Saturday, June 1, 2019

"The Comedy Store" Comedian Steve Lubetkin SUICIDE 1979


Steve Lubetkin (July 23, 1948 - June 1, 1979) was a stand-up comedian. Steve Lubetkin was born in New York. He moved west to Los Angeles to further his career and became involved in the 1979 comedian strike at The Comedy Store comedy club on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. After the strike became settled, Lubetkin found it difficult to obtain work. Reportedly, he made less than $1000 income during the last year of his life.





On June 1, 1979, Steve Lubetkin committed suicide by throwing himself off the top of the 14 story Continental Hyatt House next door to The Comedy Store. He landed on the cement parking ramp between the hotel and the comedy club.


His suicide note included: "My name is Steve Lubetkin. I used to work at the Comedy Store." Lubetkin hoped that his suicide would resolve the labor dispute. He also cited club owner Mitzi Shore as the reason he no longer had a job. Reportedly, Lubetkin's girlfriend left a promotional poster of Lubetkin in Shore's office and wrote "Got the message" on her wall with a marker.

Steve Lubetkin's suicide story is discussed in the E! TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORY episode "The Comedy Store."




7 comments:

  1. Is that the one known as the "Riot House" where a lot of the big rock stars stayed back in the day?

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  2. Wow, cool piece. A tragic tale for sure. They just mentioned this on “Ghost Adventures,” so I was curious about the details.

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  3. The Comedy Store is shrouded in decades of intrigue,.mystery, violence, sadness and negative energy. I've investigated over a hundred reported hauntings -- allegedly haunted buildings and locations. The Comedy Store had an impact on me that I will never fully recover from. This is the first and only place that had me fearful for my safety. Believe what you will -- and to each their own -- but The Comedy Store is inhabited by a number of negative entities and restless spiritual energies. The most haunted place I have ever stepped foot in.

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  5. Poor guy. It was very unfair that the comedians weren't paid at the Comedy Store, because the female owner claimed they were 'promoting themselves'. They put the 'comedy' into the 'store', and were making her big bucks - which she didn't care to share with them! I wonder if she felt guilty about Steve's suicide? Weirdly a had a vivid nightmare last night, about a guy jumping from a tall building. I did a Google search to find out if someone was trying to reach me, and found Steve Lubetkin's story. I was 10 years old when he died and never knew him, but have a lifelong affinity for comedy, and from '86 was a regular at the London Comedy Store. Who knows if the dead reach out to the living, but if they do I'll wager it happens when we are in a twilight state of consciousness.

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