Whitney Cummings and Chris D'Elia to headline benefit for The Comedy Store staff

Whitney Cummings, Chris D’Elia, and Bill Burr will be leading the comedians headlining a livestream special to aid furloughed workers at fabled Los Angeles stand-up venue The Comedy Store.

Multiple A-list celebrities, like Dave Chappelle, Kathy Griffin, Jim Carrey, Eddie Murphy and the late Robin Williams, began their comedy careers on the club's stage, and now today's top comedians are stepping up to the mic to raise funds for staff and talent left out of pocket by the coronavirus pandemic lockdown.

Bobby Lee, Joey Diaz, Bert Kreischer, and Neal Brennan are among the other names who will be telling jokes during the special event on 21 April at 8pm EST, which has been staged by venue bosses in association with officials at the The Motion Picture Television Fund.

In a statement, a representative for The Comedy Store writes: "We are raising funds to provide a safety net for our current Comedy Store family. Proceeds to support The Comedy Store Family Fund benefiting our employees and comedians. Since the club’s closure on March 13th, we have paid all of our 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."