The Comedy Store is an American
comedy club
A comedy club is a venue—typically a nightclub, bar, hotel, casino, or restaurant—where people watch or listen to performances, including stand-up comedians, improvisational comedians, impersonators, impressionists, magicians, ventriloquist ...
opened in April 1972. It is located in
West Hollywood, California
West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most ...
, at 8433
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in t ...
on the
Sunset Strip. An associated club is located in
La Jolla
La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781.
La Jolla is surrounded on ...
,
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
.
History
The Comedy Store was opened in April 1972 by comedians
Sammy Shore
Sammy Shore (February 7, 1927 – May 18, 2019) was an American actor, stand-up comedian and co-founder of the Comedy Store.
Career
Shore began his career doing stand-up comedy with Shecky Greene in the Catskill Mountains. He was chosen, in ...
(1927–2019), and
Rudy De Luca
Rudy De Luca is an American screenwriter and actor best known for his work with filmmaker Mel Brooks. In April 1972 he opened The Comedy Store with Sammy Shore.
Filmography
As writer
*''The Carol Burnett Show'' (1967) (TV)
*'' The Tim Conway Sh ...
. The building was formerly the home of Club Seville (1935),
later,
Ciro's
Ciro's (later known as Ciro's Le Disc) was a nightclub on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California owned by William Wilkerson. Opened in 1940, Ciro's became a popular nightspot for celebrities. The nightclub closed in 1957 and was reopened ...
(1940–1957), a popular Hollywood nightclub owned by
William Wilkerson
William Richard "Billy" Wilkerson (September 29, 1890 – September 2, 1962) was the founder of ''The Hollywood Reporter'', a real estate developer in Las Vegas and owner of such nightclubs as Ciro's. His series of columns known as "Billy's L ...
, and later Ciro's Le Disc,
a
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
venue,
where
The Byrds
The Byrds () were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole cons ...
were discovered in 1964.
When the venue reopened as The Comedy Store in 1972, it included a 99-seat theatre. As a result of a divorce settlement, Sammy Shore's ex-wife
Mitzi Shore
Mitzi Shore (born Lillian Saidel; July 25, 1930 – April 11, 2018) was an American comedy club owner. Her husband, Sammy Shore, co-founded The Comedy Store in 1972 and she became its owner two years later. Through the club, she had a huge i ...
began operating the club in 1973, and she was able to buy the building in 1976. She immediately renovated and expanded the club to include a 450-seat main room.
In 1974, The Comedy Store hosted the wedding reception of newlyweds
Liza Minnelli
Liza May Minnelli ( ; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and choreographer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli is among a rare group of performers awarded an Emmy, Grammy ...
and
Jack Haley, Jr. The Comedy Club signage was covered, for the evening, by signs reading "Ciro's", denoting the venue's prior identity. The event was attended by many dozens of Hollywood glitterati, including
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...
,
Sammy Davis Jr.
Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director.
At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...
,
Cher
Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...
,
Bob Fosse
Robert Louis Fosse (; June 23, 1927 – September 23, 1987) was an American actor, choreographer, dancer, and film and stage director. He directed and choreographed musical works on stage and screen, including the stage musicals ''The Pajam ...
,
Johnny Carson
John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He is best known as the host of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson received six Pr ...
,
Goldie Hawn
Goldie Jeanne Hawn (born November 21, 1945) is an American actress, dancer, producer, and singer. She rose to fame on the NBC sketch comedy program ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (1968–1970), before going on to receive the Academy Award and Go ...
,
Cesar Romero
Cesar Julio Romero Jr. (February 15, 1907 – January 1, 1994) was an American actor and activist. He was active in film, radio, and television for almost sixty years.
His wide range of screen roles included Latin lovers, historical figures in c ...
,
Priscilla Presley
Priscilla Ann Presley ( Wagner, changed by adoption to Beaulieu; born May 24, 1945) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the former wife of American singer Elvis Presley, as well as co-founder and former chairwoman of Elvis Presley ...
and other stars, past and present.
Locations
The original Comedy Store on Sunset at Ciro's had been joined by the Comedy Store
Westwood, at 1621 Westwood Blvd.,
the Comedy Store
La Jolla
La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781.
La Jolla is surrounded on ...
, at 916 Pearl St.,
Comedy Store Playhouse,
on Las Palmas, Comedy Store at the Sheraton Universal Hotel,
in
Universal City,
and the Comedy Store Las Vegas at the
Dunes Hotel
The Dunes was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It opened on May 23, 1955, as the tenth resort on the Strip. It was initially owned by a group of businessmen from out of state, but failed to prosper under their man ...
