The Comedy Store, London
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The Comedy Store is a comedy club located in
Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...
, London, England, opened in 1979 by Don Ward and Peter Rosengard.Peter Rosengard's website
Retrieved 2019-03-08.


Early history

Since 16 January 1925
David Tennant David John Tennant (; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He is best known for portraying the Tenth Doctor, tenth and Fourteenth Doctor, fourteenth incarnations of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction series ''Docto ...
's
Gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed Grotesque (architecture), grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from ...
private members' club had leased the three top floors of 69 Dean Street,
Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...
, London (at the corner with Meard Street). In 1952 David Tennant sold the Gargoyle as a going concern for £5,000 to caterer John Negus. In 1955 the club was sold on to Michael Klinger and Jimmy Jacobs who relaunched it as a strip club called the ''Nell Gwynne'' (variously advertised as a theatre, club, or revue). A 1960s ad shows the club as the ''Nell Gwynne'' by day and the ''Gargoyle Club'' at night.


The Comedy Store

In 1978, Peter Rosengard was on holiday with his wife Irkku in Los Angeles.
"We had nothing to do one night, so I asked the concierge and he recommended the Comedy Store. At the time there was no live comedy in the UK, apart from working men's clubs up north, which was not really my scene. I loved what I saw in LA, so decided to open one in London, despite everybody telling me I was nuts."
In 1979, the Gargoyle's upper rooms took in a varied series of weekly themed club-nights, in addition to the long-running ''Nell Gwynne Revue'' strip show. Don Ward said Rosengard could use his premises on Saturday nights. But it was also a strip club with topless barmaids, which Peter had to explain when comedians came to audition. On Saturdays, beginning 19 May 1979, in the Gargoyle's rooftop club space Hammersmith-born insurance salesman Peter Rosengard started a weekly club-night on Saturdays called the Comedy Store, in partnership with comedian Don Ward. It was open mic, in a '' Gong Show'' format, and invited audiences to show approval or disapproval of the unknown acts performing by "gonging" them off. There was no toilet in the dressing room, and male and female comedians used the sink.
"On 19 May 1979, only sixteen days after
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
’s first general election victory, a new comedy club opened in London, hosted in a Soho topless bar named the
Gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed Grotesque (architecture), grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from ...
, accessed through the Nell Gwynne strip club in Dean Street. The Comedy Store was the brainchild of insurance salesman Peter Rosengard, who teamed up with local businessman Don Ward, having been inspired by the Los Angeles Comedy Store while on holiday."
"In the old days, there was a cross-over between stripping and comedy. 69 Dean Street was the Nell Gwynne strip club until about 11 o’clock and then it suddenly turned into The Comedy Store. When it got successful, they stopped doing the stripping on Friday and Saturday and they did two comedy shows – an 8 o’clock and a midnight. If you were on the circuit then, you’d do first act in the first house at the Comedy Store, then go off and do a pub in Stoke Newington or wherever, then rush back and do second or third on the bill in the second show at the Comedy Store. If you were good, you were working in more than one place. Everyone worked round each other and there was a cross-over between street acts and alternative acts"
Philip Herbert


Careers

The London Comedy Store made the reputations of many of the UK's upcoming " alternative comedians" while the specifically political Alternative Cabaret was taking root. Among the original line-up who made their reputations here were
Alexei Sayle Alexei David Sayle (born 7 August 1952) is an English actor, author, stand-up comedian, television presenter and former recording artist. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement in the 1980s. He was voted the 18th g ...
, Rik Mayall,
Adrian Edmondson Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. Part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s, he and his comedy partner Rik Mayall starred in the television sitc ...
, French & Saunders,
Nigel Planer Nigel George Planer (born 22 February 1953) is a British actor, writer and musician. His television credits include playing Neil in the sitcom '' The Young Ones'' and Ralph Filthy in the sitcom '' Filthy Rich & Catflap'', as well as narrating th ...
and Peter Richardson who in 1980 led these pioneers to establish the breakaway
Comic Strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...
team elsewhere in Soho. All were to prove influential in reshaping British television comedy throughout the 1980s as stars of ''The Comic Strip Presents''. The Comedy Store, at the Gargoyle and elsewhere, helped start the careers of
Paul Merton Paul James Martin (born 9 July 1957), known by the stage name Paul Merton, is an English comedian who is best known as one of the two regular panellists on the television show '' Have I Got News for You''. Known for his improvisation skill, M ...
,"Comedy Store Players celebrate 25 years of improv"
(22 October 2010) BBC
Ben Elton Benjamin Charles Elton is a British comedian, actor, author, playwright, lyricist and director. One of the major figures in the alternative comedy movement of the 1980s, his early stand-up style was Left-wing politics, left-wing political satire ...
, Keith Allen,
Jo Brand Josephine Grace Brand (born 23 July 1957) is an English actress, comedian, presenter and writer. Starting her entertainment career with a move from psychiatric nursing to the alternative comedy stand-up scene and early performances on '' Satur ...
, Mark Thomas, Arnold Brown, Andrew Bailey, Pat Condell and
John Sparkes John Sparkes (born 6 January 1954) is a Welsh comedian and actor. He portrayed Barry Welsh, presenter of the HTV Wales series '' Barry Welsh Is Coming''. He has also had major roles in '' Naked Video'', '' Absolutely'', ''Fireman Sam'', '' Sha ...
. Comedian Paul Merton is one of the longest performing mainstream comics to still be associated with the venue from his debut performance in 1984. He presented a BBC 1 documentary, ''25 Years of the Comedy Store – A Personal History by Paul Merton'' (11 January 2005). In 2016 British artist Carl Randall painted the portrait of comedian Jo Brand standing in front of The Comedy Store, as part of the artist's 'London Portraits' series, where he asked various cultural figures to choose a place in London for the backdrop of their portraits. In an interview Brand explained why she chose The Comedy Store for her portrait, and her experiences performing there early in her career.


