Mitzi Shore
Matriarch of the Comedy Store who nurtured top humorists
MITZI SHORE, who has died aged 87, cofounded the Comedy Store in Los Angeles in 1972 with her husband Sammy Shore; it became a nurturing ground for many of the biggest names in comedy, including Jay Leno, who slept on the back stairs, David Letterman, who was the family babysitter, Jim Carrey, who worked as a doorman, and a young Whoopi Goldberg.
The Comedy Store, a name chosen by Mitzi Shore, is in the building that housed Ciro’s, an infamous 1930s nightclub on Sunset Boulevard. The basement was said to have been used for providing unregulated abortions to prostitutes who had become pregnant working in the brothel next door.
Mitzi Shore was the matriarch of the Comedy Store. She was behind the “two drink minimum” policy that not only kept the cash flowing but also provided a well-lubricated audience. Ever the “mother hen”, she also advised comics on their gags, telling one performer: “Oh, you don’t need all those penis jokes.”
Sammy and Mitzi Shore separated within two years and she received the Comedy Store as part of their divorce settlement. She painted the walls black to throw attention on to the performer. Such was the club’s reputation that talent scouts in the audience were soon outnumbering regular punters.
Mitzi Shore never found it hard to turn away comics. “I don’t stroke anybody,” she said. “I can’t because I have no time.”
By 1976 the Comedy Store had become a three-room venue and Mitzi Shore was paying fees to her commercial headliners. This presaged her biggest crisis: in 1979 the unpaid comedians went on strike, backed by Leno and Letterman.
Mitzi Shore, who had often provided itinerant comics with food, a bed and short-term loans, protested that the Comedy Store was a “college”, where performers could develop their craft, not a place of work. The protests turned ugly. Demonstrators waved placards reading “No money, no funny”; Letterman joined the picket line and was hit by a car; and one comedian took his own life.
Eventually Mitzi Shore agreed to pay $15 per set (it rose to $20 two years ago), which led to comedy clubs in far away New York City also paying fees.
Although the Comedy Store continued to produce a steady stream of talent, for Mitzi Shore the magic was now gone. “I loved each and every one of them,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “But they misunderstood. My fairytale is over.”
She was born Mitzi Lee Saidel at Marinette, Wisconsin, on July 25 1930, the daughter of a Jewish travelling salesman. Her main interest was art. “I used to draw monkeys,” she said of her school days.
She studied Art at the University of Wisconsin, but dropped out to marry Sammy Shore (whose claim to fame would be opening for Elvis Presley); they had met in 1950 while working at Pine Point, a summer resort. The couple eventually settled in Los Angeles.
Her office was a marooncoloured room, deep in the bowels of the Comedy Store, with fringed lampshades, walls plastered with photographs of comedians and a sign reading: “To be mediocre is to sin.” Mitzi Shore herself stood no more than 5ft tall, with a mop of frizzy hair and a muchimitated whiny voice. “You were either Mitzi’s son, nephew or lover,” said one stand-up comedian.
Mitzi Shore adapted one of the Comedy Store’s rooms as a dedicated space for female comedians. By the mid-1990s there were speciality nights for gay, lesbian and Latino performers.
Despite having heard more gags than most people, Mitzi Shore was always happy to welcome new talent. “If you’re naturally funny,” she advised putative comedians, “you’ll get the laughs you deserve.”
Mitzi Shore is survived by a daughter and three sons.
Mitzi Shore, born July 25 1930, died April 11 2018