No small part of the club's audience consisted of would-be comics, as well as the leading comics of the day. In fact, there were so many gagsters around that it was difficult to know who was part of the act and who was just sitting in.
Kliph Nesteroff, The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels, and the History of American Comedy
comedian, comedians, comedy, stand-up-comedy