Two recent Northeastern graduates are co-founders of Mottley’s Comedy Club, a stand-up club that opens next week near Faneuil Hall.

Jon Lincoln, who graduated in 2004 with a degree in marketing, and Jeff Fairbanks, who graduated in 2006 with degrees in electrical engineering and music industry, first met working at afterHOURS, where they both held co-op jobs.

Lincoln took a co-op job as assistant manager of afterHOURS and, as an aspiring comedian, organized weekly comedy showcases there. At the same time, Fairbanks was the audio video technician at afterHOURS. The two became friends. When Lincoln returned to classes, Fairbanks got the afterHOURS co-op job, and they decided to keep in touch after graduation.

Today, the two live together in an apartment in Boston and are so close, they’ve been mistaken as a couple, Lincoln said.

“We went in to sign the papers [for our apartment’s lease], and the lady was like, ‘One bedroom, right?'” Lincoln said. “And I was like, ‘Oh no, our girlfriends are in the car.'”

“I don’t think she believed us,” Fairbanks said.

After graduating from Northeastern, Lincoln said he owned a comedy club in Hyannis, which he sold in January to form Boston Entertainment Group with Fairbanks. They said they worked to book talent for shows, as well as provide technical support for venues, and when the Comedy Connection closed a few months ago, they said they realized they had an opportunity to open a comedy club in Boston.

“The Connection left, and it was Jeff that brought it up,” Lincoln said.

“There’s a hole in the market,” said Fairbanks, completing Lincoln’s thought.

Lincoln, Fairbanks and a third partner, Tim McIntire, found their space on Chatham Street, below Trinity nightclub and bar about a month and a half ago, Lincoln said, and began racing to open their club.

“The first in the market usually wins,” Lincoln said.

A major incentive to open Mottley’s quickly was the Boston Comedy Festival, which begins Sept. 15. Lincoln, Fairbanks and McIntire struck a deal with Jim McCue, the festival’s organizer, to have Mottley’s host several nights of comedy during the event, as well as be a lounge for comedians in town for the festival.

“I was like, fuck it, we’re opening the club in six weeks,” Lincoln said.

Waiting longer would have denied Mottley’s the major exposure they would get being part of the Boston Comedy festival, he said.

They chose the name Mottley’s as a reference to John Mottley, who, in the 1700s, published the first joke book, Lincoln and Fairbanks said.

“We didn’t want one of those lame-ass club names,” Lincoln said. “We didn’t want to be the Chuckley Hut. We didn’t want to be Uncle Funny’s Joke Shop. … We thought, we’re by Faneuil Hall, a historic place, let’s go with something historic.”

McCue, a stand-up comedian by trade, said the club will reinvigorate the Boston comedy scene, which has few venues for comedians to perform for small crowds.

“This kind of allows the local comedy scene to start again,” McCue said.

The venue has 100 seats – significantly smaller than the 400-seat Comedy Connection. McCue said this will allow audiences to better connect with performers.

“What’s great about this club, [is] it brings comedy back to its roots of what it should be,” McCue said. “In my mind, comedy is like jazz, it’s supposed to be a place where you can connect with your audience. Not like these giant places, where you feel like you should be watching the act through binoculars. Here, there isn’t a bad seat in the house.”

Because Lincoln and Fairbanks were Northeastern students, they plan to let Northeastern students into the club for free on Wednesday nights, and for half-price Thursday through Saturday nights, through the end of the year.

“When it comes to me, Tim and Jeff, we’re just trying to do what we love,” Lincoln said. “We’re not trying to be millionaires.”

For more information on the Boston Comedy Festival and a full listing of events, visit bostoncomedyfestival.com; for information on Mottley’s Comedy Club, visit mottleyscomedy.com.