COVER STORY : Hit the Ground Laughing : Fond remembrances from veteran Groundlings Jon Lovitz, Cassandra Peterson, Kathy Griffin.

Once upon a time there was a comedy theater populated with not-ready-for-big-time players. Some became Not Ready for Prime Time Players. Some became prime-time players.

Twenty-five years later, the theater itself is a prime-time player. The Groundlings is a spawning ground for television and the movies, and it is that oddity in Los Angeles: a theater with longevity.

The improvisational comedy troupe has defied the odds. “At the beginning and through many years, it was really struggling,” says general manager Allison Kingsley.

The company, which is both a theater and a school, is celebrating this pivotal anniversary with two weeks of shows beginning Friday with a tribute to the late Groundling alumnus Phil Hartman.

“We wanted to celebrate the past and celebrate where we are now,” says Kingsley.

The troupe actually began in 1972 as the Gary Austin Workshop. Two years later the workshop had evolved into the Groundlings. Since then, such well-known and popular performers as Laraine Newman, Lisa Kudrow, Paul Reubens, Kathy Griffin, Jon Lovitz, Chris Kattan, Julia Sweeney, Cheri Oteri and Will Farrell honed their comic craft as Groundlings. Reubens first performed his boy-man Pee-wee Herman as a Groundling and Lovitz developed his personas of the Master Thespian and the Liar there.

The reason for the company’s longevity, says Kingsley, is that the Groundlings have constantly evolved. “We are constantly adding different shows to our menu of shows. We try different things. We tried a TV show [on FX] and so many of our members go off to do amazing things in their own lives. That definitely helps keeps the theater alive and exciting.”

“The thing about the Groundlings is that it truly is a family,” says Kingsley, “whether you are a student here or an audience member who has been coming for 10 years. We are an intimate space and our classes are small in size. The great thing about this place is that it is just a creative space.”

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Calendar Weekend asked some Groundling alumni to write or talk about their memories:

Gary Austin

Member of Groundlings 1972-79; now an actor, singer and director who teaches acting in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and at Colorado State University.

In August of 1972, I began directing what came to be known as the Gary Austin workshop, and after about a year I suggested that we do a show for our friends. The work of the workshop was such that I wanted to share it with an audience. We did all manner of things that night: Moliere, Pinter and Albee, and improv and written material that started out as improv. The show entertained, so we did a few more shows at our workshop space, which was at the corner of 1st and Vermont. Then we did a show at the Ash Grove on Melrose. That location is now the Improv.

In 1974, I called a meeting at a restaurant in the neighborhood. Sitting around the table were Victor Paddock, Dick Frattail, Tracy Newman, Rosemary Barger and Tom Maxwell. I satisfied their curiosity by announcing that I wanted to start a company and we began to explore the idea.

During my seven years at the Groundlings, it was the work itself that gave us joy. We loved what we were doing. From the night at the Oxford Theatre when we had only one audience member through the nights at the Improv and our own Groundling Theatre when we had to turn people away, we just wanted to do this Groundling Thing. We attended workshops all week, and the best stuff from the workshops went into the shows on the weekends.

Laraine Newman

1972-75; actress, “Saturday Night Live”

Nobody got paid in those days. We contributed to the rent, and I think that was about it. Gary Austin encouraged all of us, and his unmistakable laughs (as if Woody Woodpecker was from Texas) from the audience were more precious to the performer than gold. He directed us with unconditional love. I think that’s the reason we thrived.

Then it came time to vote on a name for our company. I felt that the Groundlings made us sound like a bunch of Renaissance Faire hippies and that the Working Class had much more credibility. When I started to do “Saturday Night Live,” I was the only cast member that didn’t come from a big-time improv group. John [Belushi] and Danny [Aykroyd] would always razz me, saying, “What’s that group you come from . . . the Groundhogs?” It gives me tremendous satisfaction to see how many cast members of the subsequent eras of “SNL” come from the Groundlings.

Tracy Newman

1972-1985; Emmy-winning writer on “Ellen,” producer on “The Drew Carey Show”

Around 1972, when I first walked into Gary Austin’s workshop at the Cellar Theatre, I was overcome with excitement and a debilitating fear of improvising. I don’t know how long it took me to summon the nerve to actually get up on stage with those people, maybe six classes, but then I was hooked. In my first 15 years as a Groundling, I leaned to write, rewrite, teach and perform. My entire social life was wrapped up in that place through the ‘70s and half of the ‘80s. I made lifelong friendships. I owe so much to the Groundlings, at least a couple of hundred dollars. Someday I’m going to pay it back. If laughter really heals, then because of the Groundlings, I’ve stored up a lot of powerful medicine.

