The Comedy Store, West Hollywood

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