Lucien Hold, who died November 23 at age 57, was the oracular part-owner, builder, manager, and general factotum of the Comic Strip, one of New York’s most venerable comedy nightclubs. Many of New York’s finest comedians have spent time at the club, including Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, Paul Reiser, and Jerry Seinfeld, who worked there in the 1970s as the emcee.

A native of Mahopac, N.Y., Hold moved to New York with aspirations of becoming a professional dancer and found himself working as a bartender and carpenter. Brought in to help build the Comic Strip in 1975, Hold stayed on and soon became manager. He remained at the job, which included apportioning treasured spots in each evening’s lineup, until last year, when his deteriorating health forced him into retirement.

At the New York Society for Ethical Culture yesterday, Hold was memorialized by what must count as one of the most emotionally charged stand-up comedy crowds ever.

Many of the speakers were themselves comics, and had gone through the wrenching experience of auditioning for Hold and then actually being booked. Barry Weintraub, a Comic Strip regular, recounted an oft-told tale of an obese comedy neophyte who auditioned her self-mocking routine for Hold, then asked him how she’d done. “Madam,” Hold said, “just because you’re fat doesn’t mean you’re funny.” The video clips of the walrus-mustached Hold that were interspersed with the speakers made it clear that Hold was the sort of fellow who would actually address a woman as “madam.”

This being a comedy forum, impressions of Hold’s stentorian speaking style were popular. The comic Scott Blakeman said, “Every time I think of him I’ll hear his voice – in a nonpsychotic way.”

Scott Carter, a producer for HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” garnered guffaws with three slowly delivered lines: “Like Jesus Christ [laughter] Lucien was a carpenter [more laughs] who judged others [wild applause].”

Various speakers gave examples of Hold’s quirky and catholic range of interests, about which he liked to hold forth with minimal interruption. In more than one case, he continued to speak on some subject – the history of popcorn, say, or whether mollusks would survive nuclear war – only to find that his interlocutor had fallen asleep or had suffered a bro ken connection with his cell phone.

“He made me f—— nuts, and I speak for all three wives,” said his third wife, Vanessa Hollingshead, also a comedian. The two had separated, but remained close.

Chris Rock said that he was rejected early in his career several times by Hold with the line, “Not funny, son,” before finally making it into the Comic Strip’s lineup when Eddie Murphy during a visit asked whether the club had any black comics. Mr. Rock’s career trajectory was more or less vertical from there. “He was one of the gems of the business and he made all the misfits feel like big guys,” Mr. Rock said of Hold. He then launched into an exceptionally tasteless joke that made the hall rock in a way that seemed almost unethical.

Lucien A. Hold

Born May 3, 1947, at Mahopac, N.Y.; died November 23 at his home in Manhattan of scleroderma; survived by his wife, Vanessa Hollingshead, his brother, Peter Hold, and his sister, Phyllis Leggett.