How easy could opening up a night in
Hollywood be for an up and coming star?
Well, as it turned out it wasn’t easy at all.
Torry learned first hand of the struggles
of what life would eventually become
by trying to be a local promoter,
along with all of the back biting
and back stabbing among his
fellow comedians.
But despite it all, Torry held his
head up high and was able to
create excellent opportunities
for many rising stars. Comedians
like Nick Cannon, who at that
time was a teenager trying to
just get on stage somewhere,
was given stage time, along
with Chris Tucker, Cedric The
Entertainer, Mike Epps, Kevin
Hart, DL Hughley, Chris
Spencer, Red Grant, Melanie
Comarcho, Mo’Nique, and
many, many, more. Finally
there was a place for these
comedians to be seen on THIS
side of Pico (a street in L.A.)
since no one was going in the
hood to see anybody.
With the comedians hitting the
stages, it opened the door for
producers, filmmakers and
agents looking to cast
Comedians a place to scout new
talent. Prime example; Chris
Tucker was seen on stage
performing at Phat Tuesdays and
studio execs and producers of the
film The Fifth Element (who were
unsure of casting Tucker in the role)
knew right away that they were
going to cast him in that film after
seeing his performance on stage.
If you know the history of Phat Tuesdays,
there were tons and tons of these types
of stories coming out of The Comedy
Store, and there is not enough space to
tell you all of them.
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