Tin Foil Hat With Sam Tripoli - My Tribute And Good Bye To The Queen of Comedy Mitzi Shore

Episode Date: April 12, 2018

This is just me walking my dog and take about how much Mitzi Shore meant to me. The audio isn't perfect and there's no conspiracies on this episode so if that doesn't interest you you might want to skip this one. This is just me saying to good bye to someone who did more for me than I can ever express. Without Mitzi Shore I would just be a no name bum. Mitz, your kindness and love will never be forgotten. Thank you forever thing you did for comedy. Long Live The Memory of The Queen!

Of all, truth bomb. Thank you for tune again. I hope you're all doing well. This is going to be a sad. This is a rough day for the world of comedy. Today, the... Unfollowable. The once in a lifetime. The greatest to ever do it! The icon! One above all!

The one only Mitsy Shore, founder of the comedy store, has passed away. This day has been coming for a long time. It is a very weird feeling to have right now. You know, it's like, you know she's been sick for so long and she's had to be in so much pain and... Ah, man. So in that sense, I'm happy that the pain is over. I'm happy that she's no longer going through it at all. So in that sense, you know, it's good to see it's over. But

man, what she's done for me and what she's done for all those who have walked through that, those doors of the Mecca of Comedy, the greatest comedy club on the planet. It's unrefutable. It's undeniable. She's the best ever do it. My thoughts and prayers go out to Polly, Scotty, Pee-D. All them, all the shores. Sandy. All the people who, all of her kids, all of her family, all that man.

Just 100% devastating. When I came to Los Angeles in like 99 2000, I was a bar comic. I was a very in your face, take no prisoners, risk it all, kind of crazy, multi-layer, well-crafted, Dick Joe comedian. I'd never really play comedy clubs. I'd play one before, you know, I played the, I played the, the Riviera, Steve Sharipa had, Steve Sharipa was booking it, you know I'm from the Sopranos, he was booking it, he and he booked me in the dirty show and then he later on asked me to open for Nick the Pallow and that was the only time I'd ever done comedy, two weeks in the comedy club. That's it.

Everything else was straight bars. So I come to the comedies, come to LA, I start playing all these clubs and I'm moving quick. I get picked up at every single club within a year. I get picked up the Laf Factory first, the improv, and after like six tries, five tries, I'd say, Mitchie Shore finally picks me up. We talked about the other day on the tinfoil hat. Duncan and Mazz Gibraani called me up and they're like, hey, we think we can get you into the store.

Here's what we got to do. You have to, um, we're going to get you and she to get you and she to get you and she to get to get to get to get to do to do to do to do to do to do to do to do to do to do to do to do to do to do to do to do to do to do to do to do to do to do the the, and she, and she, and she, and she, and she, and she, and she, and she, and she, and she, and she, and she, and she, you into the store. Here's what we gotta do. You have to, we're gonna get you and she wants to do an Arab show. She wants to do it before, a year before 9-11. She's like, Arabs are gonna need a voice. So she puts together an Arab show, she has Madhjee Brownies, Persian. She, and one night, she basically auditions myself, Ahmed Aaron Kater. So she she calls me so I get a call from Dunkin' goes are you Middle East

and I go I'm on meeting he goes close enough close enough he goes here's the key to getting in here are the keys to comedy. He goes to get the key to getting in. Here are the keys to comedy. To getting picked up by Mitzy Shore. Do one joke about your ethnic group. Do one joke about one of your parents, and then do your favorite joke. And as I said yesterday, I did a joke about my mom, uh, being Armenian, going to the beach. Then I did a joke about my mom power walking.

And then I did a bit about my mom Power Walking and then I did a bit about Asians on ecstasy which Joey Diaz loved so he told me to do it so I did it. I walk up to Mitzi and she says to me she goes hey are you so here's something I didn't talk about it I talked about this before another podcast. So when you showcase for Mitzy, people would, comics would try to get her ear because they couldn't get spots. So they called that hijacking your showcase. So they would sit down and talk to her and she wouldn't pay attention to you.

