‘Godmother’ of Comedy Store dies at 87

Mitzi Shore, owner of the Los Angeles club the Comedy Store and one of the mostinfluential figures in stand-up for more than four decades, has died. She was 87.

Spokeswoman Jodi Gottlieb released a statement announcing Shore’s death, calling her the “legendary godmother of the world famous Comedy Store ... who cultivated and celebrated the artistry of stand-up comedy.”

“Mom/Mitzi passed Early in the morning at 4:42 a.m.,” her son, the comedian and actor Pauly Shore, tweeted Wednesday, “my heart lays heavy.”

No cause was given, but Pauly Shore had been tweeting in recent days that she had been in hospice, and legal documents filed by her family said she had Parkinson’s disease and other neurological problems.

Starting in 1974, Mitzi Shore gave comics gigs, advice, guidance, a clubhouse to hang out at and, occasionally a stairwell to sleep in.

The Wisconsin native took over ownership of the twoyear-old club on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip after divorcing its co-founder, comedian Sammy Shore, in 1974. She arrived at a moment when a huge stand-up boom was erupting, and as queen over the scene, had arguably more power than anyone to make or break the career of an upand-coming comedian.

Virtually every major comic from Richard Pryor to Robin Williams to Jerry Seinfeld used the club as a steppingstone and returned to hone their acts after gaining fame. Many of them tweeted praise Wednesday.

The doorman’s job at the club was a famous entryway into comedy for aspiring stand-ups, including Jim Carrey, which Patton Oswalt acknowledged in his tribute.

“RIP Mitzi Shore,” Oswalt tweeted. “I should’ve taken the doorman job when you offered it to me.”

“Mitzi Shore made an indelible mark on comedy and my brain,” tweeted Marc Maron, who worked as a doorman before taking the stage there.

In addition to Pauly, Shore is survived by sons Scott and Peter and daughter Sandy.

The Comedy Store, which took pride in being open 365 nights a year, was closed in her honor Wednesday.