In the mid-1980s, Landesberg was the spokesman in TV and print advertisements for Northwestern Bell's long-distance telephone services. Judy Carter For those of us comics whose careers started at The Comedy Store, the Sunset Strip was dark on April 11, when the owner, Mitzi Shore died. Shortly after, I went to L.A. thinking Ill never see him again. Mitzi Shore, the hard-driving proprietor and mother hen of The Comedy Store on the Sunset Strip who lorded over the white-hot center of the stand-up universe of the late 1970s and 80s, died Wednesday after a battle with Parkinsons disease. Kravitz credits the place with starting his recovery, but this incarnation of Cresthill was short-lived: Kravitz stayed six months and says the halfway house lasted only a few more past that. Her father was a traveling salesman. "It is with great sadness and very heavy hearts that we report the passing of Mitzi. So people started to come down. Wynn Miller / The LIFE Images Collection / Getty Images, Time Life Pictures / The LIFE Picture Collection / Getty, itself now a prestigious destination for comics. What?" His daily routine was to stay up all night, then sneak into LaBoves room during the day to crash. Its the power of proximity.. Her zodiac sign is Leo. But when Mitzi gave me a big break, in 1976 -- opening for Jackie Mason in the newly built, 450-seat Main Room, gone were the insecurities about how she thought of me. Regardless, Mitzi pulled the plug because depending on which theory you want to believe either they ran out of comics to treat, the house had strayed from its initial mission by letting in non-comedians, she had financial problems, or some combination of the above. There was a night early on when I went one-on-one with Sam, doing blow and burning money, Maron says. Also crashing at Cresthill though likely not paying rent was Ollie Joe Prater, a 300-plus-pound, bearded Midwesterner whom Dice describes in his memoir, The Filthy Truth, as both a party animal and one of the great comics you never heard of., At the time, despite his larger-than-life attitude, Dice onstage wasnt quite yet Dice. Men have long been silent and stoic about their inner lives, but theres every reason for them to open up emotionallyand their partners are helping. Each new wave of comics was passing down the war stories and attempting to outdo them. After dinner wed do routines for each other. My manager called me later and Mitzi told her, I hated him, he was terrible. (Leno did anyway, and Shore caved. ", "IT WAS JUST A PHENOMENAL WAY TO CELEBRATE YOUR STARVING.". But Mitzi created a safe space. Pursuit of passions requires time for play and self-directed education. had to audition for Shore even though he had been performing for two decades. Judy Carteris a professional speaker and author ofThe Message of YouandThe Comedy Bible. She became his assistant. Through the club, she had a huge influence on the careers of up-and-coming comedians for decades. That was heavy shit., Paulys time at Cresthill was, as he puts it, the heyday of [his] career. He was on MTV, starring in movies it was full-on Weasel-mania. And every morning there would be a mirror on the table. Aristotle was interested in stories because he saw them as a form of philosophy. As Pauly and Steve talk real estate, I wander out onto one of the sweeping balconies, lean against the edge, and look down toward the Sunset Strip and into L.A. Its June and the leaves on the trees almost completely obscure the view of the Comedy Store, just a hundred or so yards down the hill. Mitzi generally kept her distance, but she was aware of the houses reputation. Pulling it open, a wooden stepladder descends into a dark, dank cellar. Mitzi was increasingly fed up with the comics behavior. People magazine did a story, Whats Going on at the Comedy Store? The houses werent far apart, but because of the steep slope and the way Cresthill was built into it, much of the noise wafted down toward the Store, the Strip, and the city at large. Drug use that couldve once been chalked up to youthful exuberance now had the markings of full-blown addiction. Steve Landesberg, an actor and comedian with a friendly and often deadpan manner who was best known for his role on the long-running sitcom "Barney Miller," died in Los Angeles on Monday. Gimme a hug! But if theres one truism about Hollywood, its that behind every big success are dozens of people feeling aggrieved about it. LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) Steve Landesberg, the veteran character actor best known for his role as the intellectual and sometimes annoying Detective Sgt. Married; Relationship "Encounter" 2 0 0. Some, like Kinison, Pryor, Hicks, and