In 1978, a recent grad of the UCLA film school saw our eye catching poster in a liquor store and decided to pitch filming us to a brand new entity called cable TV. This new invention could provide picture quality like never seen before. It probably saved untold numbers of husbands and teenage children who had heretofore often been sent up on roofs to adjust antennas.

So there we were in the dressing room at the Old Waldorf after the taping of Marsha Warfield, still our sole female winner, runner-up Michael Davis who would go on to captivate Broadway with his juggling skills in “Sugar Babies” and defending champ Dana Carvey.

George Carlin and a young Jay Leno had been flown in to help judge. Mort Saul had been the somewhat surly host.

It was the beginning of the realization that HBO and Showtime could offer something the networks couldn’t: uncensored comedy.

Looking on at the gathering, club owner Jeffrey Pollack commented to Comedy Competition producer Jon Fox, “This is a great event you have. Too bad it’s only once a year.”

To which Fox replied, “Well you know, there’s another brand new thing called a comedy club and this dressing room space would be perfect for one.”

Six weeks later, the Punchline opened.