Elayne Boosler
 |
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| Elayne Boosler | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 18, 1952 Brooklyn, New York, United States |
| Occupation | Comedian, actress |
Elayne Boosler (born August 18, 1952, in Brooklyn, NY) is an American comedian.[1]
Boosler was born and raised in Brooklyn, the youngest child and only daughter of a Russian-acrobat father and a Romanian-ballerina mother.[2] She attended Public School in Brooklyn including Shellbank Junior High School and Sheepshead Bay High School.
After a brief unsuccessful stint at the University of South Florida, Boosler worked as doorman at The Improvisation comedy club in New York for three years, and it was there that she met comedian Andy Kaufman, a regular at the club, who convinced her she should do standup comedy. The two dated for three years and remained friends until Kaufman's death. Boosler credits Kaufman for her "comedy education" as well as her other peers at the time which included Freddie Prinze, Jay Leno, Larry David, Richard Lewis, Richard Belzer, Jimmie Walker and Ed Bluestone.
Boosler was an instant success in a field which was then still dominated by male performers. In 1986 Boosler became the first female to get her own comedy special on cable when Showtime aired "Party of One". Boosler had to save her money and produce the special herself, because none of the cable networks thought people would tune in to see a female do an hour of comedy. People magazine gave it an ‘A’. John J. O’Connor in the New York Times wrote, ”how refreshing, a woman who doesn’t have to tear her own skin off for our amusement... an attractive human being simply standing there being funny, the first to feel she doesn’t have to be a grotesque...”
Following the rave reviews, Showtime immediately gave her a deal for three more specials, and rival HBO announced its own new series of specials, “Women of the Night”. For this reason, Boosler is widely credited with opening new doors to women in comedy.
In 1988 in an appearance on CNN's "Crossfire)" program, near the end of the show she called Mother Teresa a hypocrite for not bringing birth control to Calcutta. Hosts Michael Kinsley and Robert Novak both gasped and were visibly shaken. The show quickly cut to a commercial. After that remark her career went into a decline.
To date, Boosler has done seven cable specials. Her one-hour standup comedy concert specials for Showtime include: “Party of One”, “Broadway Baby”, “Top Tomata”, broadcast live from Omaha and voted Best Comedy Special of the Year by readers of Cable Guide magazine, and “Live Nude Girls”. Her New Year’s Eve comedy-variety special, “Elayne Boosler’s Midnight Hour”, was a 90-minute special from at Town Hall in New York and telecast live on Showtime. Elayne has also written, directed, and acted in two half-hour movies for Cinemax; “Comedy From Here”, a drama, and “The Call”.
Boosler hosted the short-lived game show Balderdash, on PAX (now ION Television).
Boosler is married to Bill Siddons, music industry executive and former manager of The Doors.
Besides her comedy career, Boosler also appeared as an actress on Night Court, and in a series of commercials for Fantastik cleaning spray and Dry Idea deodorant.
[edit] Political activism
Boosler is active in liberal politics and animal rights. On July 11, 2003 she moderated a Democratic presidential candidate forum on the topic of women's rights hosted by the National Organization for Women. She is also a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post.[3]
Boosler has[citation needed] on occasion substituted for Stephanie Miller on The Stephanie Miller Show, a progressive radio talk show.
