A ping-pong bar founded by Susan Sarandon will replace the Carolines Comedy Club in New York City.

New York City’s favorite comedy venue, Carolines on Broadway, is transitioning from serving laughs to serving rackets, and the recently closed establishment is set to become a table tennis bar.

The comedy club closed its curtains for good on New Year’s Eve after a storied four decades of existence as it now transforms into Spin NYC Times Square, a ping-pong club co-founded by actress Susan Sarandon.

Spin NYC, which bills itself as an “iconic” social ping-pong club, already boasts a 14,000-square-foot space at Flatiron, where table fees are over $59 an hour.

The retro franchise also has locations in seven other cities.

Gregory Godfrey, vice president of brand and culture at SPIN Global, told The Post on Tuesday that while the deal is not yet “100% official,” the company is “very excited” about the 10,000-square-foot space that exudes that “underground feel.” “. “.

“This year we are going to open downtown,” he said.

But the Big Apple’s famous comedians don’t laugh.

“How can they desecrate a sacred comedic space to accommodate basement sports in a 90s suburb? I love ping-pong, but come on,” cooed comedian Talia Reese, who has performed dozens of times at the famous club over the years.

“Do people really pay to play ping pong?”

Eric Neumann, another regular Carolines headliner, told The Post it was “a disappointment”.

“The Carolinas are a huge space – are so many people obsessed with ping pong?” he asked.

“It looks like a disappointment, but after the Carolines shut down, everything will feel like a disappointment. It was an institution and we take it for granted.”

Carolina on Broadway

Jeff Vespa/WireImage

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The famed institution’s founder, Caroline Hirsch, previously told The Post that the decision to close the doors was “heartbreaking,” though necessary.

“Ticket sales were 70% of what they used to be,” she said, noting that she only opened the club five days a week instead of seven in recent days.

“Tourism is still not working. It’s a compromise… Some weeks we make a lot of money, some we don’t.”

So when the 10-year lease on the space at 750 Seventh Avenue was subject to a rent “zero” at the end of 2022, the landlord “felt like he could get a lot more for the space,” Hirsch, 71, said.

The New York comedy matriarch opened the original Carolines as a cabaret in Soho in 1981. The club moved to Times Square in 1992.

Although the new lease has yet to be formally signed, Spin NYC applied for a liquor license on Jan. 5, according to the NYS Liquor Authority mapping project. The status is under review.

Carolines communications director Greg Charles posted a bittersweet social media post on Thursday showing a stripped-down underground scene.

“To quote the great Sam Malone: ​​“I am the luckiest son of a bitch on earth,” he wrote.

“Now it’s ping pong. I bet it won’t even last long,” Neumann predicted, before joking, “It could get even worse – like beer pong.”

Hirsch declined to comment.