In On The Joke: The Original Queens of Stand-Up Comedy by Shawn Levy (Doubleday, 2022)

—Cathy Ritchie

I’ll cut to the chase: I loved this book.

And so should aficionados of entertainment history, women’s studies, American social movements, and mid-20th-century nostalgia. Author Shawn Levy lets us all In On The Joke as he pays engrossing homage to the stand-up ladies who broke enormous barriers, setting the stage for today’s plethora of female comedians.

I came of age in the 1960s, and clearly remember seeing several of these women on television, often under the admiring eye of Ed Sullivan. So this book’s theme and profiles resonated deeply for me. But along with learning more about the lives and struggles of the women I “knew,” I was happily introduced to lesser-known others who all contributed to a media and social revolution, often unfolding in our own living rooms.

Levy’s chronological narrative begins with Jackie “Moms” Mabley (1894-1975), deemed “the funniest woman in the world” at the height of her career as the premiere Black lady stand-up—telling it like it was, though she only reached her heyday after 40 years in the comedy trenches. I vividly recall her shuffling onto the Sullivan stage, seemingly toothless and dressed in her mismatched “old lady” uniform, riffing about the “old men” she had married. In several important ways, Mabley started the female comedian ball rolling.

Levy then focuses on Jean Carroll (1911-2010), a groundbreaker with whom I had been unfamiliar. After a variegated career, she one day decided to dress to the nines and simply tell people about the funny parts of her life, including home and family, thus making “domestic” humor a staple for lady comedians to come. She’s followed by Sarah Colley, aka Minnie Pearl (1912-1996), who brought stand-up comedy to the Grand Ole Opry and to country music in general.

Levy then devotes a fascinating chapter to “The Bawds.” These particular ladies specialized in not-ready-for-prime-time content, performed in the wee hours at more questionable venues. (Think “Mrs. Maisel” at the strip club.) They offered  more explicit discussions of life, sex and relationships, with profane language a given. For those unable to watch these ladies interact with a microphone at 4 am, there were so-called “party records” available for purchase, featuring their live monologues with all salty language intact.

After giving a shout-out to Sophie Tucker as the forerunner of this particular category, Levy highlights the career of Belle Barth (1911-1971), who became a cult favorite in the 1950s and 1960s with little or no television exposure. But the notorious Belle was far from alone in her approach to comedy; Levy also pays tribute to Pearl Williams, Jorie Remus, and Rusty Warren, each of whom contributed to the struggle of women to raise their off-color comedic profiles in memorable ways.

Then comes Phyllis Diller (1917-2012) whose career Levy clearly considers to have been a seminal turning point in women’s comedy. Thanks to extensive television exposure and constant touring, Diller and her tales of domestic life with husband “Fang” reached a worldwide audience and household-name recognition.

The definition of comedy itself would expand thanks to “improv,” brought to its glory by Elaine May (1932- ), whose professional pairing with future director Mike Nichols in the 1950s and ‘60s (intellectual sketch comedy for two) left a comedy legacy that still finds grateful audiences circa 2022.

Levy then shifts to Totie Fields (1930-1978), who became a fixture on television and nightclubs, where she combined her fine singing voice with riffs on her overweight physical appearance and domestic situation, though she was herself happily married for many years. I remember Fields very fondly; her genuine likability greatly endeared her to audiences. Her premature death at 48 due to chronic health problems saddened many.

Last but absolutely not least, Levy salutes the lady he clearly considers the greatest female stand-up of all time, Joan Rivers (1933-2014). He offers a superb summary of her life, career and influence in a fine tribute to a remarkable woman whose influence and legacy undeniably continue. As Levy summarizes so well: “She bore at least some portions of the gifts of almost every woman who preceded her in the business: the wit, the determination, the thick skin, the hunger, the pugnacity, the ambition, the courage.”

As a wonderful bonus for readers, performance footage and/or audio of nearly every woman Shawn Levy discusses is available on YouTube. This entire book is a wonderful salute to some exceptional pioneers.