.
Job action
Beginning in 1979, The Comedy Store served for many years as the host location for the annual ''
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
Young Comedians'' specials.
Tension between the club owners stems from a 1979 strike of Los Angeles comedians against the Comedy Store’s “no-pay policy.” Until that time, neither Shore
A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past a ...
nor Friedman paid comedians a salary. The theory was that comedians should almost be paying the owners for the exposure the clubs provided. When the comedians’ strike began, The Improv
The Improv is a comedy club franchise. It was founded as a single venue in the Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City in 1963, and expanded into a chain of venues in the late 1970s.
History
Originally, it was a ...
(opened in 1974 at 8162 Melrose Avenue) was closed for fire-damage repairs. Therefore, the strike focused on Shore, not Friedman.
Also in 1979,
stand-up
Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up.
Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...
comedians formed a short-lived labor union and demanded to be paid for their appearances at The Comedy Store. For six weeks (beginning in March),
several famous comedians staged a protest in front of the club, while others crossed the picket line.
The comedians involved formed a union called Comedians for Compensation and fought for pay where they had received none before. They eventually picketed in front of the club when their demands were not met.
Jay Leno and
David Letterman were among those on the picket line while
Garry Shandling and
Yakov Smirnoff
Yakov Naumovich Pokhis (russian: Яков Наумович Похис; born 24 January 1951), better known as Yakov Smirnoff (russian: Яков Смирнов; ), is a Ukrainian-American comedian, actor and writer. He began his career as a stan ...
crossed the line.
The job action was not legally a strike as the comedians were classified as "
independent contractor
Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...
s" and were not under contract with the club.
Mitzi Shore argued
that the club was and had always been a showcase and training ground for young comedians and was not about profits. She alleged that comedians came to the club and could work on their material in front of casting agents and other talent scouts who would possibly hire them as professionals if they were good enough.
The comedians at the club became unhappy when the club was expanded several times and it was perceived that Shore's profits were quite substantial. Shore also paid the rest of her staff, including waitresses and bartenders.
After the strike, some comedians were no longer allowed to perform at the club, including Steve Lubetkin, who committed suicide by jumping off the roof of the
Continental Hyatt House next door. His suicide note included the line: "My name is Steve Lubetkin. I used to work at The Comedy Store."
Lubetkin hoped that his suicide would resolve the labor dispute. He also cited Shore as the reason he no longer had a job.
The union ceased to exist in 1980, although from the time of the job action onward, comedians in Los Angeles were paid for their shows. This included The Comedy Store and
The Improv
The Improv is a comedy club franchise. It was founded as a single venue in the Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City in 1963, and expanded into a chain of venues in the late 1970s.
History
Originally, it was a ...
.
Cresthill house
Mitzi Shore also owned a 5,000-square-foot house a few doors away from the club, on 8420 Cresthill Road. The house was bought with the club in 1976. In 1979, she started to let the comedians from the clubs crash there. During the 1980s, numerous famous comedians resided or just partied there, including Dice, Kinison, Carrey, Maron, Robin Williams, Richard Pryor, Yakov Smirnoff, and Bill Hicks.
Argus Hamilton
Argus Hamilton is an American stand-up comedian, writer, and host of The Comedy Store Tonight starring Argus Hamilton. Hamilton began his stand-up comedy career at The Comedy Store. His specialty was to make funny comments on the news of the da ...
and
Mike Binder
Mike Binder (born June 2, 1958) is an American filmmaker, stand-up comedian, and actor.
Life and career
Binder, descended from Russian-Jewish immigrants, grew up in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham. During the summers of 1966 through 1975, he a ...
were the first to officially move in the house.
Dave Coulier
David Alan Coulier ( ; born September 21, 1959) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, impressionist, and television host. He played Joey Gladstone on the ABC sitcom ''Full House'', voiced Peter Venkman on ''The Real Ghostbusters'', and voiced ...
was also an early resident, and
Yakov Smirnoff
Yakov Naumovich Pokhis (russian: Яков Наумович Похис; born 24 January 1951), better known as Yakov Smirnoff (russian: Яков Смирнов; ), is a Ukrainian-American comedian, actor and writer. He began his career as a stan ...
moved in in 1980. The place was famous for its all-night parties and heavy consumption of cocaine and alcohol.
