Comedy Clubs in Los Angeles
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Comedy has become a major business over the last 20 years or so, and the proliferation of comedy clubs in major cities is a testament to this fact. Three of the seminal and more successful comedy clubs are found in Los Angeles--The Comedy Store on Sunset Boulevard, the Laugh Factory on the same street, and the Improvisation on Melrose Avenue. These clubs are known for featuring new talent, as places where established talent tests material, and as magnets for celebrities in the audience as well as on stage. Each has also been well-served by their respective owners' dedication to promotion. The venues have somewhat different approaches to the presentation of comedy acts and target somewhat different audiences. They have also been buffeted recently by a downturn in the comedy business, though they have managed better in this climate than many others because they are in Hollywood, they are well-established, they draw on the best comedians they can get, and they are used in various ways by the film and television business for promotion, development of talent, and similar functions. The Improv has had to weather the slump in the comedy business in the 1990s, just as has the Comedy Store and other Los Angeles venues such as the Laugh Factory. A number of clubs across the country closed in the 1990s. The very success of comedy may be a reason, for there is more and more opportunity on television so that audiences may stay home for their
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comedians she selects can be seen by representatives from the network (Trillin 72).
Shore became something of a mother figure to many of the comedians, and she reveled in this role. She was therefore personally hurt when some of the comedians got together in 1980 and protested the fact that they were not being paid in some of the rooms of the Comedy Store. In the Mainroom in the Sunset building, Shore featured comedians who were well known from earlier eras, and whoever was performing got "the door," meaning the cover charges. At other times, though, comedians were not paid, and often everyone working in the club except the comics on whom everything else depended were paid. Mitzi felt betrayed, for she believed that she had given the comics opportunity they would not otherwise have had and has helped many become rich and famous. She did not want to talk about money, and the comedians organized as Comedians for Compensation and voted overwhelmingly to strike if a settlement could not be reached. Budd Friedman's club had suffered a serious fire around this time, and he agreed to negotiate with the comics as soon as the Improv returned to normal operation. He said he did this in the belief that he had little choice. He also
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Comedy Store, Los Angeles, Laugh Factory, Santa Monica, San Diego, Melrose Avenue, Mitzi Shore, Mainroom Sunset, Budd Friedman's, Store Improvisation, comedy store, los angeles, laugh factory, comedy clubs, mitzi shore, las vegas, trillin 72, comedy club, clubs country, store los angeles, angeles times, the laugh factory, january 9 1994, angeles times january, los angeles times,
Approximate Word count = 3575
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page)
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