"Hollywoods Comedy Nights" was founded by John "Hollywood" Rotnem to give himself and other comedians regular stage-time in which to practice and improve their act. Initially, just one German-language show was performed, monthly, at the Melody Club. On moving to Flanagan's in the Altstadt in 2004, the show became two separate monthly shows, one featuring German-language performers, the other featuring comedy in English, due to demand from the large British/American Forces and English-speaking expatriate community in the North Rhine Westphalen area. The show began featuring both local native-English-speaking comedians, German who wished to try their hand at English language comedy, and imported native-English comedians from the UK, US and Canada.