Rachel Arieff, a talented comedian who hosts her own show at the Ramada Inn in Hollywood, believes any comedians who have performed in a laundromat are worth their weight in salt. She had a great time performing at Murphy's birthday party at the Laundromat. "I've performed in numerous unusual places besides Lucy's Laundromat. I've performed at a strip club and at an angry lesbian bar. At the lesbian bar they had us literally in the middle of the bar; people were walking past us to order drinks. That was a character-building experience and a complete waste of time." Arieff has also performed at a youth hostel in Manhattan.

"In New York, there was a cool room called Surf Reality and another called Collective Unconscious. They were on the Lower East Side," Arieff recalled. "These places collected characters, homeless people, women from the sex industry doing interpretive dances with knives in their underwear. And several mentally ill people also performed." She described it as being very colorful with lots of drugs. "The smoke was so thick in the hallway," she remembered. "There was a rumor that there was a crack den in the attic, and the place always stunk of rotten refrigerated food." Arieff moved to L.A. three years ago and within that time has noticed a growing number of unusual places for comedians to perform. One of them is now her very own show, which she hosts and performs on Sunday nights in the lounge at the Ramada Inn.

The Ramada Inn location works well for her because it's a real lounge, noted Arieff, with "cheesy Ramada furniture." Arieff remembered the first time she walked into the place: "There was a bartender and a ghostly man on the piano. Besides them, the place was empty. When I walked in, they both turned and stared at me. I asked if I could play something on the piano, and the pianist said, "Sure, go ahead." And so I played my "Internet Porn Polka." And then Arieff asked if she could have her own show.

"Last Sunday we had a milestone," she said. "Several guests from the hotel stayed for the entire show. It's not a grab-your-dick-and-balls kind of show, but it is my show with my point of view, which can be a little twisted. And sure, some of my songs are about porn, having babies indiscriminately or being smacked around."

Arieff recently performed her song, "That Guy's Gonna End Up Smackin' You Around" at Borders Bookstore on La Cienega Boulevard, another unusual place to perform comedy. After her performance, two women approached her and told her they worked in a battered women's shelter. They told her they loved the song and wished she could play at the shelter because so many women there would find the song funny. Arieff admitted she was relieved she hadn't offended them. "Most people would assume the opposite, that you have to be really politically correct. But coming from someone who's been there, these women could smell the authenticity," she said.

Arieff has also performed at Filth, a boutique in Silverlake. She sat in the store window, wearing only pasties, and played her piano. The place was packed with gay men and a few lesbians. Arieff played for an hour, but soon it started to get out of control, she reported. Some of the men yelled, "Let's see some nipple! Show us your nipples!" They began to chant and cheer wildly. Arieff, trying to calm the crowd, broke into "The Rose". As she recalled, fists were thrust into the air, a few lighters flickered, and as though signaled by cue cards the crowd began to sing together.