Bill Hicks
William Melvin Hicks (December 16, 1961 – February 26, 1994) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, satirist, and musician. His material—encompassing a wide range of social issues including religion, politics, and philosophy—wa ...
moved there in 1980 when he was 18 and running away from his parents to pursue his career as a comedian. Many of those comedians developed their style while residing there.
Sam Kinison
Samuel Burl Kinison ( ; December 8, 1953 – April 10, 1992) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. A former Pentecostal preacher, he performed stand-up routines that were characterized by intense sudden tirades, punctuated with his distinc ...
was a pillar there, and
Jim Carrey
James Eugene Carrey (; born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and artist. Known for his energetic slapstick performances, Carrey first gained recognition in 1990, after landing a role in the American sketch comedy te ...
turned his act around in this house. Mitzi Shore had a plan to cash in on the house's unique atmosphere, and even shot a 12-minute pilot around 1987 starring Daphne Davis, Nancy Redman, and Tamayo Otsuki. In 1988, because of the debauchery that had been going on for years, Mitzi Shore kicked everybody out of the house and turned it into a recovery house. By the early 1990s, Her son Pauly moved in the house, and by the end of the 1990s, the house was sold.
Notable alumni
![Signed photographs at The Comedy Store](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Signed_photographs_at_The_Comedy_Store.jpg)
— "A history of the young comedians coming to Los Angeles in the 1970s and performing at the club."
*
Tim Allen
Timothy Alan Dick (born June 13, 1953), known professionally as Tim Allen, is an American actor and comedian. He is known for playing Tim "The Toolman" Taylor on the ABC sitcom ''Home Improvement'' (1991–1999) and Mike Baxter on the ABC/ ...
*
Louie Anderson
Louis Perry Anderson (March 24, 1953 – January 21, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, author and game show host. Anderson created the cartoon series '' Life with Louie'' and the television sitcom '' The Louie Show'', and wrote fou ...
*
Roseanne Barr
Roseanne Cherrie Barr (born November 3, 1952) is an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and former presidential candidate. Barr began her career in stand-up comedy before gaining acclaim in the television sitcom ''Roseanne'' (1988–1 ...
*
Don Barris
*
Sandra Bernhard
*
Mike Binder
Mike Binder (born June 2, 1958) is an American filmmaker, stand-up comedian, and actor.
Life and career
Binder, descended from Russian-Jewish immigrants, grew up in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham. During the summers of 1966 through 1975, he a ...
*
Elayne Boosler
{{Orphan, date=July 2021
Elayne is a female given name of French origin, which means "light". The name can be a variant of Elaine or Elena. Elayne may refer to:
People
* Elayne Angel
*Elayne Arrington
* Elayne Boosler (born 1952), American comed ...
*
David Brenner
David Norris Brenner (February 4, 1936 – March 15, 2014) was an American stand-up comedian, actor and author. The most frequent guest on '' The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' in the 1970s and 1980s, Brenner "was a pioneer of obser ...
*
Bill Burr
William Frederick Burr (born June 10, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, filmmaker, and podcaster. He has released multiple stand-up comedy specials, most notably ''Why Do I Do This?'' (2008), ''Let It Go'' (2010), '' You People Are ...
*
Bryan Callen
Bryan Callen (born January 26, 1967) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer and podcaster. He studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. Callen initiated his career as one of the original cast members on the sketch comedy serie ...
*
John Caparulo
John Caparulo (born September 22, 1975) is an American stand-up comedian.
Early life
Caparulo grew up in East Liverpool, Ohio and graduated from Kent State in 1998. Caparulo started his stand-up career in night clubs in Cleveland, Ohio and Pittsb ...
*
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercu ...
*
Jim Carrey
James Eugene Carrey (; born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and artist. Known for his energetic slapstick performances, Carrey first gained recognition in 1990, after landing a role in the American sketch comedy te ...
*
Dana Carvey
Dana Thomas Carvey (born June 2, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, impressionist, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for his seven seasons as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1986 to 1993, which earned him fiv ...
*
Dave Chappelle
David Khari Webber Chappelle ( ; born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for his satirical comedy sketch series ''Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006), which he starred in until quitting in the middle of p ...
*
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He became a key cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'', where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment became a staple of the ...
*
Cheech & Chong
Cheech & Chong are a comedy duo consisting of Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong. The duo found commercial and cultural success in the 1970s and 1980s with their stand-up routines, studio recordings, and feature films, which were based on the hippie a ...
*
Louis C.K.
