Alternative comedy came to describe an approach to stand-up comedy that was neither racist nor sexist but free-form and devised by the performers themselves. This style won out in a "civil war" against more traditional comedians who had, initially, also performed at London's Comedy Store, Dean Street, Soho, from its opening in May 1979. Traditional club comedians of the time often relied on jokes targeting women and minorities. The alternative comedy that developed from these clashes was more like comedy's answer to punk.