The New York comedy club was founded in 1882. It was originally called the Metropolitan Opera House but changed its name to the New York Comedy Club in 1884.
The club's first comedian was a Frenchman named Jean Jules Jusserand, and the first comic sketch he performed was called "The Drunken Man."
The club originally had no seating, but it did have a piano player and a woman who would dance on the stage during performances.