![]() ![]() The comedy club icon is survived by his wife Jeannie, sons Jonathan and Richie Jr., daughters Jacqui, Dawn Marie and Christina, five grandchildren and two great grand-children, Gurian said.Eddie Murphy began doing stand-up comedy as a teenager and later joined the cast of Saturday Night Live. He was a tower of strength and an icon in the world of comedy.” “It wasn’t easy for him to speak,” Gurian said. The club owner had battled throat cancer. He later returned to the Bronx to run a Bingo hall, which he ultimately parlayed into buying seven bars before segueing into the comedy world. Tienken left home at 13, he said in a 2019 profile, after he’d been caught stealing a car and was afraid he’d be put into reform school. Then he called me everyday during my two month convalescence.” When I was sick in the hospital with COVID double pneumonia last March, he called me every day, and actually offered to come and drive me home from the hospital. Gurian, who hosted a podcast from the club, also recalled to us that Tienken “was also a nurturer with friends. Another future “SNL” star, Quinn, was a bartender at the comedy spot, until he had to quit to perform since staffers were not allowed on stage. It’s also where “SNL” stars such as Colin Jost and Pete Davidson came to perform and work out new material.Ĭhris Rock was also discovered at the club and wrote an introduction to Gurian’s book. The club was also known as a home to performers including George Wallace, Ray Romano, Paul Reiser and Colin Quinn. Tienken once said in an interview, “Larry David came into me one day and asked me if he could have a hamburger … I said: ‘What?’ And he said: ‘Yeah, I haven’t eaten.'” He was the first of all the club owners to create a schedule where comics knew what time they were going on.” In the early days, he fed with hamburgers, gave them T-shirts and Comic Strip jackets to wear and made sure they got stage time. Gurian told us, “Richie was a nurturer of talent. Tienken managed Murphy for the first 11 years of his career, and was a producer on Murphy films including “Beverly Hills Cop II” and “The Golden Child,” as well as his classic specials, “Raw” and “Delirious.” Tienken also managed Adam Sandler, who wanted to emulate Murphy’s career, the star has said. Tienken then allowed the future superstar onstage when he returned and apologized. He told him if he didn’t like waiting he could leave, and he did!” He was a little cocky and acted impatiently about not getting onstage right away, so Bob threw him out. Gurian told The Post when another of the club’s co-owners, Robert Wachs, passed away in 2013 at 73: “Eddie was a teenager at the time. Murphy was infamously thrown out of the Upper East Side haunt when he first showed up to perform. Seinfeld returned to the club for a 2017 Netflix special. ![]() They rated him as ‘good,’ and said he should come back the next week to start performing.” The club was where Jerry Seinfeld and Eddie Murphy famously got their starts.Īccording to club historian Gurian: “The club opened on June 1, 1976, and on June 17, Seinfeld came in to audition. He added that, “His wife Jeannie was the last to see him, and then he left, like he was waiting for her OK. ![]() Tienken passed away on Saturday, “with his family able to say goodbye one at a time due to COVID,” Jeffrey Gurian, author of a 2016 book on the club, “ Laughing Legends: How The Comic Strip Changed The Face of Comedy,” confirmed to Page Six. Comedians are in mourning over the news that Richie Tienken - founder and co-owner of legendary Comic Strip Live comedy club - has died, Page Six has learned. ![]()
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