Elayne Boosler

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. right around the time the Dodgers were leaving, her first memories are of grown men crying. Not understanding, she felt responsible, and decided to go into comedy. Her most recent memories are also of grown men crying. Oh well. Her tool-and-die-maker father and her escaped Russian ballerina mother encouraged her from an early age to leave them alone. She has seven brothers, all veterinarians. Interestingly, they are all allergic to dogs. She attended public school in Brooklyn, plus a nefarious (a word she did not learn in public school in Brooklyn) year or so at the University of South Florida in Tampa, where she avoided class, has no credits on file, and swallowed many strange substances while she watched her hands multiply and listened to Janis Joplin albums.

Her sole goal in college was to turn eighteen so she could legally leave school and move to Manhattan to fulfill her dreams of waitressing. That she did. She waitressed in no less than every joint in Manhattan, and her number was retired upon her hundredth firing (“I didn’t know they wanted silverware!”) In between coveted waitress gigs, she studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, acting, musical comedy and jazz at HB Studios, ballet at the Joffrey school, and voice in private lessons. Interestingly, she can’t sing dance or act. She still owes them all money.

Of course, all of this hard work, pushing her body, stretching her instrument, contorting in dance, bracing for the operatic notes, pushing, straining, striving, is really useful in how she makes a living now: talking. Before she discovered talking she did use some of her training. She did dinner theater with a small company in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, at Hank’s Diner. It was a musical and came with fries. She also performed for several months in a musical review called “Jump For Joy” at the Lucayan Beach Hotel on Freeport Island in the Bahamas, the highlight of which was being able to walk to work in the ocean every day. The show was a crowd pleaser and no doubt would have run indefinitely were it not for the junta.

During this time period she steadily auditioned for Broadway shows and was offered long touring engagements in the road companies of Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar, but who wasn’t? She decided to stick closer to Manhattan where the good waitressing jobs were. And then it happened! One night a waitress called in sick at a music and comedy club (the singing waitresses performed after every second comedian or so, to give the crowd a chance to talk), and she filled in. The club was one of about only five of its kind in the country at that time, as comedy was as low key and specialized as jazz in the early seventies. The club shall remain nameless, as they still owe her money. Bingo! She was an instant success! Although no one did get any silverware that night, during her eleven minute rendition of Van Morrison’s “Moondance”, she emptied the club sufficiently for the owner to close early, thus allowing him to go home, save his marriage, have a second child, and offer her a job as the club doorman, which she kept for three years. Noticing how naturally funny she was, comedian Andy Kaufman, a regular, convinced her that she should do standup comedy. Actually, what he said was, “You really shouldn’t ever, ever publicly sing again”. She and Andy dated for three years, stayed friends for all the rest, and he guided her all through her comedy education, as did the rest of her peers: Freddie Prinze, Jay Leno, Richard Lewis, Richard Belzer, Jimmie Walker, Ed Bluestone etc.

As the very first young (she was eleven), unmarried, dressed-up-for-a-date female comic, she was an instant success with audiences. They were more than ready for a slice of life approach to comedy from a woman just the way they had accepted it from the new breed of current male comics of the time like Robert Klein, Richard Pryor, etc. She did countless appearances on all the talk shows of the day, was a regular on Merv, Mike, Dinah, Hollywood Squares (so unknown was she that she thought she’d have to change her name legally to “Elayne Boosler To Block”). She appeared often on music shows like The Midnight Special, Rock Concert, Friday Night Videos, did countless variety specials, and toured the country as the opening act for every single musical group in America.

Those appearances ran the gamut of performance venues, including playing clubs, 35,000 seat fairs, Las Vegas, Tahoe, concerts, theaters in the round, colleges, Atlantic City, rodeos, speedways, festivals, full moon goddess ceremonies, and sometimes she’d just stand on a street corner and mumble. Always a writer, in the 1980’s she joined the Writer’s Guild of America and began splitting her time between touring and writing for television. Some of her T.V. credits (all shows which have aired) include: The Rodney Dangerfield special, “It Aint Easy Being Me”, (oh yeah? try writing for him) “Disney Goes to the Oscars”, “Soundstage; Andy Kaufman” for PBS, “The Shape of Things”, an NBC series, a Geraldine Fitzgerald pilot for CBS called “Mabel and Max”, “99 Ways”, a Valentine’s Day CBS special, “Prime Times”, a Leslie Nielson pilot and special for NBC , etc. She has written articles for Esquire magazine, George magazine, Men's Health, USA Today, and the New York Times.

In 1995 she wrote city by city (including London) customized material for Barbra Streisand to use in her show on her summer tour. She did this as a favor as she does not write for other people’s acts, but the four months of daily work was very satisfying when it was so well received. Almost the entire New York monologue that she wrote for Streisand was quoted glowingly on the cover of the New York Times entertainment section, and part of the political material in particular was quoted everywhere. Also, a top ten list that she wrote for Streisand to explain her postponed Los Angeles area shows was so funny that it was printed in its entirety on the cover of the Los Angeles Times entertainment section, excerpted in newspapers across the country, and run on CNN and all the networks. Ms. Streisand takes no responsibility for the complete falling apart of Ms. Boosler soon after.

