Mitzi Shore dies
Performers hail Comedy Store owner, 87
MITZI SHORE, whose legendary Los Angeles club The Comedy Store helped launch the careers of dozens of famous funny people, died Wednesday after a battle with Parkinson’s disease. She was 87.
“It is with great sadness and very heavy hearts that we report the passing of Mitzi Shore, the legendary godmother of the world famous Comedy Store,” the club said in a statement.
“Mitzi was an extraordinary businesswoman — and decades ahead of her time — who cultivated and celebrated the artistry of standup comedy.”
Shore’s son, “Encino Man” star Pauly Shore, confirmed his mother’s passing on Twitter, saying his “heart lays heavy,” but that she had not been in pain in the time leading up to her death.
Pauly Shore added that he took his mom to her beloved Comedy Store one last time on Monday afternoon, bringing her journey with the club full-circle.
Shore didn’t comment on his mom’s illness, but legal documents filed by her family said she had Parkinson’s and other neurological problems.
The Comedy Store was co-founded by her husband Sammy in 1972. Shore (photo with Pauly) gained control of the place two years later after the couple’s divorce, and officially purchased the building in 1976.
Shore was responsible for scheduling the comedians, and her sharp eye for raw talent helped launch the careers of countless stars, including Robin Williams, Richard Pryor, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Chris Rock, Arsenio Hall and Jim Carrey. Just last year, Carrey was executive producer of the Showtime series “I’m Dying Up Here,” loosely based on the club in the ’70s.
Shore was remembered on Twitter by a series of comics, including Marc Maron and Whitney Cummings.
“Mitzi Shore made an indelible mark on comedy and my brain. ‘You’re a poet. You should wear a scarf on stage.’ RIP,” Maron wrote. “I love you Mitzi Shore. Rest In Peace. Thank you for giving me a family and a home,” added Cummings. A RETIRED NYPD lieutenant admitted to raping and sexually abusing two teenage relatives over several years in Orange County.
Nicholas McAteer, 46, of Greenwood Lake, could face 18 years behind bars after pleading guilty to rape Wednesday.
The victims, both teenage girls, were related to the McAteer, but weren’t his daughters, law enforcement sources said.
McAteer raped one victim in 2007, when she was 18, and the second in 2011, when she was 15.
He was busted last year on an 82-count indictment, laying out an array of sexual offenses against both girls over several years, prosecutors said.
McAteer, a nearly 24-year NYPD veteran, retired in March 2017.
His sentencing is set for June 13. PRIVATE employers in the city will be required to give workers anti-sexual harassment training, part of a raft of legislation to combat harassment passed by the City Council Wednesday.
The bills require businesses with 15 or more employees to give interactive training to every worker within 90 days after they’re hired.
The measures are the first major legislative push under new Speaker Corey Johnson.
City agencies will also be required to give harassment training. Every agency will have to report each year on how many harassment complaints they get and how many are substantiated — data that has not been made public so far.
The statute of limitations on gender harassment complaints under city law will be extended from one year to three, and the law will cover all businesses, instead of just those with five or more employees.
“New Yorkers are entitled to a safe, respectful workplace and this package of legislation sends a strong message to public and private employers that there is no place for sexual harassment in our city,” Johnson said.