Budd Friedman’s accidental multi-comic show innovation was spreading across the country like a venereal disease. Before the decade was out, hundreds of new clubs would emerge, providing aspiring comics an income (often cash) and valuable stage time. Journalists would identify this era as the Comedy Boom.

These new comedy clubs were primarily converted live music venues, restaurants, movie theaters, nightclubs, discos, break rooms, bowling alleys, bars, and hotel conference rooms. They would present, depending on the local demand, a full week of shows, just weekends, or some combination of the two. A Wednesday through Sunday booking was very common.

Individual comedy nights, known as “one-nighters,” also popped up like weeds.

Whether it was a plush 300-seater or a cramped banquet room in the corner of a Chinese restaurant, most of these rooms required four things.

1. A liquor license.
2. Access to talent.
3. A working microphone system.
4. Tables and chairs.

The sale of alcohol was the economic locomotive of the 1980s comedy club explosion. Several club owners were genuine stand-up aficionados, but they were the exception. Overwhelmingly these venues existed to sell booze and maybe some bar food. So, any venue that already had a liquor license, which in certain regions still meant a mob association, became a potential location for a new club. Most full-time comedy clubs required both a cover charge and an alcohol minimum (usually two drinks) for attendees.

The interstate highway system, cheap gas, and low-cost air travel facilitated the whole enterprise. Just as the railroads had once made the vaudeville circuit possible.