http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-656005.mp3
Albany, NY – In 1986, Joan Rivers became the first woman to challenge Johnny Carson in the world of late-night talk shows. She lasted about a year. Still, women comics today credit Rivers for inspiring them to go into comedy...without leaving their femininity at the door. In fact, like Rivers, many of the women who broke down barriers in the comedy world happened to be Jewish. Was that a coincidence?
It's one of the questions addressed in a new documentary, Making Trouble.The documentary is comprised of several mini-biographies of Jewish women in comedy like Gilda Radner, Sophie Tucker, Madeline Kahn and Fanny Brice. Knitting together the chapters are conversations among four modern-day Jewish women who have made it in comedy. Rachel Talbot came up with that structure when she directed Making Trouble, which is touring festivals across the U.S. Unlike many documentarians, she the film with funding already in place.
Making Trouble features a few women who are currently working as stand-up comediennes. One of them is the Emmy-award-winning Judy Gold. Gold has made waves in the last couple of years for her one-woman show 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother, which is now touring nationally. But she's been working in television and on stage for 20 years. Gold says it's extremely difficult to make it as a woman in comedy...and that fosters a certain amount of competition among the women who are working in stand-up.
Comics are a way of life for Trina Robbins. She's been drawing and writing them for 40 years. In addition to her own work in comics, Robbins literally wrote the books on women cartoonists and women superheroes. She also wrote a book called From Girls to Grrrlz. It's a History of Women Comics from Teens to Zines. Independent producer Elizabeth Chur visited Trina Robbins has this story. Comic-book author Trina Robbins wrote From Girls to GRRLZ. She spoke with independent producer Elizabeth Chur in San Francisco.