Hey guys, I'm Iliza Shlesinger,
and my new film Good On Paper is out now on Netflix.
And I'm going to go where no one's ever gone before.
Into a comedy club in the daylight.
This is my first film that I wrote and starred in.
And I wanted to take a big piece of who I am
and a big piece of my life and put it in the movie.
And so shooting here at the Comedy Store
was really special because I spent so much of my life here.
And so much of my comedy, of course, informs this film
and the people and the types of friendships I make.
And the Comedy Store is the beating heart
of my comedy career here in Los Angeles.
And that's why I wanted to include it.
This black beating heart.
This is the wall.
This is a big part of what sets the Comedy Store apart
from other clubs is that all the paid regulars
get their names on the wall at a certain point.
And that's how you know, you're officially
a part of the Comedy Store family.
That, and the mental scarring.
I got my name on the wall.
It was like over 10 years ago.
And I don't remember the night
but what I do remember is that
it was originally here.
So that when the door opened
half of it was cut off and
none of these names were here
and it was the closest name,
fun fact, to the men's room.
And I wrote an email and I said, do me a favor.
I spent every night of my life for a decade here.
Can we make it a little less horrible?
And so they repainted it.
And I think they initially had a C
which is why this is such a tight line right here.
This comedy club has three rooms.
It's not that magical,
but the first room is the Belly Room.
That's where every comic's journey sort of begins.
Not every comic, can't speak for every comic.
All the good ones though.
Let's go.
So this is the Belly Room.
You don't have to be a paid regular to perform here
but it's where a lot of comics in their nascent stages
of their career come to work out.
It's called the Belly Room.
A lot of people think it's because belly laughs,
which would be a normal, logical conclusion,
but it's actually called the Belly Room because
when it was Ciro's nightclub,
when this whole building was
owned and operated by the mob,
this is the room, I know you were wondering,
where their girlfriends would come to get illegal abortions.
And that is why Mitzi Shore named it the Belly Room.
At least that's the story I was told.
Over here if you go all the way to the bottom,
this is my first head shot.
I don't know what we were going for.
I don't know why for a comic, we took such a serious photo.
I think when you're in your twenties, you're like,
I'll do, I'll just be whatever you need me to be.
So we did gray eyeshadow and a side part updo.
But that is a headshot that
I still have a lot of copies of.
This is the Original Room and
this is the room that makes great comics.
If you are a fan of a Comedy Store comic,
they were forged from the fires of
scrutiny of audience eyeballs in this room.
I think it makes great comics kind of like
a diamond with pressure or something.
Only the pressure is drunk people
from Des Moines, visiting here on like
a corporate retreat.
And they want to see what you got.
This is where I spend most nights of the week
when I'm in town.
I always liken the OR to like an abusive boyfriend.
Don't @ me.
It's really hard to be with them.
And they make you feel really bad about yourself.
But when it's good, it feels really good,
and you can't stay away.
I don't know what one does to get their name in neon.
It seems pretty random.
I don't know if you have to make a donation,
save a platypus,
write up something nice on Yelp, unclear.
But I will look into it.
She's the sweetest girl.
She doesn't like to leave the house.
She likes to sit in the laundry basket.
The best part about being a Comedy Store regular
is of course free dogs.
They just roam throughout the halls,
and if you can catch one, it'll grant you three wishes.
This is Margaret Cho's dog.
My friend Margaret Cho.
Hi.
Your hair's so cute.
Thank you.
It took a very long time to do.
Here.
Thank you so much.
This is the Main Room and this is
the room you want to be in
on a Friday or a Saturday night.
Particularly a Saturday night.
The booths are super old Hollywood,
super gangster.
Really cool to see this carpet in the light.
I see why we do this at night.
We chose to shoot the comedy club scenes
for Good On Paper upstairs
and not here in the Main Room because
it was too expensive.
And we couldn't get enough extras.
This is a place that I've spent more time
than I have with my family or in my own home.
This is an iconic Green Room.
It's been around since the dawn of comedy.
This is the famous mirrored piano
that they used to do cocaine off of.
I mean, obviously.
It's a giant mirror.
You usually run into the comic who
is going one or two after you.
It's never that full.
It always smells like weed.
But this is where relationships are forged.
You get to catch up with other comics
especially after Corona, like our first show back,
like there were like four of us
and we all just kind of sat here
and we were just beaming.
Just happy to be back here
in our Green Room with the door ajar
listening to see where the other person got laughs.
So no glamorous career in show business is complete
without having to walk through a kitchen to get to work.
A lot of people think it's all velvet green rooms
and personal servants, but we've seen Goodfellas.
You gotta go in through the kitchen.
This is just a hallway, a lot of running back and forth
and just hanging out with people takes place.
Cause that's the Belly Room.
And that leads you out to go to the OR and the Main Room.
So, I've definitely shot like
funny MySpace videos in this hallway.
It is like a living, breathing beast
that will reward you, if you give it your entire soul.
Normally I end stuff like this by saying
come on out and see me.
But, in this case, stay home.
Stay home and watch Good On Paper, June 23rd.
Do not come out to the Comedy Store
and do not come out and see me.
Stay home.
Watch it.
Even after you're done watching it, play it again.
You can leave the room, just keep feeding that algorithm.
I do hope you enjoy my movie
because it was a labor of love.
And I got to make it at my home club
and I'm very proud of that.
And now I will disappear.
Into the thing.
Where's the door?