Funny Bus Atlanta is a good time, even in traffic.
A few years back, Summer Rose was tired of her corporate job in technology and noticed some friends in Charlotte were “living their best lives” running a comedy bus tour that drove patrons around the Queen City. A native of Atlanta, graduate of Chamblee High School and then-resident of Peachtree Hills, Rose wondered if her own city could benefit from something similar. The answer was yes, and Funny Bus Atlanta has been on the road since 2024.
The concept is simple. Visitors and locals board the 38-passenger Bluebird school bus and ride around the city while humorous hosts tell tales of Atlanta in a tongue-in cheek fashion. It’s a fun way to learn about neighborhoods, landmarks and hotspots, and according to Rose, you never quite know what you’re going to see out on the road. She spoke to Simply Buckhead about the journey.
How did your friends in Charlotte help you get started?
I made it happen with their support. I knew Lisa Schnurr and Kevin Anderson from when they lived in Atlanta; I worked with Lisa at the Treehouse Restaurant and Pub in Buckhead. I started asking them questions about their Funny Bus business, and I poked around and did some research about other tours in Atlanta, but nothing was quite as fun and upbeat. I realized we needed it here. And Lisa and Kevin had already introduced the concept to Cleveland, so I felt confident opening the third franchise.
How do you explain the experience to someone who hasn’t been?
It’s a 90-minute tour of Atlanta’s historic sites with a comic as your host and lots of music. And you can bring beer or wine. We play trivia games, and we hand out prizes, but I think one of the unique things is that the hosts do stand-up but also do improv. We regularly have people dancing in the streets with us, and the comics are always talking to people in their cars or roadside. Everyone is always laughing; traffic isn’t boring on a funny bus. No two tours are the same. It’s also different depending on what’s happening in the city that day.
What do the tours cover in the 90 minutes?
We hit several landmarks and neighborhoods, which I’m proud of. We pick patrons up at the Margaret Mitchell House and drive by Piedmont Park, the Beltline, Krog Street Market, Ponce City Market, “Murder” Kroger, Hotel Clermont, the Majestic, the Plaza Theatre, Videodrome, Manuel’s Tavern, The Carter Center, Martin Luther King Jr. Park, Grant Park Market and Oakland Cemetery. Then we head into downtown and cover Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Underground Atlanta, the Georgia state capitol, Centennial Olympic Park, the College Football Hall of Fame, the Georgia Aquarium, Waffle House, and we eventually curl back around to go by the Varsity, the Fox Theater, the Georgian Terrace and Georgia Tech. And we finally end up back where we started.
FUNNY BUS ATLANTA
Tours: $40 per person
funnybus.net/atlanta
@funnybusatl
STORY: Denise K. James