Tom Maxwell

1972-89; former director of the Groundlings, executive producer of “Just Shoot Me”

The thing that really helped us initially was when the Los Angeles Times gave us a good review. That kind of got us rolling.

Lily Tomlin became a fan and used some of the people in it for a TV special she did. The Groundlings became a source of talent, especially when Laraine Newman got on “Saturday Night Live.” Then when we got the theater on Melrose, that was such a great location. When we first moved there, there was not much really on the street. But it was a fortuitous location. It was an inside place for industry people to come to and it was a great alternative place for people to come with dates.

Edie McClurg

1974-85; actress, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”

Another theater we rented [prior to the space on Melrose] was the home of the Kentucky Fried Theatre, the White House. Only because it was painted white outside--the inside was like every other equity-waiver theater at that time: painted black with low ceilings, spongy floors and bad roofing. It’s been torn down since then. While we were there, it was during one of the longest constant rainy seasons anyone could remember. The ceilings were like sieves, and the shag carpeting in the office we were using as a woman’s dressing room was soaked. We couldn’t change our shoes without having other shoes to immediately step into, otherwise our hosiery would be soaked.

One night, about three weeks into the run, I looked under the table in the corner and thought I saw one of my hair decorations. I went to pick it up and discovered it was a toadstool-mushroom growing out of the carpet. Our surroundings grew comedic art and fungi. And why not? We were fun guys after all.

Kip King

1975-80; actor; his son is Chris Kattan, 1994-99; actor, “Saturday Night Live”

Close to 25 years ago at L.A.’s Oxford Theatre, Kip King would bring his young son, Chris Kattan, to the theater while he performed with the other members of the Groundlings. Chris would sit in the light booth on the lap of one of the Groundlings or the lighting technician. He would watch the show until his eyelids grew heavy, soon falling fast asleep. When the show was over, Kip would gather him in his arms with great care, so as not to awaken him. He would carefully walk to the car with Chris, placing him gently in the passenger’s seat and covering him with his favorite blanket. Kip quietly climbed into the driver’s seat, put the key into the ignition, and before he could start the engine Chris would wake up screaming, “I don’t want to go home! I want to see the rest of the show!” And it’s been happening that way ever since.

Lynne Marie Stewart

1976-91; Miss Yvonne on “Pee-wee’s Playhouse”

I loved doing alternate-format shows at the Groundlings. How much fun did I have? I got to goof around with my friends Paul Reubens and John Paragon during “The Pee-Wee Herman Show,” play Phil Hartman’s girlfriend twice, kiss my teacher Tom Maxwell in “Waco” and hang out in the girls’ dressing room with my friends during “Olympic Trials: A Chick Hazard Mystery,” the Groundlings’ contribution to the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival. What a lucky girl!

I have found there is a “Groundling Personality”--a funny and offbeat way of looking at the world. It’s timeless and spans generations. I can always go back and take a class, do a Thursday show or splash around [Groundling alum] Deanna Oliver’s pool with current Groundlings. I’m always at home. I’m always with my own. The only thing that has changed is that it’s no longer safe to make out in the back alley by the Dumpster. Oh, the smell of cigarettes, cheap wine and trash.

Cassandra Peterson

1978-81; also known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark

The 4 1/2 years I spent with the Groundlings were some of the hardest but best years of my life, and the friendships I developed there the strongest and most lasting.

I recommend Groundling classes to everyone. Not just aspiring actors and comedians, but doctors, lawyers . . . everyone. I tell them if you have the guts to get up on stage not knowing what you are going to say or do next and risk making a total fool of yourself in front of an audience, you will be prepared for anything. The Groundlings taught me to think on my feet, to roll with the punch and, of course, the importance of a good wig.

Timothy Stack

1980-88; host of E!’s “NightStand”

I met my wife, Jano, in 1981, at the Groundlings. And our two children came from a Groundlings connection as well. . . . We bought them from a guy who works in the kitchen next door at Tommy Tang’s.

