Mitzi Shore

Mitzi Shore (born Lillian Saidel; July 25, 1930 – April 11, 2018) was an American comedy club owner. Her husband, Sammy Shore, co-founded The Comedy Store in 1972 and she became its owner two years later. Through the club, she had a huge influence on the careers of up-and-coming comedians for many decades. on July 25, 1930, the daughter of Jewish parents Fanny and Morris Saidel. Her father was a traveling salesman. She attended Green Bay East High School. She later studied art at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, but dropped out to marry Sammy Shore after meeting him in 1950.

Comedians who have been associated with the Comedy Store include Roseanne Barr, Bill Burr, Jim Carrey, Chevy Chase, Andrew Dice Clay, Joey Diaz, Whoopi Goldberg, Bobcat Goldthwait, Tony Hinchcliffe, Sam Kinison, Bobby Lee, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Sebastian Maniscalco, Marc Maron, Carlos Mencia, Joe Rogan, Jerry Seinfeld, Garry Shandling, Yakov Smirnoff, Freddy Soto, Duncan Trussell, Robin Williams, and John Witherspoon. per set.

Belly Room As early as 1978, Shore had converted the upstairs section of The Comedy Store into the Belly Room: a 50-seat audience for which she exclusively booked female comedians. At the time, professional comedy was very much a "boys' club", and bookings for female comedians were rare; opportunities for women to perform their own stand-up material with the most popular comics in the U.S. were unheard of. They had four children: sons Peter, Scott, and Pauly, and daughter Sandi.

Death On April 11, 2018, at the age of 87, Shore died of an undisclosed neurological disorder at a hospice in West Hollywood, California. Rogan also named the bar at his comedy club after Shore.