Groups

In October 1985, an
improvisation Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...
al group called
The Comedy Store Players The Comedy Store Players are a group of improvisational comedians who perform at The Comedy Store in London. The group first came into being in October 1985. The Players Members of the group have included: *Dave Cohen *Jeremy Hardy * Kit Holle ...
was formed, consisting of
Mike Myers Michael John Myers, (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, and filmmaker. His accolades include seven MTV Movie & TV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood W ...
,
Neil Mullarkey Neil Mullarkey is an English actor, writer and comedian. Early life and education From 1972 to 1979, Mullarkey was educated at Kingston Grammar School, an independent school for boys (now coeducational), in Kingston upon Thames, followed by R ...
, Kit Hollerbach, Dave Cohen and Paul Merton. The group has had several line-up changes over the years, and now features a rotating team of Neil Mullarkey,
Josie Lawrence Josie Lawrence (born Wendy Lawrence; 6 June 1959) is an English actress and comedian. She is best known for her work with the Comedy Store Players improvisational troupe, the television series '' Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' and as Manda Best in ...
, Richard Vranch and Lee Simpson, together with frequent guest appearances. Jim Sweeney was a member until retiring from performance in 2008 due to
multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease resulting in damage to myelinthe insulating covers of nerve cellsin the brain and spinal cord. As a demyelinating disease, MS disrupts the nervous system's ability to Action potential, transmit ...
. Andy Smart was a member until his death in May 2023. Several of The Comedy Store Players appeared on the
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
and
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
comedy game show ''
Whose Line Is It Anyway? ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' is a short-form improvisational comedy show created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. The three major versions of the show are the original 1988 British radio programme (from which all subsequent versions are ada ...
''. In 1990 ''The Cutting Edge'' satirical comedy team was formed by comedy journalist John Connor (formerly comedy editor at radical London listings magazine ''
City Limits City limits or city boundaries refer to the defined boundary (real estate), boundary or border of a city. The area within the city limit can be called the city proper. Town limit/boundary and village limit/boundary apply to towns and villages. ...
''). The original team was Mark Thomas,
Kevin Day Kevin Hunter Day (born 3 May 1961) is a British stand up comedian, comedy writer and sports presenter. He came to prominence in the British alternative comedy stand up scene of the late eighties and early nineties, playing clubs like The Comedy ...
, Bob Boyton, Nick Revill and Richard Morton. The show's aim was to recapture the political edge that was fostered at the original Comedy Store.


Venues

Don Ward dissolved his business relationship with Rosengard in late 1981. Ward remained CEO of Comedy Store interests. In 1982 when the upper floors were sold off, the Comedy Store moved to a series of other venues. In late 1982, The Comedy Store operated from 28a
Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised town square, square in the West End of London, England, and is the centre of London's entertainment district. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leice ...
( The 400 Club) for two years, taking over the club in 1985. In 1993, The Store moved to a specifically designed stand-up comedy venue, at 1a Oxendon Street, between
Piccadilly Circus Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End of London, West End in the City of Westminster. It was built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with Piccadilly. In this context, a ''List of road junctions in the Unite ...
and
Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised town square, square in the West End of London, England, and is the centre of London's entertainment district. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leice ...
. In 1984 Rosengard went on to manage the band Curiosity Killed the Cat. The Comedy Store also has sister venues in
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
(opened in 2000), and
Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...
(2006). There was also a venue at the Merrion Centre in
Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
which opened in November 2003 but closed in June 2004."Comedy Store closes; Leeds venue lasts just 8 months"
(30 Jun 2004) Chortle


References


External links

*
''Guide to The Comedy Store, London''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Comedy Store, London Event venues established in 1979 Comedy clubs in the United Kingdom Entertainment venues in London Soho, London 1979 establishments in England