Comedy and Magic Club plans comeback in Hermosa Beach
Jay Leno and Mike Lacey in the Comedy and Magic Club greenroom, where Rosanne Barr scratched out Jerry Seinfeld’s name. Photo by Kevin Cody by Kevin Cody Among Hermosa Beach residents’ foremost, post pandemic concerns is whether or not Comedy and Magic Club will reopen. For four decades, Comedy and Magic has been the anchor point to Hermosa’s cultural identity. The Lighthouse may be better known, but Comedy and Magic’s contributions to Hermosa, and to popular culture, have been more far reaching. It’s where Jay Leno tested jokes every Sunday night during his 1992 to 2014 reign as “The Tonight Show” host. He’d read jokes from index cards and toss the cards that didn’t get laughs over his shoulder. The cards that got laughs became the following week’s opening monologue, heard by “The Tonight Show’s” 14 million viewers. The “Larry Sanders Show’s Gary Shandling. Shandling appeared beforme the Hermosa Beach City Council on behalf of the Comedy nd Magic Club. Photos by Kevin Cody It’s where Jerry Seinfeld first headlined when he moved to Los Angeles in the early ‘80s. And where Seinfeld returned to stand-up when “Seinfeld” ended in 1998. And it’s where, one night in the Comedy and Magic…
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