Jean Carroll, comedian

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on January 4th, 2010

The NYT obit lays it all out. She went solo as a comic when her male partner was drafted. The rest is history. (Although not very well known history.)

We’re passingly familiar with the name, but we haven’t seen her name mentioned in many books or articles.

From April 5, 1959, on The Ed Sullivan Show:

Judging from the description in the Times, we suppose a modern parallel to Carroll would be Rita Rudner.

From the obit:

Ms. Carroll’s comic gifts were perhaps nowhere more evident than they were one night in May 1948 at the old Madison Square Garden, when she performed at a benefit for the United Jewish Appeal. Israel had been declared a state that month, and after hearing impassioned speeches and the playing of “Hatikvah,” most of the audience was in tears. Then came Ms. Carroll’s turn.

It was a delicate spot for a comic to be in, as Mr. Howe recounted in interviews afterward. Unfazed, Ms. Carroll leaned into the microphone. “I’ve always been proud of the Jews, but never so proud as tonight,” she said. “Because tonight I wish I had my old nose back.”

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