Jon Lovitz

1983-85; actor, “Saturday Night Live,” “NewsRadio”

Phil Hartman became like my brother. Phil was like the king of the Groundlings. He was there for about 10 years when I got there. I was in the Sunday company for about a year and then, in 1984, they had the Olympic Arts Festival [show] and I got chosen to understudy one of the parts and he approved it, which was so thrilling because Phil was the star of the Groundlings. He was one of the few people who was making a living. He had a house and a car. No one had that. Maybe they had a car, but nobody had a house.

Robin Schiff

1983-88; screenwriter of “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion,” executive producer of “Party of Five”

It amazes me when I think how much the Groundlings is still a part of my daily life, mainly because of the people I’m close with who I met there, especially George McGrath, Lisa Kudrow and Wendy Goldman. In contrast, I am not in contact with one single person I met during my four years at UCLA. But the Groundlings experience is so intense and creative and competitive and fun that (if you don’t kill each other) you become bonded for life.

George McGrath

1983-92; writer for “Tracey Takes On”

When I became a Groundling, they were celebrating their 10th anniversary. The theater was on the “wrong end” of Melrose, valet parkers would have starved working there. Across the street was an all-male adult theater, and Phil Hartman, Steve Hibbert and I would use their movie titles like “All About Yves” and “Lumberjohns” as suggestions for the improv sets in the late show. It’s kind of amazing that that theater closed and the Groundlings continues to thrive. I guess there’s no accounting for tastes. The world has changed a lot in the last 15 years, but the Groundlings (and my Bob’s Big Boy wig) have miraculously remained the same thing, thanks to the enormous talents of the theater directors over the years like Tom Maxwell and Allison Kingsley and, of course, a big giant can of Final Net.

Mindy Sterling

1983-94; actress, “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” and “The Spy Who Shagged Me”

The great thing about improv is you have your fabulous moments and your hideous ones. In the ‘80s, when any of us would fail miserably in an improv, we would go backstage and hug this floppy, ugly, smelly doll named Becky. We called her the bad improv doll. Sometimes you could never get that doll away from me.

Kathy Griffin

1987-93; actress and comic, “Suddenly Susan”

The first time I went to a Groundling show, I was about 19 and had just moved here from Chicago. I was completely blown away by the cast and how incredibly quick they were at the improvs. So I walked, bold as brass, backstage and went up to the funniest Groundling in the show, asked him how I could join the group. It was Phil Hartman. He was so sweet and patient, not condescending at all. He introduced me to the director and explained how the classes worked, and I signed up the next day.

Tim Bagley

1991-95; actor

Whenever I embarrassed myself in a bad improv, I would immediately go brush my teeth in my dressing room. After five years in the Groundlings, my dentist told me that I had brushed the enamel off my teeth. To this day my closest relationships are with my friends from the Groundlings. I just can’t have ice cream with them because it hurts.

One time, during a quick change, I put on a fat suit, pulled my costume over it, slapped on makeup and a wig and then, right before I went onstage, I felt something squirming around in my suit. I reached my hand way down inside the suit, and pulled out a huge cockroach. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten over that.

Michael Hitchcock

1991-96; actor, “Waiting for Guffman,” “Mad TV”

My advice to any new Groundling is to first wash any costumes that you might find lying around the theater. For a sketch in which I was to play a cult leader, I went up to the Groundlings attic and grabbed a Speedo, a knitted poncho and a wig off the floor. The next day I woke up with a nasty rash over half of my body which cost about $200 in medical bills to clear up.

Michael McDonald

1991-99; actor, “Mad TV”

I was working as a loan officer in a bank when a friend took me to a theater I had never heard of on Melrose Avenue. I had never seen improvisational theater before, and I was so blown away by the Groundlings that I quit my job at the bank that week and auditioned for the basic-level [classes]. If it weren’t for the Groundlings, I would today be a sad-looking man with a bad tie, hiding behind bulletproof glass.

Mary Jo Smith

1995-present; actress, “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me”

The very first time I ever attended a show at the Groundlings, Melanie Graham was directing. She pulled me from the audience and Jim Wise improvised a love song to me. I was in love with the Groundlings (and Jim Wise) immediately and just knew I had to be part of this amazing place. Besides, someone had to help Michael Hitchcock take care of the lobby.

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Why Groundlings?

