News

Budd Friedman, comedy club pioneer and founder of the original Improv comedy club, has died. He was 90. Friedman died Saturday of heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his wife, Alix, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Friedman founded the original Improv in New York City in 1963, giving early career breaks to comedians and acting superstars like Jay Leno, Bette Midler, Richard Pryor and more.

He opened his second location in Hollywood in 1975, just three years after Johnny Carson moved “The Tonight Show” from New York to Los Angeles, marking the brand’s first expansion. Friedman and his partner, Mark Lonow, would go on to open 22 Improvs across 12 states before selling the company in February 2018 to Levity Entertainment Group.

His comedy clubs also helped provide a platform for superstars like Adam Sandler, Richard Lewis, Dick Cavett, David Steinberg, Steve Landesberg, David Brenner, Lily Tomlin, Freddie Prinze, Gabe Kaplan, Chris Rock,...

Budd Friedman, the Broadway producer who founded The Improv comedy club franchise and kickstarted the careers of some of Hollywood’s biggest comic voices, died of heart failure Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 90 years old.

“The comedy world lost a giant today,” the Hollywood Improv wrote in a statement Saturday evening. “In 1963 he changed the world of comedy by creating the first comedy club for the masses to come together in laughter. In 1963 he changed the world. He went global. He was a pioneer. He was a gentleman. He was a luminary.”

The comedy world lost a giant today.

In 1963 he changed the world of comedy by creating the first comedy club for the masses to come together in laughter.

In 1963 he changed the world.

He went global.

He was a pioneer.

He was a gentleman.

He was a luminary. pic.twitter.com/l1pA38AGww

— Hollywood Improv (@HollywoodImprov...

Budd Friedman, the comedy club pioneer who founded the original Improv in New York in 1963 and gave early career breaks to the likes of Jay Leno, Robert Klein, Bette Midler, Richard Pryor and Andy Kaufman, has died. He was 90.

Friedman died Saturday of heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his wife, Alix, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Three years after Johnny Carson and The Tonight Show departed Manhattan for Burbank, Friedman opened a Hollywood outpost of the Improv on Melrose Avenue in 1975 in his first expansion of the brand.

There were 22 Improvs across 12 states in February 2018 when Friedman and partner Mark Lonow sold the company to Levity Entertainment Group, whose investors included Irving Azoff.

At his flagship New York hotspot, located at West 44th Street and Ninth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen, Friedman also employed Rodney Dangerfield as an Mc, Elayne Boosler...

The guy who helped give Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David their starts in stand-up is looking to unload his Hollywood Hills pad. Mark Lonow -- a longtime partner at The Improv comedy club franchise -- is selling the 5 bedroom, 3 bath crib for $2 million. He's lived in the 3,700 square foot property for the last 16 years.  Easy to see why Mark, who's also actor and producer, stayed so long -- gorgeous hardwood floors, high vaulted ceilings and...

Epix wants to keep its subs laughing as the days get longer. The premium net today announced the lineup for its summer season of Comedy Unbound, featuring new stand-ups by Jim Breuer, Sherri Shepherd and others, which kicks off in June. Then in the fall, Epix will bow The Improv: 50 Years Behind The Brick Wall, an hourlong anniversary special about the venerable comedy clubs that have infiltrated more than two dozen U.S. cities in the past half-century. Expect comments from such punchline-practiced vets as Larry David, Jim Carrey, Judd Apatow, Billy Crystal, Keenen Ivory Wayans and Whitney Cummings. EPs are Improv founder Budd Friedman, Mark Lonow and Spotted Dog Entertainment. The Comedy Unbound specials will air at 10 Pm starting June 7 with Jim Breuer: And Laughter For All. They’ll continue with Sherri Shepherd: It’s My Time To Talk (June 21), Tom Papa: Freaked Out (July 26) and Jim Norton...

Comedy Central has picked up a new pop-culture debate series starring Lewis Black.

The show, titled The Root of All Evil, aims to put "pop culture on trial," the network said. It features Black as moderator pitting two celebrities or pop culture topics -- such as Paris Hilton vs. Dick Cheney or YouTube vs. porn -- against each other in an open debate setting in which rotating comedians argue over which is most evil. Black will make the final decision.

"Who better to serve as the great decider for all that is evil than Lewis Black?" said Lauren Corrao, executive vp original programming and development at Comedy Central.

Corrao noted that Black has been a "mainstay" on the network with hosting gigs, stand-up specials and Back in Black segments on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart." She said Root will showcase his "insight and personality."

The network has ordered eight half-hour episodes for a March premiere.

Black also is executive producing with Scott Carter and David Sacks. Jo Anne Astrow and Mark Lonow are the co-executive producers.

Acid-tongued comedian Lewis Black has inked a development deal with Sony Pictures Television to star in a half-hour or an hour series project built around his cantankerous stage persona. Black, a regular contributor on Comedy Central's The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, is on a nationwide tour. Upcoming for the comedian are the release of his book, Nothing's Sacred; the DVD of his HBO special, Lewis Black: Black on Broadway; and stand-up CD, Lewis Black: Luther Burbank Performing Arts Center Blues. Black also will return as host of the Pollstar Concert Industry Awards, set for Feb 4. Black, who starred in a comedy pilot from Victor Fresco that was in consideration at ABC this past development season, was repped in the deal with SPT by Matt Ochacher at the Agency for the Performing Arts, and attorney John Moonves. Black is managed by Joanne Astrow and Mark Lonow.