Williams, died before their time. They didnt know where he was.. Come ere! Its worth noting that Kinisons brother and then-manager, Bill, calls Dices claims bullshit, but regardless of the discrepancies over exactly what kind of impact Dice mightve had on Kinison and vice versa Cresthill had become a kind of comedy laboratory. We hold major institutions accountable and expose wrongdoing. No matter how long it takes, you drop it right now. Jim goes to Mitzi and says, Im going to break out and be myself." He also met Damon Wayans around then, another late-night Store regular who would later recommend Carrey for his breakout gig on In Living Color. [15] They had four children: sons Peter, Scott, and Pauly, and daughter Sandi. LaBove knew immediately whod told her. She did the thing that so many comedy pros do: they dontlaugh. Mitzi saw herself as the scenes munificent den mother. Below is a June 22, 2003, profile from The Times about Shore and her sons, who were trying to revive her . Wed snort, smoke pot, drink beer, and talk comedy, says Hamilton. Children learn the most valuable lessons with other children, away from adults. The crowd is cracking up. The guy he usually bought coke from suggested Maron get out of town. [7] However, in 1979, after the club had been expanded extensively, comedians began to insist that they be paid for their work. If a raid was coming, hed call Cresthill and the poker game would vanish.. My personal story of comedy icon Gilda Radner. NBC had paid Mitzi a $400,000 advance for a Comedy Store 15th-anniversary special that would feature performances by Pryor, Williams, Letterman, Smirnoff, Shandling, and others. She could make or break acareerso we were all psyched to have her hear our material. Shortly after he began killing it at The Comedy Store, Williams became an overnight sensation as the wacky star of the ABC sitcom Mork & Mindy. That balcony was where dreams were made, LaBove tells me. He was prone to violent outbursts against pretty much anyone unfortunate enough to be standing nearby. Relationship info powered by: WhosDatedWho.com. I meet Pauly Shore on a warm Saturday afternoon at Cresthill. Stephan says that even though Pryor was already a huge star, he wasnt above getting feedback and ideas from lowly Store comics. She loaned them money. Laurie Schenden, Managing Editor Daphne Davis, Nancy Redman, and Tamayo Otsuki shooting the Cresthill pilot. He was previously married to Nancy Ross. A long time ago, Argus Hamilton was the future of stand-up comedy. This group of comics, haunting Cresthill, working the Store, helped to create the stand-up business as we know it. They felt true and enhanced the houses mystique. But Jimmy Shubert, a comic who was tight with both Kinison and Dice, told me a version that mostly squares with LaBoves. Ask five comics and youll likely get five different answers. [10], 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. Because she scheduled the performers, Mitzi wielded an enormous amount of power, the Queen Mother of stand-up, each of us were trying to kiss the proverbial comedy ring, hoping she'd propel us from wannabee to stardom. Mitzi Shore was born on 25 July 1930 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA. My heart lays heavy, her son, comedian Pauly Shore,tweeted. Kinison would devote stage time to running Dice down. Dice had every right in the world to complain, he says. Maron, who lived with Clay in a house Shore owned in the hills above Sunset Boulevard, once described the club as a demonic home away from home for a lot of people.. Maron moved into Cresthill in 1987, dragging with him little more than a futon, a framed poster of the Tod Browning film Freaks, and a burgeoning cocaine habit. Guys were living in every nook and cranny. When it comes to toys, in terms of development and creativity, less is more. But is it possible there was once one there? Binder, who later became best known as a writer/director/actor of films like The Upside of Anger and HBO's The Mind of the Married Man, says that while he lived there, the house and the Store felt like the center of the entertainment universe. Wilson recalls meeting a very old man who lived farther up the hill and relayed Cresthills preComedy Store history. Her husband, Sammy Shore, co-founded The Comedy Store in Los Angeles in 1972 and Mitzi became owner two years later. The pilot is being shot this fall. She leaves behind an indelible mark and legacy and has helped change the face of comedy.. Mitzis son, Pauly Shore was a little kid running around; Steve Landesberg and Michael Keaton were regulars, working out their voices like the rest of us. Hamilton lived there until 1982 and then returned for a few