- Hey guys, I'm Iliza.
A career in stand-up comedy does not just happen overnight.
It doesn't even happen over a couple of years.
It happens over many, many years
and many, many, many what we call, spots.
And I have forged my career in stand-up comedy
by doing tens of thousands of small spots
in various locations, in weird places, all around LA.
And I'm gonna show you a couple of spots
where I got my start.
Can you open this?
(enchanted playful music)
I'm gonna take you on a tour of spots that I did
before I was anyone.
Sets that I did at spots
after I was kind of someone.
Places that I still go now.
A lot of these spots around town don't even exist anymore.
If you do comedy in LA long enough
you live to see all of your favorite spots become a CVS.
(car engine revving)
This used to be a restaurant called Amalfi,
and there used to be a bar above it called Room 5.
And it was in that window.
Room 5 was the first spot that I ever did in LA.
I remember a friend, another comic,
said he'd introduce me to the booker,
and they did shows on Thursdays.
So I would come here after work
and I would sit at the bar at Amalfi
and I would order like a $20 pasta dish
that I definitely couldn't afford,
but I would just kill time until the show.
That was where I got my start,
above a restaurant that doesn't exist,
in a bar that doesn't exist anymore.
It was really cool to get to take you guys back here
because I don't know what it is now.
Some sort of open air, restaurant concept.
Next to a rug store.
(car engine revving)
So this bar right here, 1253,
right under the Crispy Crust Pizza
used to be a bar called M Bar.
And any LA comic is probably like, "Oh my God, M Bar!"
And a lot of us did it.
There were a lot of shows they ran out of there
'cause they had a stage and like real tables.
And it was like a real performance area,
like almost like a cabaret.
And I spent many a night there.
And many a night hanging out with my best friend,
listening to Heart in the car,
in between sets. It wasn't the 80s.
We just really enjoyed female rock.
It's a nice era.
What was great was you could catch another set
right down the street at this bar called Three Clubs,
which is still there.
So this is Three Clubs.
And you would go do your other sets,
and this was one of the other Hollywood sets
you could catch.
And there was this really gritty parking.
And I remember there was a boxing gym,
which is actually still there, and you parked back there
behind the building.
And there was no security.
Like you're just in the dark hoping there was a spot,
hoping you're gonna be okay.
I remember I was given like 20 minutes, 30 minutes,
which you didn't get anywhere else.
And they did a lot of showcases
for a lot of comedy festivals here.
And it became like a serious venue
that people would run like independent showcases out of.
But I would like bust my hump to get here,
to get those sets in.
Because it was one of the better rooms.
This is like nine years ago.
Yeah, Three Clubs.
Had a couple birthday parties here too.
Mixing work and pleasure.
(car engine revving)
So if there's one thing that is quintessentially LA,
it is the impermanence of establishments.
And right here was a Mexican restaurant called Acapulco.
It's now Sycamore Tavern,
but I think it's also like a wing pop-up,
like for transient individuals now.
But when it was Acapulco, they had an upstairs,
and they would run a show there.
I couldn't tell you the night
but I've definitely done stand-up
in what was an Acapulco Mexican family eatery,
which is now Sycamore Tavern,
which next week will be like a free clinic or something.
(car engine revving)
So we're right in the heart of Holly...
I feel like a newscaster.
I'm like, "The issue occurred on the 700 block."
So we're right in the heart of Hollywood.
I tried to do as many sets as possible in Hollywood,
so I don't have to drive too far.
But this is the Hotel Cafe.
And they're pretty much known for doing music.
And the only reason this is on our tour
is because the night that I met
the man that is now my husband,
I had a set that I was planning
on leaving our date to go do.
And the date went really well.
And I said, "Do you want to come see the show?
Because if this works out,
you're gonna have to see the act at some point."
So my now husband came, saw my set,
and then we went out and got very drunk.
But this was the first time he saw me do comedy live.
I don't know if he was a fan before.
Just go ahead.
Since we didn't get a permit.
(car engine revving)
This is now called Hyde,
and I've done stand-up comedy there.
I did an ELLE Women in Comedy showcase
where Leslie Jones kicked a light and broke it.
I'll never forget it.
It was amazing.
(car engine revving)
In the pandemic, bookers and comics
had to exercise some ingenuity.
And because comedy is such an adaptable art,
we were able to find homes in new venues.
So this one is called The Whitley,
and it's basically an area between two buildings,
between two nightclubs, but for about six months now,
I've made this my home.
It's a show that we do in the round, but under the stars.
So it's like COVID-friendly.
But this has become a constant spot for a lot of big comics
and a great place to work out.
And I've put together pretty much a new hour,
due largely to doing shows here
over the past several months.
You do what you can with what you have.
You can do stand-up comedy in a bar.
You can do it in a box, with a fox.
You can do it in a backyard.
I've done stand-up comedy on hotel roofs, basements,
amphitheaters, drive-ins, fields, in a furniture store,
in an attic, in a storage space,
in a vineyard, music festivals
where like maybe they shouldn't have had a comic.
I have done stand-up comedy in an airplane hangar.
No matter how bad or weird the gig is,
you will always leave that show
this much better of a comic than you were before.
Even if you totally eat it,
it makes you that much stronger.
So you do it for the experience.
It's why I did a stand-up tour during the pandemic,
as a drive-in show,
because every show makes you a better comic
and it's-- there's no wrong way
to bring people entertainment, unless they don't want it.
(car engine revving)
This is what was the Cat Club.
It's now Rock & Reilly's, an Irish bar.
It probably doesn't even remotely look the same inside
as it did, but this is just a small slice
of all the shows that I've done
and all the information that sort of informed
my movie, Good on Paper, now streaming on Netflix.