Taking a moment today to honor the life of Mitzi Shore, the godmother of modern stand-up comedy. Mitzi owned The Comedy Store in L.A. where she nurtured the talent of a who’s who list of comedians and gave them their first break in the industry by putting them on her stage in the 1970’s and 80’s, including Richard Pryor, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Robin Williams, Bob Saget, and on and on.
Show business wasn’t a woman’s game back then, but she tangled with and conquered a male-dominated industry, and while she nurtured scores of comedians, her brutal honesty, best encapsulated by her quote, “Life’s too short to encourage mediocre talent,” saved millions of patrons from wasting a two-drink minimum on a bad act. If you want to pay tribute to this trailblazer, go see a stand-up show this weekend, and heckle a comedian with the epithet, “You’ll never play the Comedy Store with that act!” If he or she has a good comeback, tell them Mitzi sends her compliments.