It was very hard. So the key was to get somebody that you love to sit next to her so she would pay attention. So I go up on stage and I got standing o's from crowds during my showcase. I got one standing O and she goes, she thought I was a crazy person. So I go to do stand up on stage. I look out and who's there is Paul Mooney is sitting next to her. And I'm like, ah, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there there there there there, there's there's there's there's there's tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, thi, thi, thi, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th. So th. So th. So th. So, so th. So, so th. So, th. I would th. I would th. I would thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi. thin, I thin. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thi. thi. thi. thi to do stamp on stage, I look out who's there is Paul Mooney is sitting next to her. And I'm like, ah, there goes my pot, there goes my showcase. Well, Paul Mooney had seen me earlier, like a month earlier at the Hustler Cafe, which was hosted by, the, uh, hosted by a guy named Johnny Montana. Johnny Montana. Right Johnny. Johnny. Johnny was this guy who I was convinced on Coke. He was an actor, but he had this huge show at the Hustler Cafe. And I'd gone up and I talked about how hard it was to be a white guy in LA, I mean in

America and so I got off stage and and Paul Mooney comes up to me he goes oh home you ain't white use in Armenian use a boom drops the M word on me hard art too hard hard, hard, hard, R. Ar, ar. So, but it turns out that he likes me. I didn't know that. He likes me. And he sat down next to Mitzi, and he goes, oh, Mitzi.

You got to pick this kid up. He's really funny. He's really funny. So she, she, so, she, the word. So. the. the. So, so. So, so. So, so, so, so, so, so, so. So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so. So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, the. So, the M, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the. So, the. So, the. So, the. So, the. So, the. So, the. So, the. So, you gotta pick this kid up. He's really funny. He's really funny. So she, so I walk up to her after and she goes, good job Sam. Are you Syrian? And at the time, I didn't know what Syrian was. I had no clue what Syriam was. So basically I go, yeah, Midsam Syrian. She goes, okay, good. Because I want you to be in this, I want you to showcase again at at Jay Davis's,

Jay Davis's big rock and roll show he had the main room, because Jay had had the number one comedy show for a very long time. Called Dublin's. Dublin's was huge. Dublin's was the biggest, greatest show I've ever seen in my life. So Dublin's, so the clubs wanted a piece of action so they gave Jay his own shows. Jay's now a booker at the Laugh factory, he's doing a great job. So Jay gets a night, a Thursday night at the comedy store, and this is before they were doing big shows in the main room on the weeks.

They've kind of not, they've let that room be empty. I mean, you think of how it's sold out every night, when I got picked up there, it was only going Friday, Saturdays and Mondays. All the rest of there, it was only going Friday, Saturdays, and Mondays. All the rest of the week it was closed. So she gives Jay Davis a Thursday night. Now this, now, which was huge. So here's how cool Mazz, Jabani is. Myself, Ahmed Amed Amed, Aaron Kater, and a Maz are supposed to go up in front of her.

Mazz was already regular. But Ma's wants to try to get Brett Ernst in, so Ma's hides, so they have no comics there. The only guy hanging out was Brett Ernst. So they go, hey, Mitzi, we can't find Mosque, can we put up, Brett goes up, has this great bit about roller skating, crushes. So that night, a Metamed, Aaron Kater, myself and Brett Earns all become regulars on the same exact day. So what would happen from there is she goes, okay, you're a regular, you're really funny, but I want you to work the door too. So I was a regular and I was a door guy at the same time.

The next day I get a call from Duncan Trussle. She goes, Sam, Mitzy really likes you, she's going to do something, she's only done one other time in her life. And that is, she's going to make your first paid regular spot, a main room spot. She'd never done that. The only other person she'd ever done that with is who Roseanne Barr. So I go up and I follow Charles Fleischer. And I didn't know who Charles Fleischer was at that time. Some of you guys might not know who he is. He was the guy who voiced, did the voice over a Roger Rabbit, very eclectic comedian. As I'm a little older, I understand how we

operated as a younger guy. I didn't like it. I thought it was egotistical, but now his thinne. I understand his thinking, I'm not saying it's right but I understand it. So he the he he was he he he he he was he he he he he he. So he was he he he he was he he was he he was he he he. So he was he he he was he was he was he was he was a th. So he was a th. So he was a th. He was th. So he was a th. He was th. He was th. He was th. He was th. He was th. He was th. He was th. He was th. He was th. He was thi th. He was. He was th. He was th. He was th. He was th. He was th. He was th. He was th. He was th. He was th. He was th. He was th. He was th. He was a th. He was a th. He was a th. He was a th. He was a th. He was a thi tho tho thi thooooooooooooo. He was a thoo. He was a tho. He was a tho th. He was a th. He now his older guy, I understand his thinking. I'm not saying it's right, but I understand it. So he goes up there and he does about 30 minutes, all crowd work. I go up on stage, and dude, I didn't realize following Charles Fleischer at that time was so hard. And I bomb.

