WEST HOLLYWOOD—On April 21 at 5 p.m., The Comedy Store in West Hollywood held a digital livestream show to raise money for The Comedy Store Family Fund. The benefit proceeds were donated to employees and comedians of The Comedy Store. Three episodes were hosted on YouTube by comics such as Whitney Cummings, Chris D’Elia, Bobby Lee, Andrew Santino, Tom Segura, Theo Von, Dave Chappelle and many others whom regularly perform stand-up at the club.
The fundraiser is a partnership with Motion Picture Television Fund (MPTF). The MPTF has partnered with other creative entities such as NETFLIX, Viacom CBS and SAG. With the partnership and help of the community who have been loyal members of the Comedy Store, proceeds have reached, $87,390.00 to date. Since the club’s closing on March 13th, owners are hoping to continue paying staff in the kitchen, door men, comics and servers who have been temporarily furloughed until re-opening.
The Comedy Store was founded in 1972 and is the most sought out comedy club in the entire world. World famous comedians such as Joe Rogan, Chris D’Elia and Bert Kreischer have performed at the club before making it onto mainstream platforms such as Netflix and HBO. Instead of performing stand-up comedy as they usually do, the show was held as a live podcast so that they could maintain social distancing per COVID-19 requirements, while performing behind their computers. Whitney Cummings leading the pack, started off with naming the benefits of donations including, metal health care, because “most of us are batshit crazy.”
The date on when the Comedy Store will reopen is pending, but donations are still being received. To donate, text TCSFamily to 41444 or visit the website, https://mptf.com/comedystore/. The club wished co-founder of The World Famous Comedy Store, Mitzi Shore a Happy Mother’s Day on Instagram. Shore passed away in on April 11, 2018.
