LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mitzi Shore, owner of the Los Angeles club the Comedy Store and one of the most influential figures in stand-up for more than four decades, has died.
Spokeswoman Jodi Gottlieb released a statement from the club announcing Shore’s death on Wednesday. She was 87.
No cause was given, but her son Pauly Shore, a comedian and actor, tweeted that she had been in hospice.
The Comedy Store was two years old when Mitzi Shore took over ownership after divorcing the club’s co-founder, comedian Sammy Shore, in 1974.
She arrived at a moment when a huge stand-up boom was erupting.
Virtually every major comic from Richard Pryor to Robin Williams to Jerry Seinfeld used the club as a stepping-stone and returned to hone their acts after gaining fame.