I bombed for 15 minutes. My worst nightmare is coming. But that night I learned something. I get in the moment I talk about how bad I'm bombing, which is the whole thing of the comedy store, which is being in the moment, right? Come here, Paul, Aliana. So I bombed for 15 minutes. I'm like, well, so much for ever being part of this comedy club. I get a call the next day. Mitsy wants you go up again. And that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's thia I I I I I I I I I thia I that's thia I that's thia thia thia thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I thi. I thi. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm the. I'm thomomomorrow thomorrow thomorrow thomorrow thomorrow thomorrow thomorrow thomorrow thomorrow thomorrow thomorrow thomorrow thomorrow I Mitsy wants you to go up again. And that's when I knew Mitsy Shore was different. That's when I knew that she was a different kind of booker.

Because it wasn't about the laughs. It was like how you get the laughs. And to the state, this is still how I operated. So for the next two years, I only worked the door for about six more months, but for the next year, year and a half, two years, I have to follow every monster at the comedy store. Okay? Well, let me, before I get into that, I want to talk about this. So I go to Montreal. I get picked up in Montreal.

I don't even know what Montreal is. I don't even know what it is. I've never heard, come here, Pollyanna. I never even th, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I they, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I they, I they, I the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. I, I, I, I have, I have, I have tho, I that, I thea, I tho theannea thoo tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho. I have have, I what it is. I've never heard, come here, Pollyanna. I never even heard, I don't, I mean, they're like, hey, you can go Montreal? I didn't even know. I go up and I showcase and I annihilate. Because I tapped into something that I didn't know, I, I own now, I know it, I own it, I can crush with it. It's my style. I didn't know what that was. And I remember this casting director said to me a long time ago, her this agent, she was like, when you get, when you understand that and how to hone that and how to tap into that, that's when you're going to be undeniable. So I tapped into something I didn't really understand and I really didn't get. And I was like, oh man, okay.

So I go and I, I, I, I go to Montreal and they have me closing out the show because I killed so hard. And they have me following a guy named Corey Hokel, who at the time, even then I thought I was doing comedy for like 15 fucking years. This was 20 years ago almost. And he annihilates. I go up on stage and I bomb.

I mean, I bombed so bad. I don't even want to see. I sat in my, my hotel room with the lights off for the next whole night and day. I never wanted ever to do comedy again. I come back home. I am walking dead. Nobody knows me. Nobody's talk to me. Word on a street is I bombed so bad. And it's just like it's over. The only person that would give me stage time was Mitsy Shore. She was the only one who showed me any love at that time.

Any love. I bombed. She was the only one. So she put me on stage. I bombed. And she was the only one. So she put me on stage. I was a dead man walking. I had nothing. I just stayed at the store. It just became my house to the store, my house to the store.

For the next year and a half, Mitzy Shore has me follow every monster that went to the council. I literally either was following Joe Rogan, Eddie Eddie, Eddie Griffin or Andrew Dice Clay and Dice would find my name on a list and bump me for a year and I'm not even like because he wasn't doing the list and bumped me for a year. And I'm not even like, because he wasn't doing the road as much. So he's bumping me for a year every night doing an hour, and I had to find it. And I had to go through it, because that's what Mitzi thought.

It wasn't about the laugh. It was about going through it. You know, every great success followed a thousand failures. A thousand failures. She was the only one man, you know. And as my, uh, and as, as my career just crashes, my drinking and my drug abuse starts to go bad. And I get lost. I drink so hard. So hard.

On New Year's Eve, I walk a thousand. I walk literally about 300 people. 300 people get up and go, because I bombed so hard. You know? And then I, you know, she tells me I'm banned for two days. It's the first and only time I ever got banned from a comedy club. But she gave me spots the next week and I was back at it. I got sober and then, you know, and it's just it's always been the place that...

And then she always took care of me. She'd come see me in La Jolla doing stand-up. She loved me, she'd laugh in the back, oh you were good tonight. Oh, man. She's fun, it was a different time, man. I mean, think of all the amazing people that have gone through that comedy club that she took care of.

Does she piss a lot of people off? Yeah. That's how it is, man. When you're an opinionated person, when you have thoughts, okay, you're going to piss people off. She didn't care. She didn't care if you were an agent. There's so many famous stories.

There's a famous story about Jim Brewer, who's a wonderful comedian. This is nothing against him, but I remember he had called up to talk to Mitzi, and he was like, he wanted to get stage time. He's like, hey, I'm Jim Brewer, I'm on Saturday Night Live, and she's like, I don't give a fuck what show you're on hangs up on them. And that was the comedy store, man. She had a great sense of, um,

she had a great sense of authenticity, but at the same time, she made a couple mistakes, you know. Like she let a couple guys run wild there, and they helped drive the club into a dark time, you know, like Carlos Mencia and Eddie Griffin, these guys who do an hour and half, their, their, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, thinks, she had thinks, she had thinks, she had tham, she tham, she th, she th, she th, she th, she th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thinks, thinks, thinks, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, th know, like Carlos Mencia and Eddie Griffin, these guys who do an hour and a half, two hours. It's like, eh, you know, you know, but she created the greatest room in the history of comedy and that room is the original room. That room humbles everybody. Nobody's better than the original room. You know, nobody's better than the original room.