months in 1986. Simply being around stars helped younger guys like Smirnoff, who got a big break when Williams convinced director Paul Mazursky to come see him perform, leading to the part in Moscow on the Hudson. Landesberg died from colon cancer on December 20, 2010, aged 74. Since there was no danger of a Tonight Show booker venturing in, we could take chances. One person I spoke to who worked at the Store during this era tells me he was ferrying $20,000 in cash back to her house to put in her safe every night. Steve Kravitz, a . At the time of his death, many news outlets mistakenly reported his age as 65;[1] some never corrected that story. The best you could get was a nasal, Thats funny.. Comics were all of a sudden getting respect, so we could get away with murder," Stephan says. When the parties were going on, I generally stayed in my room because I was trying to get to sleep. Redman stopped short of calling Cresthill a boys club, but Sabrina Souiri, who worked for Kinison in the late 80s and was later married to Stephan, describes it very much in those terms. Reporting on what you care about. I went home and pondered, Is kooky good? By that point, I was sleeping in my closet anyway, he says. You can go there if you can salvage some comedy out of it.. [4] Shore's suit claimed HBO's service was an "indirect unauthorized use" of the name and trademark Comedy Channel. Steve Landesberg Dating History. Wilson and, in particular, Dice, quickly grew weary of the drug-fueled, late-night, rock n roll circussoap opera that trailed Kinison wherever he went. Or does it? Theyd badmouth each other on talk shows. The club became ground zero for stand-up in the late 70s: Leno, Letterman, Pryor, Williams, Michael Keaton, Jimmie Walker, Richard Lewis, Richard Belzer, Elayne Boosler, Paul Mooney, Garry Shandling, and Marsha Warfield all considered the place something of a home base, and others like Carlin, Steve Martin, Billy Crystal, and Gabe Kaplan were consistent visitors. Ironically, shortly after Kinison and LaBove were tossed from Cresthill, Dice moved out, and it wasnt long before Kinison had worked himself back into Mitzis good graces and was again lording over the place. She had this place where we could all come and be silly and make mistakes and have fun and go home with a waitress. Inhabit is the best way to put it, really: Some had their own rooms, some of those actually paid some token rent, but many, many more were just kind of there to hang out, to drink, to do drugs, to talk shit, to crash on a couch, or a floor, wherever. I came back and it was a different place., Mitzi revolutionized comedy, Dreesen said in Yael Kohens 2012 book, We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy. [4] Shore refused and the performers picketed the establishment in what became a bitter six-week strike action. Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day. The room off the kitchen where Dice and Maron lived retains some seedy charm. In May, Johnny Carson decided to move The Tonight Show from New York to Burbank, California. The 9 PM spot was prime: by 1:30, you were playing to a room populated exclusively by the hammered, the homeless and the heartless. Her husband, Sammy Shore, co-founded The Comedy Store in 1972 and she became its owner two years later. Hamilton says he got Hicks a job as a doorman at the Store and agreed to stash him in Cresthill. About American Business Professional Mitzi Shore was born Mitzi Saidel on 25th July, 1930 in Wisconsin, U.S. and passed away on 11th Apr 2018 West Hollywood, Ca aged 87. "COMICS WERE ALL OF A SUDDEN GETTING RESPECT, SO WE COULD GET AWAY WITH MURDER. She instituted an open-mic night for amateurs looking to take their shot. Back then, Carrey was an offbeat impressionist whod already scored a Tonight Show spot and a short-lived network series, but his career was stalled. Pauly is understandably nostalgic for Cresthill, and after a while he talks to Steve with some degree of seriousness about buying it back. Its not that people are lying though, sure, some may be so much as time and the fog of booze and drugs tends to obscure some details. I poke my head down but cant see a thing. As Carl LaBove, who moved in there in 1984, put it, There was a feeling there that it had always been that kind of house. I was being initiated into what would turn out to be the most disturbing and mentally destructive eight months of my life. When the coke ran out, he drove Kinison to a dealers apartment, where Kinison downed several airplane bottles of Smirnoff before passing out. Theyd moved to L.A. together and actively stoked a kind of mystical aura around themselves and whatever comics were in Kinisons inner