Hosts Rick Ingraham and Eleanor Kerrigan talk about the past, present and further of The Comedy Store with guests that span the entire history of the store.
Picking up where they left off after a little hiatus. Rick is still on the road so Eleanor has Jeff Danis in to co-host with special guest Mike Black and special drop-ins from Annie Lederman and Sandy Danto. Just like the old days. Complete chaos.
The Comedy Store: The greatest stand-up comedy club in the world. The Store was founded April 7, 1972, on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood by comedian Sammy Shore, his wife Mitzi and comedy writer Rudy DeLuca. It started because Sammy needed a place to work out when he wasn’t on the road. Sammy was the longtime opening act for Elvis Pressley. It was the first all stand-up comedy nightclub in the world. In the beginning, since Sammy was frequently on the road, his wife, Mitzi assumed the nightly operations of the club and selected and scheduled the comedians that performed there.
Eleanor Kerrigan: Eleanor is the latest in a long line of historically funny women who cut their teeth at the World Famous Comedy Store. Starting out as a waitress there, Eleanor learned the ropes of comedy, all the while making the best comics in the country laugh, in the kitchen of the club. It would take several years and lots of pushing from one of her biggest fans, Andrew Dice Clay, to finally get her to take her comedic talents to the stage. After co-starring with him in “Dice Undisputed”, Dice invited Eleanor to go on the road with him to promote the show. “I’m an actress not a stand up!” she replied. After seeing her one woman show, Andrew would no longer take no for an answer. “You’re hysterical and everyone should know that!” he said, and Eleanor’s been performing stand up in clubs and theaters around the country ever since. Her hilarious take on life comes from her unique experiences growing up street-savvy in South Philly, as one of 10 children in a very Irish-Catholic family. She paints an uproarious portrait of her life experiences, beginning with her childhood in a three bedroom row home and moving to her adventures as an adult living in L.A… Eleanor’s shoot-from-the-hip take on life is both refreshing and exciting. She’s not afraid to give the audience a piece of her mind and they love her for it. Eleanor is also a graduate of the esteemed Joanne Baron and D.W. Brown acting studio in Santa Monica, California, following in the footsteps of acting greats such as Halley Berry and Patrick Dempsey. She’s had audiences rolling as one of the motorcycle riding, pool cue wielding tag team called “Harley’s Angels” on UPN’s “Women of Wrestling” and has made countless appearances on other major networks such as Nickelodeon, VH1, Howard Stern & HBO. Eleanor Kerrigan is certainly one to watch you can catch her on the last season of Entourage & she will be touring the country with her brazen brand of humor. Don’t miss her!
Rick Ingraham: Rick Ingraham is a 15 year veteran of stand-up comedy, spending most of the last 12 years performing several nights a week at the Comedy Store. Rick prefers an interactive approach to comedy, specializing in crowd-work and insult comedy. He toured early in his career with Pauly Shore and Andrew Dice Clay and he has appeared in national TV commercials for Lowe’s, Geico, Verizon, Cheetos, Bud Light, and in what he considers the highlight of his acting career, a commercial for Overactive Bladder Medication.
Jeff Danis: Jeff Danis, aka the Danish, grew up in a suburb of Boston called Andover, Massachusetts. He attended Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and upon graduating, moved to New York City for an internship with the Howard Stern Show. No, he didn’t see nudity, so please stop asking. Jeff moved to Los Angeles in 2003, and shortly after started performing stand up comedy at the world famous Comedy Store. He’s a true Comedy Store product, as he rose up the ranks from open miker to employee to finally becoming a paid regular. While working the parking lot there, he crashed Pauly Shore’s car and somehow was not fired. The Comedy Store is also where Jeff met his writing partner, Ryan O’Neill. The two have been writing together ever since. He’s the co-creator, writer, and director of the hits web series Daddy Knows Best starring Steve Rannazzisi. Along with Ryan O’Neill, he’s also written many digital shorts for Comedy Central and can be seen performing weekly at the Comedy Store.
