Clubs in Beverly Hills

At the Hollywood Improv, comics lure laughs from deep within bellies as they follow in the footsteps of standup legends such as Ellen DeGeneres, Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, and Dave Chappelle, all of whom have graced the Improv club stages. The club's calendar schedules comedians as often as seven nights a week, alternating between big-name headliners and up-and-coming funsters who tickle funny bones with fresh material, abundant energy, and feathered reflex hammers.

What’s now known as The Comedy Store was once called Ciro's, a nightlife hotspot in the 1940s and '50s. Playing host to glitzy stars and shadowy mobsters, the club's history is shrouded in rumors of mafia assassinations and untimely deaths. However, the joint buried its seedy past by converting to a comedy club and helping launch the careers of such legends as Richard Pryor, Jim Carrey, George Carlin, David Letterman, and Dave Chappelle. The younger La Jolla location lets laugh-starved patrons bask in the same high-powered comedic atmosphere as its progenitor.

The Duke City Improv Festival welcomes 13 comedy acts, from local performers to visiting teams from Chicago, Phoenix, and Oklahoma. Support The Gryffindorks, Albuquerque's longest-running improv team, or indulge sadistic funny bones with Stretchin' It, an adult-oriented troupe from Oklahoma City that employs media and song to entertain and offend in equal measure. Three different groups from Phoenix battle for back-home bragging rights and to determine who will perform at halftime of the next Super Bowl, and the local laugh-lobbers from No Holds Bard improvise their way through "forgotten" Shakespearean texts. Frosty brews from the nearby Tractor Brewing Company grease gullets on Saturday nights, and a slate of improv-enhancing workshops are available for an additional $15 each.

Founded by comedian Sammy Shore in 1972 and built into a comic empire by his erstwhile wife Mitzi, The Comedy Store has nourished some of the country's greatest comedic talent. With an alumni list that includes such greats as George Carlin, Jim Carrey, and Dave Chappelle, the club has been at the epicenter of comedy innovation for four decades, giving chucklesmiths the opportunity to devise ever more ingenious ways of eliciting laughs from patrons and laugh approximations from cyborg patrons

Beyond a façade of black-painted bricks blasted by a bright-red sunburst, M.i.'s Westside Comedy Theater's laughter authorities train up-and-coming comedians in the art of forcing other people to laugh. The theater opened in 2009, 11 years after six comedians from the touring group Mission Improvable moved from Massachusetts to Chicago to continue training in the art of the extemporaneous. Now, 50 members strong, Mission Improvable helps students hone their comedic instincts during weekly classes, performances, and pie-throwing workshops. Instructors have imported a grounded, distinctly Chicagoan comedic sensibility to the West Coast, building improv courses on Viola Spolin's seminal, creativity-unlocking theater games and standup classes on students' own experiences and observations.

A rare outlet for commercially sanctioned laughter in downtown Los Angeles, Garrett Morris’ Downtown Blues and Comedy Club helps visitors escape the stresses of the workweek with a rotating stable of top-tier standup talent every Friday and Saturday. Comic legend Garrett Morris, now seen as Earl on CBS’ 2 Broke Girls, hosts showcases of comic talent with charming wit and tales of how he outlived the original cast of Saturday Night Live. The bill remains consistently loaded with fresh-faced and seasoned funny folk, with past luminaries including George Lopez, Margaret Cho, and Wayne Brady, along with aspiring stars in the twilight before their first mismatched-marriage sitcom.

Keeping true to its name and Morris’ roots in the New Orleans music scene, the venue often punctuates its comedy shows with performances from top blues artists—including Morris himself, who has lent his soulful pipes to the Harry Belafonte Singers—that add melody to the mirth. While weekend shows feature Garrett’s hosting and harmonies along with the headlining acts, the Thursday Night Experience allows youthful burgeoning comics and musicians to hog the spotlight.