Skip to main content

Elayne Boosler Biography

elayne-boosler
  • Born:
  • Years Active: 1990s
  • Genre: World & Reggae

Elayne Boosler came on the comedy scene when "nice girls didn't do standup." She is often hailed as the "very first young, unmarried, dressed-up-for-a-date female comic." She was the first woman to ever have her own standup comedy special. And, since nobody would fund such an outrageous thing (the networks thought nobody would watch it), this bawdy comedienne formed her own production company. Brooklyn Productions produced Party of One for Showtime all by herself. The special had such a following that a barrage of female comedy specials hit the cable networks soon after, including the popular HBO series Women of the Night. She has since then had four one-hour specials, including Elayne Boosler: Comedy Superstars-Live Nude Girls (which is on VHS), written and acted in two half-hour movies for Cinemax (Comedy From Here, The Call), and even hosted a 90-minute New Year's Eve special entitled Elayne Boosler's Midnight Flour live from Town Hall. She has also written for Rodney Dangerfield and Barbra Streisand. Elayne Boosler got her start waitressing at a comedy club in Brooklyn while taking a variety of acting classes in the city. Andy Kaufman played there, and he convinced her she should go onstage. (The two later dated.) Comic Jimmy Walker signed on as her manager in 1976, and the rest is history. Boosler spent much of her early career touring the clubs and college campuses. Her first television appearance was on the Tonight Show with guest host Helen Reddy. She has been seen on Night Court, Sisters, and Living Single, among other TV shows, and she even had her own square on the game show Hollywood Squares for a while. The diverse Boosler has even released an album for kids entitled Mother Goose Rock 'N Ryhme. She has been a guest play-by-play caller for the Brooklyn Dodgers. She is also an active fundraiser for the SPCA and the Muscular Dystrophy Association. ~ Sandy Lawson, Rovi

Advertisement