Louis Alfred Székely (; born September 12, 1967), known professionally as Louis C.K. (), is an American stand-up comedian, screenwriter, actor, and filmmaker. C.K. won three Peabody Awards, three Grammy Awards, six Primetime Emmy Awards, and a ...
*
Whitney Cummings
Whitney Cummings (born September 4, 1982) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, writer, director, producer, investor and podcaster.
A native of Washington, DC, Cummings pursued a comedy career in Los Angeles after graduating from the Univer ...
*
Andrew Dice Clay
Andrew Dice Clay (born Andrew Clay Silverstein; September 29, 1957) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He rose to prominence in the late 1980s with a brash, deliberately offensive persona known as "The Diceman". In 1990, he became the fi ...
*
Jenn Colella
Jenn Colella (born Jennifer Lin Colella) is an American actress and singer. She began her career as a comedian and then branched out into musical theater. In her New York debut in ''Urban Cowboy'', she earned a 2003 Outer Critics Circle Award no ...
*
Billy Crystal
William Edward Crystal (born March 14, 1948)On page 17 of his book ''700 Sundays'', Crystal displays his birth announcement, which gives his first two names as "William Edward", not "William Jacob" is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. ...
*
Rodney Dangerfield
*
Chris D'Elia
Christopher William D'Elia (born March 29, 1980) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and podcast host. He is known for playing Alex Miller on the NBC sitcom '' Whitney'', Danny Burton on the NBC sitcom ''Undateable'', Kenny on the ...
*
Joey Diaz
José Antonio Díaz (born February 19, 1963), known professionally as Joey "CoCo" Diaz, is a Cuban-American stand-up comedian, actor, and podcaster. After pursuing stand-up comedy full time in 1991 in the Colorado and Seattle areas, Diaz relocat ...
*
Tom Dreesen
Tom Dreesen (born September 11, 1939) is an American actor and stand-up comedian.
Life and career
Dreesen grew up in Harvey, Illinois, a south suburb of Chicago.Kathy O'Malley. "Crazy white boy; Tom Dreesen does comedy about blacks in black club ...
*
Gallagher
*
Jeff Garlin
Jeffrey Garlin (born June 5, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for playing Murray Goldberg, patriarch of the eponymous family in the ABC sitcom '' The Goldbergs'', and Jeff Greene on the HBO sitcom ''Curb Your ...
*
Whoopi Goldberg
Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ' ...
*
Gilbert Gottfried
Gilbert Jeremy Gottfried (February 28, 1955 – April 12, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian and actor, known for his exaggerated shrill voice, strong New York accent, and his edgy, often controversial, sense of humor. His numerous r ...
*
Kathy Griffin
Kathleen Mary Griffin (born November 4, 1960) is an American comedian and actress who has starred in television comedy specials and has released comedy albums. In 2007 and 2008, Griffin won Primetime Emmy Awards for her reality show '' Kathy ...
*
Argus Hamilton
Argus Hamilton is an American stand-up comedian, writer, and host of The Comedy Store Tonight starring Argus Hamilton. Hamilton began his stand-up comedy career at The Comedy Store. His specialty was to make funny comments on the news of the da ...
*
Chelsea Handler
Chelsea Joy Handler (born February 25, 1975) is an American comedian, actress, writer, television host, and producer. She hosted the late-night talk show ''Chelsea Lately'' on the E! network from 2007 to 2014 and released a documentary series, ...
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Kevin Hart
Kevin Darnell Hart (born July 6, 1979) is an American comedian and actor. Originally known as a stand-up comedian, he has since starred in Hollywood films and on TV. He has also released several well-received comedy albums.
After winning se ...
*
Bill Hicks
William Melvin Hicks (December 16, 1961 – February 26, 1994) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, satirist, and musician. His material—encompassing a wide range of social issues including religion, politics, and philosophy—wa ...
*
Charlie Hill
Charles Allan Hill (July 6, 1951 – December 30, 2013) was one of the first Native Americans in the United States, Native American Stand-up comedy, stand-up comedians, to appear on major television shows such as the Richard Pryor Show, The Ton ...
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Tony Hinchcliffe
Tony Hinchcliffe is an American comedian. He has been on the writing staff of the ''Comedy Central Roast'' series. He also appeared as a roaster on the ''All Def Digital Roast of Snoop Dogg'' that aired on Fusion in 2016.
Hinchcliffe is an ins ...