circle at a given moment. Its hard to pinpoint the moment when Cresthill really became Sam Kinisons fiefdom. When she and Sammy divorced in 1974, he gave her the club to lower his alimony payments; two years later, after being briefly evicted (and opening a new Comedy Store location in Westwood), she negotiated a deal to buy the entire building plus Cresthill. Mitzis son, Pauly Shore was a little kid running around; Steve Landesberg and Michael Keaton were regulars, working out their voices like the rest of us. In the 80s, at the height of Cold War paranoia, Smirnoffs aw-shucks, America, what a country! shtick reassured a nation that its Reaganite vision of itself was righteous and deflated the mighty Evil Empire of the Soviets into a laughable facade. Why would somebody take the mirror off the wall and eat powdered doughnuts off the mirror? I did a song about my clitoris (though I knew better than to use it at a gig in Utah). The party was over. [8] Among those involved in leading the strike were Jay Leno, Tom Dreesen, and the club's MC David Letterman. But when he first showed up at the Store, he was just an migr from the Ukraine with a shaky command of English. Jack stole all my clothes while I was on the road one week, says Coulier. He had his own TV show (What a Country), starred in films (Moscow on the Hudson, Brewsters Millions, Heartburn) and was one of the countrys biggest stand-ups. Kinison threw a drink in his face, hit him a few times, and ripped Daves shirt off. I think there was even a point when Robert Downey Jr. stayed in the basement for a little during his drug time, says Pauly. Dice wanted to sleep. She can be reached atjudy@judycarter.com, You must be logged in to post a comment Kinisons newfound stature attracted guys like Billy Idol, Ted Nugent, and Corey Feldman to the nightly ragers. 3 Signature Oner, the MCUs First F-bomb and Star-Lords Most Emotional Scene, Robert Patrick, Kennedys Children Playwright, Dies at 85, Harry Belafonte, Singer, Actor, Producer and Activist, Dies at 96, Ron Faber, Busy New York Stage Actor, Dies at 90, Hollywood Flashback: When the Comedy Store Helped Put L.A. on the Map, Kiss Paul Stanley Says Encouraging Kids to Gender Transition is a Dangerous Fad, White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, Gayle King, April Ryan Celebrate Diverse Voices in Political Journalism During White House Correspondents Dinner Weekend, Rock Icons Aerosmith to Launch Farewell Tour, Willie Nelson Turns 90: Keith Richards Joins Hollywood Bowl Bash, Jock Zonfrillo, Chef and MasterChef Australia Judge, Dies at 46, Stanley Tucci Credits Felicity and Emily Blunt for Helping Him Get Through Brutal Cancer Treatment, The Best Gifts for Women Who Love Fashion, Beauty, Tech and More, Channel Your Inner Queen Charlotte with This Star-Loved British Brands Exclusive Skincare Kit, Naomi Watts Just Wore These Under-$100 PJs from Two Star-Loved Brands And Theyre the Perfect Mothers Day Gift for Stylish Travelers, The Best Signet Rings for Adding a Red Carpet-Ready Touch to Your Jewelry Stack, Everyone Is Just Scrambling: Hollywood on Edge as Writers Guild Talks Go Down to the Wire, Succession Director on Filming That Surprise Cameo and Tying Up Her Kendall Trilogy, James Gunns Guardians: How Chris Pratt and His Marvel Castmates Rescued Their Directors Career, The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News. Depression: Goodbye Serotonin, Hello Stress and Inflammation, How Blame and Shame Can Fuel Depression in Rape Victims, Getting More Hugs Is Linked to Fewer Symptoms of Depression, Interacting With Outgroup Members Reduces Prejudice, You Can't Control Your Teen, But You Can Influence Them. Shed heard Christy and Kinison were living in his room. I didnt know why. Login. "Theyre paying Comedy Store guys $5,000 a week to go to Atlanta, to Houston. The house juts its chest out of the Hollywood Hills, flexing more bravado than actual confidence, looking a little unsteady as if one more misstep, one more bad night, could send it tumbling onto Sunset Boulevard. In 1976, when Mitzi Shore, the Comedy Stores owner and enigmatic doyen (and mother of Pauly), bought the club, Cresthill, as it came to be known, was rolled into the deal. The oven looked like itd been in a car accident. Survivors include sons Pauly, Peter and Scott and a daughter, Sandi. The crash pad of a comedy revolution, remembered, kinda, by the people who survived it. The best you could get was a nasal, "That's funny.". Regina Paris, Business & Advertising Director For some time, shed been trying to cash in on it by producing a sitcom about Cresthill. But this house was built on the hopes and dreams of the people who forgot that. We treasured