![]() ![]() Instead of chasing the trends of the outside world, the club continues to evolve from within as veteran comics help newbies find their way. Part of the future of the Store depends a lot on remembering the past, Peter says, and keeping the traditions intact for those seeking a place in this revered comics clubhouse. The club’s milestone also falls just days before the five-year anniversary of Mitzi’s death on April 11, 2018. The party will no doubt feel a lot emptier without the presence of Bob Saget, Paul Mooney, John Witherspoon, Jeff Scott - the club’s longtime piano player - and other great comics who’ve died during the pandemic. That means resisting the pressure to book TikTok comedy creators with huge followings if they haven’t put time into doing stand-up in real life.ĭespite celebrating the history-making talent that’s come out of this building, the 50th anniversary comes at a bittersweet time for the Store. … It was great to have those traditions still be part of the club.”ĭespite opening up more doors for new comics, one rule remains steadfast: No matter how popular or viral a comedian is, he or she has to be able to prove those skills onstage. “We really take pride in the fact that we try to develop our own homegrown people who come up with a system here. “It’s great, you know, kind of like trying to put together a puzzle or like a recipe with different ingredients,” Laford said. Over the last several years, she’s taken the reins, booking Zoom shows and finding creative ways to book talent during the pandemic. Emilie Laford, a veteran comedy booker, jumped at the chance to usher in a new chapter in the club’s history of garnering the world’s top comedy talent. 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. “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.” “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. ![]() 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. Meanwhile, the Comedy Store Podcast Network also continues to grow, adding shows from comics like Justin Martindale, Rick Ingraham, Jamar Neighbors and Chelsea Skidmore to its roster. ![]() In keeping with the spirit of the classic era of ’60s and ’70s comedy albums Peter grew up listening to, the club recently started Comedy Store Records, signing comics and having their comedy albums pressed on vinyl. Though the system of comic development - going from working the door to becoming a paid regular comic - is still intact. Part of that has been changing the ways things were always done. Peter says that although the Store has its traditions, he’s been trying to make it 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. The 50th anniversary of the Comedy Store comes at a notable time in the world of comedy, one when the world has shifted and comedy has had to adapt to new generations. ![]() Currently, Pauly does not have a role in running the club, though he does perform at the club locations in L.A. For the Shore family, that pain was also personal, from the financial woes to the fallout between Peter and his brothers Scott and comedian Pauly Shore over the future of the Store, which ultimately ended in a settlement. ![]()
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