comedy club franchise . for the indian comedy show see the improv india . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . october 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message improv on melrose avenue in los angeles irvine improv the improv is a comedy club franchise . originally it was a single venue founded in 1963 by budd friedman and located in the hell s kitchen neighborhood of new york city on west 44th near the se corner of 9th ave. 1 a second location was opened in 1974 at 8162 melrose avenue in the fairfax district of los angeles california the old location of the ash grove . 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 . in 1982 the la improv became the original site for the a & e network television series an evening at the improv running from 1982 until 1996 and was produced by larry o daly created by o daly and barbara hosie o daly with budd friedman as a warm up host . other locations have opened since then such as in tampa florida 2 fort lauderdale florida 2 atlantic city 3 and louisville kentucky . 2 levity entertainment group is the largest shareholder of the improv comedy clubs . 4 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 . dustin hoffman played piano there . on any given night in the later 1970s one could see gilbert gottfried joe piscopo bruce mahler mark schiff larry david and many others . often famous comedians would walk in to work out before appearances on the tonight show . it was not unusual to find celebrities in the audience . nearly every big name in comedy has played the improv including richard belzer milton berle drew carey george carlin chevy chase bill cosby billy crystal rodney dangerfield jeff dunham bill engvall jeff foxworthy bill hicks carol leifer david letterman richard lewis bill maher marc maron steve martin dennis miller larry miller liza minnelli freddie prinze paul reiser joan rivers joe rogan jerry seinfeld and ron white . 5 new and upcoming performers have performed there as well . comedy central s dave attell frequents improv locations in tampa and hollywood . comics lewis black mike birbiglia louis ck and jimmy fallon have performed at the improv in louisville kentucky . 2 comedian eddie murphy was a regular at the comic strip in new york city but in california performed at the improv when he was only 15 years old citation needed jeremy ruder at 18 and jim carrey at 19 . karen black debra winger and barry manilow among others worked there as waitresses hosts or musicians before becoming famous . 6 contents 1 locations 2 see also 3 references 4 external links locations edit the following is a list of current improv locations 2 addison texas dallas area arlington texas atlanta georgia brea california chicago illinois cleveland ohio denver colorado fort lauderdale florida hollywood california houston texas irvine california kansas city missouri lake tahoe nevada las vegas nevada louisville kentucky 3 ontario california orlando florida palm beach florida pittsburgh pennsylvania san jose california tampa florida tempe arizona washington d.c. the following is a list of past improv locations 1 atlantic city new jersey 3 baltimore maryland london united kingdom miami florida new york city new york reno nevada san diego california san francisco california schaumburg illinois see also edit list of new york improv comedians references edit a b improv comedy clubs . retrieved 5 october 2015 . a b c d e improv comedy clubs . retrieved 5 october 2015 . a b c charleston rita . budd friedman knows success northeast times 30 october 2003 . levity entertainment offers groundbreaking marketing services for comedy clients . stage time . july 15 2009 . retrieved august 12 2009 . improv comedy clubs . retrieved 5 october 2015 . improv comedy clubs . retrieved 5 october 2015 . external links edit official website the improv atlanta improv in louisville kentucky interview with chris albrecht retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title the improv & oldid 743494232 categories comedy clubs in the united stateslandmarks in los angeles1963 establishments in new yorkcomedy clubs in californiahidden categories articles needing additional references from october 2009all articles needing additional referencesall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from october 2009 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity 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