You know? Nobody's better than the original room. That thing, I've seen everybody at Mitch Hedberg, Daniel Tosh, David Tell, the list goes on. Now, full, full respect, full disclosure, all respect. The only person I've ever seen walk in there that I'd never seen do it before and crush that room was Sarah Silverman. That's just the truth. She walked up and just murdered and she followed John Caparillo at that time. So yeah, man, I mean, just think of the people that she had picked up and like what amazing things are doing now. She picked me up. I helped get El Magical, Steve Byrne, Brian Callan, Ian Edwards, Saratiana.

Who else did I get in? Dubbed David off. Ah, man. You know, she gave me Sebastian. We used to meet me and Sebastian and Brett Ernst and Mazz. Ybrani would all go down La Hoya together and do that. We'd headline all together man. And we were on Caparillo was in there and Steve Renezi. All right, Schaffir, Steve Simone. That crazy fuck. She picked up so many people.

Eleanor Carrigan was a waitress there. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. If you did... Now here's a very interesting story about Mitzi. If you complained about following somebody, she would have you follow them all the time. I'm old school. I never complained about who I got to follow. Joey Diaz, Rick Angro, the fucking dudes, you know? Joey Diaz has put me in holes, dog. Holes, deep holes. But I had to follow him because that's he was a murderer, a murderer, a murderer, man, murderer. It's sad that we all fight with each other now.

Sad, you know, real sad, you know, the whole Carlos Mancia Joe Rogan thing, that thing was played wrong, you know? But it's hard, dude. This is like really devastating, man. This is crushing. It's so hard, you know, because I remember getting, when I got picked up like in 99 or 2000, I think it was 2000. She was, um, she basically said, no man, was it? 88? 98? I came here? Fuck, I'm old. She said that. Because they were telling me that, you know, Enjoy, Mitsy, why you can, she's going to be, uh, she's going to be, uh, she's, uh, she was going to be, uh, she. She, um, um, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, uh, she, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, she, she, she, she was, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's th, she's th, she was, she was, she was th, she was to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th, she they were telling me that, you know, enjoy Mitzi while you can,

she's going to be, uh, she's not going to be with us much longer. And that, that lady lasted 20 more years, man. You know, and it's a lot of pain, a lot of pain, a lot of pain, but that great generation comedians, dude, and that whole era, that whole era, it's just gone. Just gone. Oh man. Great comedian.

She'd put up great comics that the industry just wouldn't even enjoy anymore. That wouldn't even sniff. Brian Holtsman. If you don't know a holtzman, who holds that it is, it's just, it's just, that's a pain, it's just, it's a pain. It's just, it, it, it, it, it, it's just, it, it's just, it, it's just, it, it, it's just, it's a pain, it's just, it's a pain, it's a pain, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's a that it's a that it's a that it's a that it's just, it's a that's a that's a that's, it, it, it, it, it, it, it's, it, it's, it's a that it's a that it's a that it's a that it's a that it's a that it's a that it's a that it's a that, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, wouldn't even enjoy anymore, that wouldn't even sniff. Brian Holtzman, if you don't know a Holtzman, who Holtzman is, you have to come to the comedy store and stay late night and see Brian Holtzman with, I considered probably one of the greatest comics to do comedy. He just, no one will ever get him. And that's comedy, dude. So interesting. Comedy is so interesting. You know, it's very, it's very interesting the fact that just because somebody, just because somebody is, um, just because somebody is, um, just because somebody's um, just because somebody's, um, thi getting more love does not mean that they're funnier than you. It just means that style of comedy connects with a bigger base.

There are guys that only a few people love who are fucking brilliant. Can't get shit going. Show why Missy was still alive. Comedy Chaos last night and the energy was really off. It was a sold-out show. Packed. Energy was crazy and it was just a weird energy in there you could sense it and Dana just kept saying this is off this energy is off. It's not, there's something, something going on. And, uh, yeah, yeah, that was it. That was it. Oh, man. Crazy day, dude. What a crazy day. What a sad day.

What a historic day. Icons like this don't come around very often. And the fact that they are, she's no longer with us, is insane. I am honored that Mitzie passed me. I am honored that she loves me. Up Pollyanna, that she loved me. I'm honored that we did the last show at the main room while she was still with us. Ah, man, it's gonna be a hard day, man. Hard day. Older you get, the more heroes you lose.

Thoughts and prayers go to shore family. All right, Pimitsy Shore, I love you.