[2] Shore's husband Sammy co-founded The Comedy Store in 1972 alongside screenwriter and actor Rudy De Luca.

[5] Sammy was later quoted in 2003 by the Los Angeles Times as explaining that he "relinquished control of the club to lower his alimony payments".

[6] Shortly after she took full control, Shore obtained a significant cash loan from comedian Shecky Greene to help ensure continued operations.

[6] Comedians whose rise to fame was associated with working at the Comedy Store include Roseanne Barr, Bill Burr, Jim Carrey, Chevy Chase, Andrew Dice Clay, Joey Diaz, Whoopi Goldberg, Bobcat Goldthwait, Tony Hinchcliffe, Sam Kinison, Bobby Lee, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Sebastian Maniscalco, Marc Maron, Carlos Mencia, Joe Rogan, Jerry Seinfeld, Garry Shandling, Duncan Trussell, Robin Williams, and John Witherspoon.

[2][4][5] Shore refused to pay comics who performed in her club, insisting that the venue was a sort of "college of comedy" where comedians learned their craft rather than a money-making enterprise.

[10] As early as 1978, Shore had converted the upstairs section of The Comedy Store into the Belly Room: a 50-seat audience for which she exclusively booked female comedians.

At the time, professional comedy was very much a "boys' club", and bookings for female comedians were rare; opportunities for women to perform their own stand-up material with the most popular comics in the U.S. were unheard of.

[4] In the 1990s, once female comics had become more established, Shore continued to cross boundaries with her audience by creating specialty nights for Latino, gay and lesbian performers.