In 1985 cable TV was sweeping the country, and comedy cable specials in particular were making headliners of any comic lucky enough to get one. Well, you didn’t have to be lucky actually, you just had to be a guy. Elayne watched the specials and thought, “Hey, I’m as lousy as those guys, why don’t I have a special?” But it was not to be. Not one to whine, we won’t dwell on how she was told TO HER cute little FACE that no one would watch a woman do an hour of comedy, it was too big a risk, it hadn’t been done , etc. etc. Long story short, knowing that indeed people would watch, as she was by then headlining clubs everywhere and doing two hour shows, she put her little life savings (“We din’t haf no stinkin’ credit cards!”) where her mouth was, formed Brooklyn Productions, Inc., her production company, and funded her own special. This could be done only because she was lucky enough to team up with a director/producer from New York who taught her how to produce, direct, line produce, etc. a show so they could stay within their limited budget. “Party of One” aired on Showtime in 1986. 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..” (note: sometimes she does tear her own skin off at home, but it’s not for anyone’s amusement.) Showtime immediately gave her a deal for three more specials, HBO immediately announced its own new series of specials, “Women of the Night”. And suddenly women comedians were everywhere! All kinds. And life was good. Do they ever give her credit? Nah! But she’s just happy those bitches can now get work.

To date, Elayne 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 done 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”, a reworking of that lighthearted Franz Kafka novel, Metamorphosis. All of these specials have been nominated for a combined total of seventeen thousand CableAce awards. Ah well, it’s a thrill just to be nominated.

Elayne now tours those aforementioned theaters across the country, as well as many colleges, and of course clubs and casinos. She especially enjoyed her thirty two appearances on Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect, and The Today Show on NBC, where she would take a film crew out for the day and shoot special pieces for the show. She spent 1999 and 2000 doing just that for the Donny and Marie show. She has performed in London, where she entertained the Queen of England on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Royal Command Performance, as well as the Queen’s forty second wedding anniversary. She takes no responsibility for the complete falling apart of the royal family soon after. She has also performed at the London Palladium as part of an Easter special that was simulcast live on the BBC. She takes no responsibility for the complete falling apart of the labor party soon after. Her comedy specials are also a big hit on English television.

Known for her feisty and thoughtful political material, Elayne performed for President Clinton and Congress as the single act chosen to entertain at the White House Press Correspondents dinner in Washington. She again performed for the president and lawmakers at the Ford's Theater Gala. She takes no responsibility for the complete falling apart of Congress soon after. She has particularly enjoyed appearing on CNN’s Crossfire program, especially the new years day edition where her summations of the old year and her predictions for the new had even Robert Novak almost laughing. During the last election she was a regular on CNN's post presidential debates discussions, and Larry King Live's recurring roundtables on political humor.

When she is not on tour, Elayne writes movie scripts which she is hoping to direct and star in. Ah well, it's an honor just to be nominated. She is offered many television parts, and always enjoys taking the good ones. Her favorites include the recurring mean blind woman on Night Court, and roles on Sisters, Living Single, and The Cosby Show.

During the summer she used to book her tours to coincide with baseball teams in town, and she has had the pleasure of singing the pre-game national anthem several times for the Dodgers, the Mets, and the St. Louis Cardinals. She has also done color on Sportschannel with Duke Snider, as well as appeared often on Sportschannel in N.Y. during Mets games and on sports radio around the country. She has thrown out the first pitch for Texas, Cleveland, Seattle and Tampa, and played baseball once a year at Dodger stadium for Hollywood Stars Night. She performed frequently at charity events for many teams across the country. When CBS initially acquired the World Series, it was Elayne whom they chose to perform comedy about sports all week between the end of the evening news and the beginning of the game. They knew she would keep the men AND the women tuned to the game.

Elayne lives on both the left and right coasts with a black labrador named Wiley, and the spirit of her beloved boxer dog Petey, who she knows would approve of her new boxer dog Shnuffy. Her life’s work is animal rescue and advocacy. To that end she has formed a very successful non- profit organization called Elayne Boosler’s Tails of Joy, found on the web at www.tailsofjoy.net Check it out. To date Tails of Joy has helped fund over fifty rescue organizations nationwide, and been a high profile and effective advocate in cruelty cases and humane law issues.

Elayne is also extremely pro active in politics and issues of the day. She is an avid campaigner for candidates she supports. She will be hosting the Presidential Democratic Candidates forum at the National Organization for Women’s Washington convention this summer. She will be honored by the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project this October.

Elayne also performs fundraisers for many other groups, devoting time during the year, as well as making numerous t.v. appearances for; Comic Relief, The United Negro College Fund, The MDA Telethon, Planned Parenthood, Voters For Choice, and various educational organizations and schools. She has also been involved in performance and fundraising for the Lighthouse Inc., a New York institution that provides services to the vision impaired. An honorary seat in their theater was named for her. Ecstatic, she cried, "Put gum under me!" She takes no responsibility for the complete falling apart of the snack bar soon after.