LA club’s podcasts featuring Dave Chappelle raise over $100K for struggling comedians

A Los Angeles stand-up comedy venue reportedly raised more than $100,000 as part of a live podcast benefit series. 

The Comedy Store’s three-part podcast raised the $100,000 to benefit struggling comedians, with Dave Chappelle appearing as the surprise guest from his home in Ohio in the show’s final segment last week, Entertainment Weekly reports.

Earlier segments featured Whitney Cummings and Chris D’Elia.

The podcast is available to watch on The Comedy Store’s YouTube page. 

The Comedy Store closed down on March 13. The venue said in a statement earlier this month it has continued to pay all employees and “would like to continue to do so.” 

“It may be a while until The Store will be able to open our doors again and we would like to ensure financial stability to our regular comedians and staff. We are now accepting donations through The Motion Picture Television Fund directly through our site,” the venue said in a statement. 

Businesses across California have shut down as the state remains under a stay-at-home order in response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

California reported 42,164 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,710 deaths as of Saturday.