The name “Groundling” is derived from Elizabethan England, when the peasants had to watch theater on the dirty ground while the elite sat in chairs.

Sketch Comedy Like It’s 1974--and Much More

The Groundlings Theatre is celebrating its 25th anniversary with programming over the next two weeks. Here’s the schedule:

Friday at 8 p.m.: “Groundlings 25 Years of Life,” a new main-stage collection of improvisations and sketches directed by Deanna Oliver. The evening will include a dedication to the memory of Groundlings alumnus Phil Hartman.

Saturday at 8 p.m.: “Berle Dawson’s Search for the Stars of Tomorrow.” Created by alum Mike Hitchcock, this show reunites popular Groundlings characters in a star search. Featuring Tim Bagley, George McGrath and Hitchcock.

Saturday at 10 p.m.: Improv Jam.

Sunday at 7:30 p.m.: The Sunday Company will write the entire show as if it were 1974.

Tuesday at 8 p.m.: “All-Song Improv Show,” directed by Phyllis Katz. This performance showcases the musical riffing of the group.

Wednesday at 7 p.m. “The Groundlings 25th Anniversary Reunion Show” at the Museum of Television & Radio. Scheduled: Kathy Griffin, Paul Reubens, Jon Lovitz and Laraine Newman.

Next Thursday at 8 p.m.: “Your Very Own TV Show,” a performance by the original cast of the cult favorite, considered the most popular presentation of the ‘80s.

Oct. 1 at 8 p.m.: “Groundlings 25 to Life.”

Oct. 1 at 10 p.m.: “Choppy Presents the Show Formerly Know as Brian, My Life, My Words,” written by John Crane. Brian’s one-man snow is ambushed by Choppy and his Groundlings posse.

Oct. 2 at 8 p.m. “Groundlings 25 to Life.”

Oct. 2 at 10 p.m.: “Guy Di Simone’s The Lounge-apolloza Tour.” Timothy Stack reprises his Frank Sinatra-inspired lounge act.

Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m.: “Sunday Company 1974.”

Oct. 5 at 8 p.m. “Ladies Night,” a 25-year retrospective of favorite sketches from the female cast members.

Oct. 6 at 8 p.m. “The Dope,” a premiere of a new play by Jennifer Joyce about a man, his foolish choices and the women he meets.

Oct. 6 at 10 p.m.: Clint Howard and Friends, a performance by the pop-rock band singing original songs with a humorous edge. At the Gig Hollywood at 7302 Melrose Ave.

Oct. 7 at 8 p.m.: “Your Very Own TV Show.”

Oct. 7 at 10 p.m.: “All Star Stand Up.”

Oct. 8 at 8 p.m.: “I Sing the Groundling Electric,” popular and memorable musical numbers.

Oct. 8 at 10 p.m.: “All Improv Show.”

Oct. 9 at 8 p.m. “All Star Cooking With Gas,” a closing night all-improv show featuring celebrity alums, followed by a party.

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* The Groundlings Theatre, 7307 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, $7 to $25, except $50 for opening night and $250 for closing night. Call (323) 934-4747.

From the Ground Up

The Groundlings company had a variety of venues before finding its current location, 7307 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, in 1974:

1. Gary Austin Workshop at the Cellar Theatre at 1st Street and Vermont Avenue: The first place where future Groundlings got together to take a class with Austin (1972).

2. Comedy Store on Sunset Boulevard: The actors used this spot for workshops while they were meeting at the Cellar (1972).

3. The Ash Grove (now the Improv) on Melrose Avenue: The Groundlings performed here one night, but it was a memorable one: the first time there was a paying audience (1973).

4. Warehouse space on Granville Avenue near Bundy Drive and Olympic Boulevard: Austin and his performers rented an industrial space to hold workshops and began to formulate plans to create a nonprofit corporation. The name of the group was voted on here (1973).

5. The Oxford Theatre near the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Western Avenue: This was the first actual theater the troupe occupied on its own and where the nonprofit organization was legally formed (1973-74).

6. Various locations: It took four years to bring the Melrose site up to code. During that period, the Groundlings appeared in such places as the Matrix Theatre on Melrose Avenue (1975), the Improv on Melrose Avenue (1977) and the White House (1978) on Pico Boulevard, just west of 20th Century Fox. The White House was run by David and Jerry Zucker, who went on to create “The Kentucky Fried Movie” and “Airplane!”