Enrico Banducci (1922 – 2007) was an American impresario.
Banducci operated the
hungry i nightclub in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood, where he
launched the careers of Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, Bill Cosby, Jonathan Winters,
and Barbra Streisand, and featured Woody Allen and Dick Cavett before they were
well-known, as well as countless folk singers.
The hungry i featured the
original brick wall in the stage background, a staple for stand up comedy
presentations ever since. Banducci bought the hungry i from its founder, Eric
"Big Daddy" Nord, in 1950. Banducci later also started the Clown
Alley hamburger stand as well as Enrico's Sidewalk Cafe on Broadway, a
restaurant and jazz club that has since gone out of business.
He began wearing a beret after a health inspector insisted
he cover his hair while running a food operation, and continued the practice to
hide his eventual baldness.
He bought the hungry i for $800 in borrowed money
in 1948. Although he once calculated that he made over $10 million from his
various projects, he spent it all on his lavish lifestyle. He spent time in
jail, and was involved in a number of brawls. The hungry i went bankrupt at
least once.
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