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Joel Hodgson
Joel Hodgson (born February 20, 1960) is an American writer, comedian and television actor. He is best known for creating '' Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K'') and starring in it as the character Joel Robinson. In 2007, ''MST3K'' was list ...
*
Andy Kaufman
Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman ( ; January 17, 1949 – May 16, 1984) was an American entertainer and performance artist. While often called a "comedian", Kaufman preferred to describe himself instead as a "song and dance man". He has sometimes b ...
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Michael Keaton
Michael John Douglas (born September 5, 1951), known professionally as Michael Keaton, is an American actor. He is known for his various comedic and dramatic film roles, including Jack Butler in ''Mr. Mom'' (1983), Betelgeuse in '' Beetlejuice'' ...
*
Sam Kinison
Samuel Burl Kinison ( ; December 8, 1953 – April 10, 1992) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. A former Pentecostal preacher, he performed stand-up routines that were characterized by intense sudden tirades, punctuated with his distinc ...
*
Bill Kirchenbauer
William Alfred Kirchenbauer (born February 19, 1953) is an American actor and stand-up comedian who has appeared in television shows and films since the late 1970s, most notably performing as a regular on ''Make Me Laugh'' and ''Fernwood 2 Night ...
*
Bert Kreischer
Bert Kreischer (born November 3, 1972), nicknamed "The Machine", is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, reality television host and actor. In 1997, he was featured in an article in ''Rolling Stone'' while attending Florida State University ...
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Martin Lawrence
Martin Fitzgerald LawrenceStated in interview on ''Inside the Actors Studio'' (born April 16, 1965) is an American comedian and actor. He came to fame during the 1990s, establishing a Hollywood career as a leading actor. He got his start playin ...
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Bobby Lee
Robert Lee Jr. (born September 17, 1971) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and podcaster. From 2001 to 2009, Lee was a cast member on ''MADtv'', and he co-starred in the ABC single-camera sitcom series '' Splitting Up Together'' alongs ...
*
Jay Leno
*
Annie Lederman
*
David Letterman
*
Jay London
*
Norm Macdonald
Norman Gene MacdonaldThe capitalization of Norm Macdonald's surname has been inconsistently reported in publications such as ''TV Guide''. Books that discuss him, such as ''Shales'' (2003) and Crawford' (2000), as well as other sources such as ...
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Kathleen Madigan
Kathleen Madigan is an American comedian and TV personality. In addition to her stand up comedy performances, she is a regular guest on a variety of U.S. television programs.
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Sebastian Maniscalco
Sebastian Maniscalco (; ; born July 8, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He has released five comedy specials. Maniscalco has also had supporting acting roles in the films '' Green Book'' (2018) and ''The Irishman'' (2019), playi ...
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Howie Mandel
*
Marc Maron
Marcus David Maron (born September 27, 1963) is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, writer, actor, and musician.
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Carlos Mencia
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Dennis Miller
Dennis Michael Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American talk show host, political commentator, sports commentator, actor, and comedian.
He was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1991, and he subsequently hosted a stri ...
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Paul Mooney
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Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has als ...
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Christina Pazsitzky
Christina Pazsitzky (born June 18, 1976), known by her stage name Christina P,[About Chri ...](_blank)
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Esther Povitsky
Esther Povitsky (born March 2, 1988), formerly known by the stage name "Little Esther", is an American actress and comedian. She is the co-creator and star of the comedy series ''Alone Together'' (2018), and starred as Izzy in the Hulu series '' ...
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Pat Proft
Pat Proft is an American comedy writer, actor, and director. Born in Minnesota in 1947, Proft began his career at Dudley Riggs' Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis in the mid 1960s. He went on to perform as a one-man comedy act in the late 1960s. I ...
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Ollie Joe Prater
*
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as on ...
*
Chris Rock
*
Paul Rodriguez
*
Joe Rogan
Joseph James Rogan (born August 11, 1967) is an American UFC
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*
Ray Romano
Raymond Albert Romano (born December 21, 1957) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Ray Barone on the CBS sitcom '' Everybody Loves Raymond'', for which he received an Emmy Award, and as t ...
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Chris Rush
Chris Rush (born Christopher John Mistretta; February 11, 1946 – January 28, 2018) was an American comedian, writer, actor, radio personality and author. He is best known for his stand-up routines and albums, along with having been a writer a ...
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Bob Saget
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Andrew Santino
Andrew W. Santino (born October 16, 1983) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and podcaster known for television series and films such as '' Sin City Saints'', '' The Disaster Artist'', ''Mixology'', ''I'm Dying Up Here'' and ''Dave''.
