Funny Girls

As a Jewish woman comedian, Cory Kahaney knows she’s in good company—think Roseanne Barr, Sandra Bernhard, Gilda Radner, Jackie Hoffman, Sarah Silverman. But it was a revelation when, a few years ago, she discovered the work of Jean Carroll, a master of deadpan wisecracks, and Totie Fields, a zaftig entertainer who expertly ridiculed social norms. They were among a handful of feisty Jewish female stand-up comedians who appeared regularly on variety television and radio programs in the 1950s and 60s.

Kahaney has since put together The J.A.P. Show, a stage production featuring stand-up routines from four contemporary Jewish women comics and archival tape of these “Queens of Comedy”—Carroll, Fields, Belle Barth, Betty Walker, and Pearl Williams.

Photos: Totie Fields, copyright © CBS/Photofest. Jean Carroll, Photofest.

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Sara Ivry is the host of Vox Tablet, Tablet Magazine’s weekly podcast. Follow her on Twitter @saraivry.