her words, elevating them to comedy scripture. One morning, he starts screaming, The dishes go out the window in five minutes! Right outside the kitchen was an open-air atrium, and sure enough, all of a sudden, you hear crashing. ( Listen to the story of the The Belly Room on NPR.). Kinison, however, would come to define that culture. Maron says that Cresthill taught him just how far a comedian could go, onstage and off. At the time when Mitzi bought it, the house which sits on a cul-de-sac of pretty, older homes elbowing each other for space was vacant, and at first, Mitzi did little with it. Stephen Landesberg (November 23, 1936 December 20, 2010) was an American actor and comedian known for his role as the erudite, unflappable police detective Arthur P. Dietrich on the ABC sitcom Barney Miller, for which he was nominated for three Emmy Awards.[1]. Everybody came: C.C. Its 1 in the morning and theres a few people there, and hes just in their face screaming, red in the face. Stand on one of those back balconies, look down on the Comedy Store, the Sunset Strip, the Los Angeles Basin, and, on a clear day, maybe even out to the Pacific, and youll succumb to the illusion that this town is just out there waiting for you, that it wants you, even needs you. Steve Landesberg ***** E 79th St, New York, NY View full report Steve R Landesberg, age 69 S*****@gmail.com (347) 634-**** ***** Jackson St, Apt 521, Dallas, TX View full report Email Addresses Sponsored by SpokeoPaid Service stevelandes****@gmail.com Search secret profiles for stevelandes****@gmail.com Search stevelandes****@yahoo.com You couldnt have the ego and sensitivity, says Stephan. Mitzi felt betrayed. Hes at the table, complaining about his act hes stuck in, and Sam says, Well, drop that fucking act and be yourself. Few Hollywood institutions are as linked with a single personality as the Comedy Store is with Mitzi Shore, a Wisconsin native who for decades was the comedy world's mother hen -- serving as. [8], The character Goldie on the Showtime series I'm Dying Up Here is based loosely on Shore. Many more births and deaths have been figurative, onstage at the Store: Comics like David Letterman, Jay Leno, Sam Kinison, Andrew Dice Clay, Jim Carrey, Roseanne Barr, and Marc Maron found their voices here; many more, whose names have been mostly lost to history, shouted into the darkness of the Original Room and heard no reply. Mitzi Shore (ne Saidel; July 25, 1930 - April 11, 2018) was an American comedy club owner. She is most remembered for Co-Founder and Owner of The Comedy Store. She made calls on behalf of comedians she thought deserved a look. Comedy Store owner Mitzi Shore died Wednesday, according to a statement from the Comedy Store. In the nasal tone we all learned to emulate, she once said to me, You are so kooky, Judy. The lucky ones Hamilton, Maron, Binder, LaBove got sober. Dice became even bigger, appearing as a version of himself in a series of films (Making the Grade, Casual Sex?, The Adventures of Ford Fairlane) and selling out arenas. Youre in this house, around all these great comedians, just immersing yourself in it.. Stan 'Wojo . I left a job for what I thought could be nothing and then found this life and friends and home and creative order. Male comics dominated the stage with sexist, homophobic, and racial stereotyping jokes. Lue Deck, who like many Store comics also worked as a doorman at the club, had moved into a space in the basement of Cresthill by this time, and recalls that Williams, Andy Kaufman, and Rod Stewart used to come by the house to score coke. We thought his act was like a fuckin circus act. 2023 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. Sam went to Dice and said, I want you to know that we know it was you, and if I make it, Im going to make sure I stick it up your ass every opportunity I get, he says. We couldnt believe it. Robin Williams outside the Comedy Store, 1978. WHAT A CRAZY AMERICAN TRADITION! I said hello and started a joke and the light [the signal to get off the stage] immediately went on. gowehoeditor@gmail.com Mitzi Shore Leo unknown date Mitzi Shore (ne Saidel; July 25, 1930 - April 11, 2018) was an American comedy club owner. If the drug dealer is telling you to leave, its time to leave.. When I left, Bill took my bedroom, Binder says. We got that information in this room, actually. Practice Improves the Potential for Future Plasticity, Meditation and Mindfulness: Stress Relievers You Should Know. She contributed profoundly to many lives, including mine. When I visit the house and head down to the basement, lo and behold, theres a prominent trapdoor in the hardwood floor. Mitzi's son, Pauly Shore was a little kid