The Improv

Originally, it was a 50-seat single venue (which immediately prior, housed a Vietnamese restaurant[1]) founded on 20 April 1963,[2] by Budd Friedman and his future wife, Silver (née Schreck[3]) Saundors,[4] and located at 358 West 44th Street,[2] at Ninth Avenue, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City near the southeast corner of 9th Ave.

[6][7] A second location was opened in 1974 at 8162 Melrose Avenue in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California (which immediately prior housed the Ash Grove, a folk music venue).

In 1979, Mark Lonow became a general partner and with Budd Friedman ran the Melrose club and oversaw the expansion of the single room as it became a successful chain.

[14] The Improv was the place to see Richard Pryor, Robert Klein, Steve Landesberg, Bette Midler, Lily Tomlin, Jay Leno, and others when they were just starting out.

[citation needed] Silver Friedman auditioned and rejected Eddie Murphy, a regular at The Comic Strip in New York City, for being "too vulgar",[3] and he eventually performed at the Improv in Los Angeles when he was only 15 years old.