Sammy Shore

Prolific stand-up comic Sammy Shore was a tireless performer in Las Vegas and other venues, but was perhaps best known as the co-founder of The Comedy Store, a legendary nightclub that gave countless top comics a proving ground for their own work. Shore began his career in the early 1960s, performing standup on the "Borscht Belt" circuit of hotels and resorts in New York's Catskills region, both as a solo act and with the volcanic Shecky Greene. This led to minor roles on television and in the occasional feature, including Jerry Lewis's "The Bellboy" (1960), but nightclubs and casinos remained his primary showcase for the next decade. In 1969, he served as the opening act for Elvis Presley's residency at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, which in turn made him an in-demand opener for artists like Tony Bennett and Barbra Streisand. He parlayed his reputation as a comic's comic into his own nightclub, the Comedy Store, which he opened on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, California in 1972. The club was given to Shore's wife, Mitzi Shore, as part of their divorce settlement in 1974, and under her aegis, became a sort of comedy laboratory for many of the top comedians of the 1970s and 1980s, including Robin Williams, Garry Shandling, David Letterman and Sam Kinison. In the decades that following his loss of the Comedy Store, Shore worked steadily in features, including Mel Brooks' "History of the World, Pt. 1" (1981), and on television series, penned several humorous memoirs, including The Warm-Up (1984), and recorded a handful of comedy albums. Shore also continued to perform stand-up, reportedly logging more appearances at Harrah's casinos and resorts than any other comic, and toured with his son, Pauly, who enjoyed stardom in the '90s as a stand-up and movie star. At the time of his death, Shore was reportedly working on a new book, titled Last Comic Standing (Confessions of a Pissed-Off Comic);he died of natural causes at the age of 92 on May 19, 2019.