by Shawn Levy
First published 2022
Women now dominate standup comedy stages and fill arenas across America. But this success required decades of struggle by pioneering performers who faced hostile audiences and dismissive industry gatekeepers. Shawn Levy traces this transformation from Moms Mabley's performances in Black vaudeville theaters during the 1930s and 1940s through the mainstream breakthroughs of Joan Rivers and Phyllis Diller. The book chronicles how Belle Barth and Rusty Warren brought ribald humor to roadhouse stages in the 1950s and 1960s, while Elaine May helped create improvisational comedy as an art form. These women battled the widespread belief that female performers could not be genuinely funny. They encountered resistance from booking agents, theater managers, critics, and even their own families. Yet they persisted, creating new models of what women could be on stage and opening doors for future generations. Levy's account reveals how these comedians transformed American entertainment while redefining social expectations about women and humor.
Genres: history, 20th-century, gender-studies, american, feminism, biography-memoir, comedy, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: social-justice, underdog
Setting: America
Period: 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s
Paperback · Doubleday Books