thumb|right|The Comedy Store
The Comedy Store is an American comedy club opened in April 1972. It is located in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. An associated club is located in La Jolla, San Diego, California.
History
The Comedy Store was opened in April 1972 by comedians Sammy Shore (1927–2019), and Rudy De Luca. The building was formerly the home of Club Seville (1935), later, Ciro's (1940–1957), a popular Hollywood nightclub owned by William Wilkerson, and later Ciro's Le Disc, where the Byrds were discovered in 1964.
When the venue reopened as The Comedy Store in 1972, it included a 99-seat theatre. As a result of a divorce settlement, Sammy Shore's ex-wife Mitzi Shore began operating the club in 1973, and was able to buy the building in 1976. She immediately renovated and expanded the club to include a 450-seat main room, and was later aided in running the club by "Princess Cory" Comeaux-Soto, who married club comedian Freddy Soto.
In 1974, The Comedy Store hosted the wedding reception of newlyweds Liza Minnelli and Jack Haley, Jr. The Comedy Club signage was covered, for the evening, by signs reading "Ciro's", denoting the venue's prior identity. The event was attended by many dozens of Hollywood glitterati, including Elizabeth Taylor, Sammy Davis Jr., Cher, Bob Fosse, Johnny Carson, Goldie Hawn, Cesar Romero, Priscilla Presley and other stars, past and present.
Locations
The original Comedy Store on Sunset at Ciro's had been joined by the Comedy Store Westwood, at 1621 Westwood Blvd., the Comedy Store La Jolla, at 916 Pearl St., Comedy Store Playhouse, on Las Palmas, Comedy Store at the Sheraton Universal Hotel, in Universal City, and the Comedy Store Las Vegas at the Dunes Hotel.
Job action
Beginning in 1979, The Comedy Store served for many years as the host location for the annual HBO Young Comedians specials.
<blockquote>Tension between the club owners stems from a 1979 strike of Los Angeles comedians against the Comedy Store's "no-pay policy". Until that time, neither Shore nor Friedman paid comedians a salary. The theory was that comedians should almost be paying the owners for the exposure the clubs provided. When the comedians' strike began, The Improv (opened in 1974 at 8162 Melrose Avenue) was closed for fire-damage repairs. Therefore, the strike focused on Shore, not Friedman. several comedians staged a protest in front of the club, while others crossed the picket line.
The job action was not legally a strike as the comedians were classified as "independent contractors" and were not under contract with the club.
Mitzi Shore argued that the club was and had always been a showcase and training ground for young comedians and was not about profits. She alleged that comedians came to the club and could work on their material in front of casting agents and other talent scouts who would possibly hire them as professionals if they were good enough.
The comedians at the club became unhappy when the club was expanded several times and it was perceived that Shore's profits were quite substantial. Shore also paid the rest of her staff, including waitresses and bartenders.
After the strike, some comedians were no longer allowed to perform at the club, including Steve Lubetkin, who committed suicide by jumping off the roof of the Continental Hyatt House next door. His suicide note included the line: "My name is Steve Lubetkin. I used to work at The Comedy Store." Lubetkin hoped that his suicide would resolve the labor dispute. He also cited Shore as the reason he no longer had a job.
The union ceased to exist in 1980, although from the time of the job action onward, comedians in Los Angeles were paid for their shows. This included The Comedy Store and The Improv.
Cresthill house
<blockquote>"When she and Sammy divorced in 1974, he gave her the club to lower his alimony payments; two years later, after being briefly evicted (and opening a new Comedy Store location in Westwood), she negotiated a deal to buy the entire building — plus Cresthill...around the time of Lubetkin’s suicide(After a bitter labor dispute between comedians and management), she essentially gave the place over to the comedians who worked at the Store."
Notable alumni
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While many actors and comedians have performed at The Comedy Store, this list includes only notable alumni.thumb|alt=|Signed photographs of past performers at The Comedy Store
- Tim Allen
- Louie Anderson
- Roseanne Barr
- Don Barris
- Sandra Bernhard
- Mike Binder
- Elayne Boosler
- Jimmy Carr
- Dana Carvey
- Dave Chappelle
- Chevy Chase
- Cheech & Chong
- Louis C.K.
- Andrew Dice Clay
- Jenn Colella
- Billy Crystal
- Whitney Cummings
- Rodney Dangerfield
- Chris D'Elia
- Joey Diaz
- Tom Dreesen
- Gallagher
- Jeff Garlin
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Martin Lawrence
- Annie Lederman
- Bobby Lee
- Jay Leno
- Andrew Santino
- Tom Segura
- Jerry Seinfeld
- Ari Shaffir
- Garry Shandling
- Marc Summers
- Duncan Trussell
- Theo Von
- Jimmie Walker
- Marsha Warfield
- Jeff Wayne
- Marc Weiner
- Robin Williams
- Thomas F. Wilson
- John Witherspoon
- David Zed
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Docu-series
A docu-series based on The Comedy Store debuted on Showtime in October 2020 called The Comedy Store.
Each episode is an hour long and breaks down a different time period throughout the existence of the Comedy Store. The director, Mike Binder goes on a podcast with a different comedian to set the tone and help provide the narrative of each episode.