A legacy of laughter on Sunset
AT 50, THE COMEDY STORE EVOLVES WITH THE TIMES WHILE UPHOLDING ITS REPUTATION AS A PROVING GROUND
FOR 50 YEARS, the Comedy Store has been a club in need of comics and a place for comics in need of a club. The relationship is as plain as the writing on the walls of the storied venue, cluttered with the names of its biggest stars. But that tells only a fraction of the story. ❡ Days before the Oscar slap heard round the world, Chris Rock worked out material at the Store, surprising audience members who had no idea he’d pop in on a weeknight. ❡ It’s been a year since the club at 8433 W. Sunset Blvd. reopened its doors after shuttering during the pandemic. Having celebrated its 50th on April 7, the Store still looks and feels the way it did in 1972, its dark red vibe best suited for a room full of laughs, icy cocktails and body heat.
The office of its legendary owner, the late Mitzi Shore, sits unchanged since she stopped running the club in 2002. The pills in her drawer, papers on her desk and photos on her wall haven’t been touched. Since her 2018 death, staff members say her spirit is ever-present, especially Peter Shore, her son who took over as the Store’s chief executive 20 years ago.
Unlike his mother, Peter doesn’t sit in on shows scouting talent. The Portland, Ore., resident who works as a psychologist doesn’t even have an office in the building. “I’ve gone out of my way to not be the face of the Store,” Peter says. “It’s all about making sure the comics feel like it’s their home. This house belongs to the comics.”
Of course, there were times when the house almost fell apart — beginning with the 1979 strike when comics refused to work without getting paid, a moment that changed how the comics got compensated. Peter remembers the dark days of the early aughts when the club was falling into disrepair and, more than once, in danger of closing its doors. In the early 2000s, it relied on a benefit show headlined by the late Robin Williams just to pay to fix the roof. In the late ’90s and early aughts, the Store’s first urban hip-hop comedy night, Phat Tuesdays — created by comedian Guy Torry — almost single-handedly kept the club open.
For the Shore family, that pain was personal, from the financial woes to the fallout between Peter and brothers Scott and comedian Pauly Shore over the Store’s future, which ultimately ended in a settlement. Currently, Pauly does not have a role in running the club, though he performs at the club locations in L.A. and La Jolla.
The 50th anniversary of the Comedy Store comes at a time when the world has shifted and comedy has had to adapt to new generations. Peter says he’s been trying to make the Store feel welcoming to the comics and audiences of today the way it did when it was opened on April 7, 1972, by his father, comedian Sammy Shore, and comedy writer Rudy DeLuca along with Mitzi, who took the club over after she and Sammy divorced two years later. Part of that has been changing the ways things were always done. Though the system of comic development — going from working the door to becoming a paid regular comic — is still intact.
“It’s kind of like minor league baseball,” general manager Richi Taylor says. “Comics start off in Single-A, they play well, they can go with the Double-A, then you can get into Triple-A. That’s when you become a paid regular, that’s when you make it.”
Meanwhile, the Comedy Store Podcast Network also continues to grow, adding shows from comics like Justin Martindale, Rick Ingraham, Jamar Neighbors and Chelsea
Skidmore. Peter credits the comedy podcast boom of the 2010s with introducing the Store to a new audience as comics like Marc Maron, Bill Burr, Joe Rogan and Whitney Cummings branched out and became their own brands with massive audiences outside the club circuit, while still promoting their tour dates.
“To this day, as big as Rogan is, you pop in any of his podcasts, you dial it in to any time that he talks about my mom, what does he do? He starts crying,” Peter says. “No matter how big he is, no matter how powerful and influential he is, at the core of his being is how my mother and that Store has touched him.”
One change to the Store’s strategy that Peter felt adamant about was hiring a female talent director — the first since Mitzi was in charge. Emilie Laford, a veteran comedy booker, has ushered in a new chapter in the club’s history of garnering the world’s top comedy talent.
“It’s kind of like trying to put together a puzzle or a recipe with different ingredients,” Laford says. “We take pride in the fact that we try to develop our own homegrown people.”
Despite opening doors for new comics, one rule remains steadfast: No matter how popular or viral a comedian is, he or she has to prove those skills onstage. That means resisting pressure to book TikTok comedy creators if they haven’t done stand-up in real life.
“We’re like, they’re not comics,” Peter says. “Come and work out, go work out at the Potluck. Because there is nothing to substitute that live experience.”
Despite celebrating the history-making talent that’s come out of this building, the 50th anniversary comes at a bittersweet time for comedy with the loss of Bob Saget, Gilbert Gottfried, Paul Mooney, John Witherspoon, Jeff Scott — the club’s longtime piano player — and other great comics who’ve died during the pandemic.
Part of the future of the Store depends a lot on keeping traditions intact for those seeking a place in this revered comics clubhouse. Instead of chasing the trends of the outside world, the club continues to evolve from within as veteran comics help newbies find their way.
While Chris Rock was onstage before the Oscars, he spotted homegrown Store comedian Ingraham performing. He was so impressed he pulled him aside and asked him to go on the road to open for him. For Taylor, these are the kind of success stories that make it special.
“I like to say, ‘That guy used to work here,’ ” Taylor says. “‘I used to yell at him to cover the ticket booth or go to the parking lot and move cars.’ Now they’re on TV, they’re making albums, they’re doing everything.”