Educa ...
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Tom Segura
Thomas Weston Segura (born April 16, 1979) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, author, actor, and podcaster. Segura co-hosts the ''Your Mom's House'' podcast with his wife and fellow comedian Christina Pazsitzky. Segura also co-hosts the p ...
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Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen Seinfeld ( ; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for playing a Jerry Seinfeld (character), semi-fictionalized version of himself in the sitcom ''Seinfeld'', which he ...
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Ari Shaffir
*
Garry Shandling
*
Iliza Shlesinger
Iliza Vie Shlesinger (; born ) is an American comedian, actress, television host, executive producer, and screenwriter. She was the 2008 winner of NBC's ''Last Comic Standing'' and went on to host the syndicated dating show ''Excused'' and the ...
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Pauly Shore
Paul Montgomery Shore (born February 1, 1968) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker best known for his roles in 1990s comedy films. Shore began as a stand-up comedian at the age of 17, before becoming an MTV VJ in 1989. This led to a sta ...
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Sarah Silverman
Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American comedian, actress, and writer.
Silverman was a writer and performer on ''Saturday Night Live'', and she starred in and produced '' The Sarah Silverman Program'', which ran from 2007 to ...
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Yakov Smirnoff
Yakov Naumovich Pokhis (russian: Яков Наумович Похис; born 24 January 1951), better known as Yakov Smirnoff (russian: Яков Смирнов; ), is a Ukrainian-American comedian, actor and writer. He began his career as a stan ...
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Phil Snyder
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Freddy Soto
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David Spade
David Wayne Spade (born July 22, 1964) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, television host, and writer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' in the 1990s, and he later began an acting career in both film and television. He also s ...
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Brody Stevens
Steven James Brody (May 22, 1970 – February 22, 2019), known professionally as Brody Stevens, was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He starred in the Comedy Central reality series '' Brody Stevens: Enjoy It!'', and was known for appeara ...
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Duncan Trussell
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Theo Von
Theodor Capitani von Kurnatowski (born March 19, 1980), known professionally as Theo Von, is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, television personality, YouTuber, and actor. He is the host of the ''This Past Weekend'' podcast and former c ...
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Jimmie Walker
James Carter Walker Jr. (born June 25, 1947) is an American actor and comedian. Walker portrayed James Evans Jr. ("J.J."), the older son of Florida and James Evans Sr., on the CBS television series '' Good Times'', which ran from 1974 to 1979 ...
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Marsha Warfield
Marsha Francine Warfield (born March 5, 1954) is an American actress and comedian. She grew up on Chicago's South Side, graduating from Calumet High School. She is best known for her 1986–92 role of Roz Russell on the Top 10 rated NBC sitcom ...
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Jeff Wayne
Jeffry Wayne (born 1 July 1943) is an American-British composer, musician and lyricist. In 1978, he released ''Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds'', his musical adaptation of H. G. Wells' science-fiction novel ''The War of ...
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Marc Weiner
Marc Weiner (; born May 17, 1955) is an American comedian, puppeteer, and actor. He creates and performs with "head puppets", which are live human heads atop small puppet bodies.
Biography
Weiner was born in Queens, New York (state), New York, t ...
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Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...
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Thomas F. Wilson
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John Witherspoon
John Witherspoon (February 5, 1723 – November 15, 1794) was a Scottish-American Presbyterian minister, educator, farmer, slaveholder, and a Founding Father of the United States. Witherspoon embraced the concepts of Scottish common sense reali ...
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David Zed
David Kirk Traylor, best known by his stage names David Zed and Mr. Zed, is an American mime, actor and singer, and comedian mainly active in Italy and the United States. His mime work involves portraying "Mr. Zed", a fictional human-like robot.
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Docu-series
A docu-series based on The Comedy Store debuted on
Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
in October 2020.
Each episode is an hour long and breaks down a different time period throughout the existence of the Comedy Store. The director,
Mike Binder
Mike Binder (born June 2, 1958) is an American filmmaker, stand-up comedian, and actor.
Life and career
Binder, descended from Russian-Jewish immigrants, grew up in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham. During the summers of 1966 through 1975, he a ...
goes on a podcast with a different comedian to set the tone and help provide the narrative of each episode.
Episodes
References
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Comedy Store, The
Comedy Store, The
Comedy Store, The
Comedy Store, The
West Hollywood, California
1972 establishments in California