running around; Steve Landesberg. Mitzi was one of the first to have an all-woman bill. [2] He was part of improv group New York Stickball Team, which performed several shows that aired on cable television shortly after Barney Miller went off the air. What a crazy American tradition! In the early 70s, what little stand-up business there was revolved around two cities: Las Vegas and New York. Cresthill, Stephan says, was the frat house., The place is more than an interesting footnote in comedy history: Cresthills glory years coincided with a massive stand-up boom across the country. Mitzi Shore and Sammy Shore - Dating, Gossip, News, Photos list. Through the club, she had a huge influence on the careers of up-and-coming comedians for many decades. One evening, Kinison put his guitar and amps into Marons room for safekeeping. [3] She later studied art at the University of WisconsinMadison, but dropped out to marry Sammy Shore after meeting him in 1950. [13], Joe Rogan dedicated his 2018 comedy special Strange Times to Shore following her death earlier in the year. A lot of it took place after-hours in the Main Room, but most of the time, wed shift it all up to Cresthill., Future Full House star Dave Coulier moved in for a few months in late 1979 or early 1980, and also recalls a somewhat mysterious housemate named Jack Leonpacher, who worked as a runner for Mitzi. Arthur Dietrich on the long-running 1970s. He started calling me Andrew Jew Silverstein, like I ever hid the fact that I was Jewish. Yakov fixed a lot of shit around the house. Walls have been knocked down; theres a gym in the basement; Abraham flattened the steep hill behind the house to create a grassy backyard. I helped Sam get his timing down, he has said. Unsurprisingly, specifics can be a bit murky when it comes to piecing together Cresthill's history. She is most remembered for Co-Founder and Owner of The Comedy Store. . What happened next was almost more bizarre than all that had happened before it. Married; Relationship "Encounter" 2 4 1. Founded in 1972, The Comedy Store originally looked like an Italian restaurant with checkered, red tablecloths. Dice ratted Sam out, says Shubert. Wherever they wanted to go, whatever they wanted to do, my job was to take them there, he says. He had his clique but when blow was involved, hed be around., Smirnoff wasnt a partier. April 13, 2018 5 PM PT. She painted the entire showroom room black and put red candles everywhere, apparently she believed comedy worked better if the audience felt they were in hell. At one party, Kinison smacked around the Stores booker then kissed him on the mouth. He starred in Starz's original show Head Case as Dr. Myron Finkelstein. Getting over the fear of public speaking. I remember Marsha Warfield feeling it was a disgrace, saying, Separate is not equal. On a good night, there were eight people in the audience. There are way too many to mention. With that money, she paid what she must have considered penance for her years of enabling various comics drug problems: She turned Cresthill into a halfway house for comedians trying to get sober. Petite, with curly locks covering her face, Mitzi was a dark goddess. American Actor Steve Landesberg was born on 23rd November, 1945 in New York City, New York, USA and passed away on 20th Dec 2010 Los Angeles, California, USA aged 65. It was just a phenomenal way to celebrate your starving, celebrate what youd given up for your dream., As Shubert puts it, You only go through that once in your life. From the front, the house looks kind of small, almost humble. AND WE DID. Steve Kravitz, a comic who was tight with both Williams and Kinison but was in the throes of a debilitating heroin addiction, was one of the first to move in. And without Mitzi, I dont know what I would have done., Letterman baby-sat her kids and took them to Little League games; Carrey served as a doorman. on MTV before appearing in 1990s movies like "Encino Man" and "Bio-Dome." Today, at 51, he's still a working. Sam Kinison, Marc Maron, and an unidentified comic crouching over the table for no particular reason at all, 1987. She was a champion for us funny women, giving us the chance to find our authentic comedy voice, to perform in front of an audience, and to showcase our talent for bookers. I used to work at the Comedy Store.. Then, all of a sudden, I opened the door and with this Smirnoff slips into a pretty solid Dice impression, albeit still with traces of his Russian accent My man! Comics from around the country flocked to Los Angeles, dreaming of hitting it big after attracting the attention of Tonight Show talent bookers in search of those who could deliver a funny, rapid-fire six-minute set.