Mitzi Shore

Mitzi Shore was a manager and entrepreneur whose smarts and guidance helped give birth to modern standup comedy. As co-founder and operator of Los Angeles's legendary venue the Comedy Store, Shore provided big breaks to some of the biggest names in comedy, always keeping a keen eye on what was new and fresh. Born on July 25, 1930 in Menominee, MI, Shore briefly attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but left at age 20, when she married businessman Sammy Shore in 1950. In 1972, after relocating to Los Angeles, the Shores co-founded the Comedy Store. They ran it together for two years, but following their divorce in 1974, Sammy gave Mitzi complete ownership over the club (he later admitted that he did so in order to lower his alimony payments). With a cash loan from comedian Shecky Greene in place, Shore took over not just the day to day operations of the Comedy Store, but also personally booked the comedians. Before long, the club became a haven of hip, young comics trying out groundbreaking material on their way to stardom. Shore offered early breaks to the likes of Robin Williams, Chevy Chase, Jerry Seinfeld, Garry Shandling, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Freddie Prinze, and Sam Kinison. For years, Shore refused to pay her comedians, on the grounds that the Comedy Store was a "college of comedy," where the experience was the reward. However, as the club's profile began to rise, more and more comedians demanded to be paid for their efforts. When Shore refused, the talent went on strike, lead by Letterman, Leno, and Tom Dressen, the club's emcee. The bitter standoff lasted for six weeks before Shore finally relented, agreeing to pay comics $15 per set. This would set a new nationwide standard, as many clubs around the country soon followed Shore's example and began paying comics to perform. Shore was ahead of the curve in more ways than one: in 1978, she opened a separate club on the top floor of the Comedy Store called the Belly Room, in which she exclusively booked female comedians, a practice that was unheard of in its day. Shore went even further in the following decades, becoming one of the first comedy bookers to hold specialty nights exclusively highlighting Latino and LGBT+ comedians. In 1982, Shore created Comedy Channel Inc. with the intention of selling videos of performances from the Comedy Store. When HBO tried to launch a cable service called The Comedy Channel, Shore sued for copyright infringement. This court case lead to the creation of CTV: The Comedy Network, or as it is called today, Comedy Central. Shore continued to hold court at the Comedy Store throughout the nineties, fostering future superstars such as Jim Carrey, Andrew Dice Clay, Marc Maron, Joe Rogan, Bill Burr, and Carlos Mencia, as well as her own son, Pauly Shore. In later years, Shore pared down her daily responsibilities at the Comedy Store, and on April 11, 2018, she died due to complications from Parkinson's disease. She was 87 years old.