickochet Billiards, pool balls clack against each other and head-nodding beats keep the atmosphere upbeat seven nights a week. Stick-wielding customers face off at one of many pool tables, or grasp controllers to play video games on big-screen TVs. Bartenders at the full-service bar dispense draft beers and cocktails, accompanied by menu items including cheese sticks, pizza, wings, and onion rings. Daily specials include 8-ball tournaments, cue stick and case raffles, and showdowns to determine who can hold the most pool balls in their mouth.