JAMIE MASADA : Foreman of the Factory

“I don’t ever like to talk about what I’ve done for successful comedians,” says Laugh Factory proprietor Jamie Masada. “I can only talk about what they’ve done for me. Comedians have made me what I am, and without them I’d be nobody.”

Masada plunged into the Hollywood comedy scene in 1974, a 14-year-old Israeli emigre traveling without family, without much money, and with oversized dreams of stand-up stardom. He quickly garnered a taste of the comic spotlight when he made the jump from busboy work to stage time at the Comedy Store.

“I got to follow Redd Foxx one night,” he recalls. “I started my routine, and then Redd came back up to give me some help. We told dirty jokes together. That was my baptism in show business.”

Masada continued to work as a performer, but he also began to sense that local comics needed an alternative to the established venues around town. In December, 1979, using borrowed money, Masada turned a small Sunset Boulevard storefront into the Laugh Factory.

It was rough going at first, with Masada working every night as emcee, doorman and maintenance worker. Insiders were giving odds on how long the new owner’s folly would last, but Masada thought he’d found his calling.

“I brought in a group of older people from the Fairfax District one night, just to give the comics an audience,” he says. “These people came in looking sad and beaten down and left with their faces lit up. That’s when I knew I was in the right business.”

And the business has been good to him. He expanded the club to its present size in 1987, and he’s watched many of the biggest names in comedy work their craft on his stage, including Jerry Seinfeld, Roseanne Arnold, Damon Wayans and Tim Allen. Masada still takes the time to give personal attention to each performer at the club’s Tuesday open-mike nights.

Masada acknowledges that times are tough for the clubs, but he believes that owners will determine their own destiny:

“We’re here to make people laugh and enjoy themselves. A lot of owners forgot that during the boom. They herded people in like cattle, got two drinks’ worth out of them, and kicked them out. Who wants to go back for that? Simple courtesy would bring people back to the clubs.

“We shouldn’t blame TV, and we shouldn’t blame the comics. It’s up to club owners whether or not comedy gets healthy again. If we change our attitude, the business is still there.”