Faye Greenberg Sigman “Woman of Valor” Lecture
“The Many Mrs. Maisels: The History of Jewish Female Stand-Up Comedians”
Lecture by Grace Kessler Overbeke
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
7:00 p.m. CST
Golda Meir Library 4th Floor Conference Center and via Zoom
Register at bit.ly/Overbeke
Photo: Jean Sullivan on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” CBS, November 30, 1958. SOFA Entertainment
Before The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, there was a long history of Jewish female comedians, standing up and speaking out. Although stand-up comedy is often described as a “boys’ club,” the truth is that there have always been influential women on the scene. Alongside Jewish male comics like Groucho Marx, Lenny Bruce, Jack Benny, and Jerry Seinfeld, there were pioneering Jewish female stand-ups like Jean Carroll, Joan Rivers, Totie Fields, and Sarah Silverman, offering their inimitable insights on the experience of being a Jew — and a woman — in the United States. From tackling double standards to deflating stereotypes like the “Jewish American Princess,” Jewish female stand-up comedians have made major contributions to the way that American audiences have seen Jewish women — and the way that Jewish women have seen themselves.
Grace Kessler Overbeke is an Assistant Professor in the Theatre Department of Columbia College Chicago with a focus in the Theatre Studies and Comedy Writing and Performance programs. Her monograph, Jean Carroll: The First Lady of Laughs is forthcoming from New York University Press. Her most recent scholarship appears in Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, Theatre Topics, and Theatre Survey.
The Faye Greenberg Sigman “Woman of Valor” lecture is made possible by the generosity of the Taxman and Temkin families.
Cosponsored by UWM’s Departments of English and Women’s and Gender Studies and programs in Digital Arts and Culture; Film Studies; and Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies.