Mitzi Shore: Last News

Todd Gilchrist After almost 50 years as an interviewer, comedian and talk show host, David Letterman’s pedigree on stage feels so firmly established that it’s hard to imagine a situation where he’d be intimidated. But the first time that he performed during open mic night at The Comedy Store back in May of 1975, the Indianapolis native admits that he was deeply afraid to squander what he saw as an opportunity to break into the entertainment industry’s major leagues.

“The Drew Barrymore Show” when he proposed to the host while onstage during the end of Friday’s episode.“The Jam in the Van Show” star sat down with Barrymore, 48, to discuss his podcast, but the conversation also included mention of his late mother Mitzi Shore, who co-founded the Comedy Store in Los Angeles.“It’s weird because I’m not in a relationship now,” the 55-year-old comedian revealed. “It’s very, very difficult for me to have a girlfriend because it’s hard for me to let love in, because I’m scared to get hurt.”“Someone that, it’s not about sex, it’s not about how you look, it’s about, ‘Yo, let’s go get a sandwich,’ ” he added.

Todd Gilchrist No matter how many people tied to the Comedy Store you ask about the late Mitzi Shore, the connective tissue between their answers is an almost identical impression of the late owner.David Letterman offers one while son Pauly Shore insists that his is the best, but virtually without fail a moment will come while telling a story about the iconic venue’s co-founder and former owner that they affectionately lapse into a flat, slightly nasally Midwestern accent.The impression communicates their affection for her stalwart presence at the Store and her role in Los Angeles’ comedy scene for the past 50 years, as well as the no-nonsense relatability that made her feared and beloved in equal measures. “My mother was a dichotomy of riches,” says Peter Shore, who took over operations of the Comedy Store when she became ill in 2002 and now runs it actively, but at a distance, from his current hometown of Portland, Ore.“She had an innate ability to predict a comic’s trajectory and gave that individual through investment of time, love, attention, an opportunity to grow.

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.

In anticipation of its 50th anniversary on April 7, 2022, The Comedy Store will be hosting Names Night, on what would have been iconic club owner Mitzi Shore’s 91st birthday, on July 25, 2021. This will start a long series of events (to be announced) leading up to the 50th on April 7.