Comedy

Content type
Collection

Rachel Bloom

Rachel Bloom has combined her passion for musical theater, her gift for comedy, her feminist sensibility, and her roots in Jewish humor to create the award-winning show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
Carrie Fisher

Jewish Intergalatic Princess

Lisa Batya Feld

I was five when I saw Star Wars for the first time at my friend Danny’s house. We loved it so much that we spent the next two years playing games where we clambered up on rocks and swung down on tree branches like we were maneuvering through the Death Star together.

Topics: Comedy, Film, Memoirs

Zsa Zsa Gabor

Known as much for her glamorous lifestyle and playful remarks about marriage as for her acting roles, Zsa Zsa Gabor thrived in the spotlight.
Amy Schumer, Headshot

The Honest, Outspoken Amy Schumer

Lili Klayman

In her obscene, outspoken, and controversial ways, Amy Schumer has shaped comedy; and with that, she has shaped society's views on women.

Topics: Comedy
Feminist Relics in Rising Voices Fellow Sarah Groustra's Room

Cool Girls Club

Sarah Groustra

When I was nine, I idolized Hermione Granger. I had just finished the Harry Potter series, and I was convinced that she was everything I aspired to be--bookish and intelligent, a powerful witch who stood up for what she believed in, but who could also snag the world’s best Quidditch player as a prom date. 

Jenny Slate

Jenny Slate has refused to be pigeonholed in her comedy, from the controversial film Obvious Child to the quirky YouTube series Marcel the Shell.
Barbra Streisand in What's Up, Doc?

Unlearning Silence in What’s Up, Doc?

Caroline Kubzansky

For all that I am the outspoken, proud nerd in my school life, for all that I try to speak up for my views and ask questions in academic settings, for all that I am confidently liberal in conservative settings— I am distinctly self-conscious about all of it. 

Topics: Feminism, Comedy, Film
A Sampling of Netflix's Stand-up Comedy Offerings

Netflix and No-Chill?

Delaney Hoffman

I am the funniest person I know. Out of all of the aspects of my identity, my sense of humor is probably my favorite. I say my jokes loudly; I laugh at the things I say even if nobody else does. Shari Short asserts in her article, "Jewish Funny", that humor is a common ground for Jews. Self-deprecation and sprinklings of Yiddish go a long way when identifying fellow members of the Tribe by jokes alone. 

Topics: Television, Comedy
Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer

The Broads are Back

Larisa Klebe

That’s right. The much anticipated third season of Broad City is finally here! YAS KWEEN! After a hiatus which ardent fans like myself would classify as an eternity, Abbi and Ilana have at long last returned with their shenanigans, their pot, their feminism, and, as we learn from season three’s opening sequence, their multi-faceted bathroom use.  

Judy Gold

Standup comedian Judy Gold won two Daytime Emmys for her work writing and producing the Rosie O’Donnell Show in 1998 and 1999.

Nancy Meyers

With her blockbuster hits Private Benjamin and Baby Boom, Nancy Meyers defied the conventional wisdom that a movie centered on a woman’s story wouldn’t draw audiences.

Chelsea Handler

When her confession in a DUI class left people rolling in the aisles, struggling actress Chelsea Handler launched a brilliant new career as a comedian.

Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller, November 6, 1967

Remembering Anne Meara: Jewish Mother By Choice

Keren R. McGinity, Ph.D.

Anne Meara was a Jewess with an attitude. She was born in Brooklyn on September 20, 1929, raised as a Catholic, and died as a Jew in Manhattan on May 23, 2015. Meara studied drama and although she never intended to be a comedian, that’s how she will be remembered by most audiences. What made Meara truly unique was that she exuded her Irish ethnicity while simultaneously taking on the mantle of Jewish wife and mother.

Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer

For Women in Comedy, A New Jewish Voice

Sophie Edelhart

Jewish women are having a moment. At the end of 2014, Flavorwire published an article entitled “2014 Was—Secretly—The Year of the Jewish Woman.” It profiled Jewish women who made news in culture in the past year: Abbi Glazer and Ilana Jacobson of the Comedy Central show Broad City, Jill Soloway, the writer of the groundbreaking show Transparent,  and Jenny Slate, the comedian who starred in the romantic comedy Obvious Child, among others. 

Topics: Television, Comedy

Naomi Weisstein, 1939 - 2015

Naomi sometimes described herself as a female Lenny Bruce. But she was not an imitation anything. She was pure Naomi.

Gilda Radner / Abbi Jacobson & Ilana Glazer

Comic Renegades

Making Us Laugh, One Jewess Joke at a Time

Ilana Glazer

Ilana Glazer defied the odds for young female comedians by co-creating the popular and critical hit sitcom Broad City with Abbi Jacobson.

Abbi Jacobson

Frustrated by the lack of opportunities for young female comedians, Abbi Jacobson teamed up with fellow comedian Ilana Glazer to create the immensely popular Broad City.

Debut of "The Sarah Silverman Program"

February 1, 2007

“People are always introducing me as ‘Sarah Silverman, Jewish comedienne.’" 

Chelsea Handler is named to Time’s 100 Most Influential People.

April 18, 2012
"A handful of years ago no one in entertainment had heard of her.” Chelsea Handler

Joan Rivers, 1933 - 2014

"Comedy is power," she said. "The only weapon more formidable than humor is a gun."

 

Death of Writer and Comedian Selma Diamond

May 13, 1985
Selma Diamond was hard to miss, in a writer’s room, on a talk show, or in situation comedy.

Alyson Hannigan

From her role as an unconventional flautist in American Pie to that of a lesbian witch on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, actress Alyson Hannigan has delighted in turning audience expectations on their heads.

Rashida Jones

Rashida Jones has starred in dozens of films, but is best known for her roles on TV shows like The Office and Parks and Recreation.

Hedy Lamarr / Mayim Bialik

Actress-Scientists

Stars of STEM and Screen

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