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Historic Comedy Store, Birthplace of Comedians David Letterman, Jim Carrey and More, Turns 50
Todd Gilchrist The Comedy Store turns 50 this year, and it’s now known as a storied birthplace for the careers of literally hundreds of comedians — from David Letterman to Jim Carrey to Whoopi Goldberg to Sebastian Maniscalco.The late co-founder and longtime owner Mitzi Shore always envisioned the historic institution on L.A.’s Sunset Boulevard as an “artists colony,” a protected enclave where young talent could grow without worrying about money, consequently she mostly didn’t either.When Peter Shore came to Los Angeles in 2002 from Portland, Ore., to keep an eye on the business while his mother, Mitzi, convalesced, he and Bob Wheeler, the Store’s chief financial officer, would spend the next 10 years correcting the questionable decisions made decades in the past. “It is really just about preserving the place by any means necessary,” Shore tells Variety.Shore, who rarely agrees to interviews, was driven as much by how important the place is to thousands of comics who have come through its doors over the past five decades, and the millions of audiences that came night after night to see them, as it was to his mother, who passed away in 2018 at age 87.
