34 Facts About Elayne Boosler

Elayne Boosler was born on August 18,1952 and is an American comedian, writer, and actress.

Elayne Boosler was one of the few women working in stand-up comedy in the 1970s and 80s, and she broke ground by adopting an observational style that included frank discussions about her life as a single woman, as well as political commentary.

Elayne Boosler's 1985, self-produced comedy special Party of One was the first hour-long comedy special by a female comedian to appear on a cable television network.

Elayne Boosler's father was a Russian acrobat who later worked in the tool and die industry.

Elayne Boosler took singing lessons as a child as well as dance classes with the Joffrey Ballet for several years.

Elayne Boosler was too young to be allowed on the gambling floor of the hotel, so she often watched the comics performing at the lounge.

Elayne Boosler graduated from Sheepshead Bay High School in 1969, and was enrolled at the University of South Florida, but she dropped-out after two years and traveled to the Bahamas where she worked for six months as a singer and dancer in a musical revue, before returning to New York.

Elayne Boosler started performing stand-up comedy at The Improv in New York City in 1973.

Elayne Boosler had been working at the club as a singing waitress, whose job was to sing between the comedic performances.

Elayne Boosler moved to Los Angeles in 1977 and was featured in a Los Angeles Times article about women in comedy.

Elayne Boosler became a regular performer at the Comedy Store, a male-dominated environment, where most female performers were relegated to a secondary stage in the upstairs corner of the club called the Belly Room.

Elayne Boosler refused to perform in the Belly Room and performed instead on the club's main stage.

Elayne Boosler preferred to distance herself from the "female comedian" label by declining to be interviewed for articles specifically about women in comedy and by avoiding female-centric comedy showcases.

Elayne Boosler struggled to find funding for her first comedy special and was told that no one would watch a woman perform comedy on television.

Elayne Boosler performed for Queen Elizabeth II at the London Palladium as part of the Royal Variety Performance in 1989, she performed at the White House Correspondents' Dinner during President Clinton's first year in office in 1993 and in 1997 she took part in a performance for Bill Clinton and United States Congress, filmed at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC and broadcast on ABC.

Elayne Boosler appeared in CNN's The History of Comedy series broadcast in 2018.

Elayne Boosler starred in the 1982 NBC series The Shape of Things, alongside Dottie Archibald, Rhonda Bates, Alvernette Jimenez, Maureen Murphy and David Ruprecht, and appeared on The Andy Kaufman Show, a talk show parody created by Kaufman that aired as an episode of the PBS series Soundstage in 1984.

Elayne Boosler wrote, directed, and acted in two half-hour movies for Cinemax: Comedy From Here, a drama that was broadcast in 1986 as part of the channel's Cinemax Comedy Experiment series, and The Call, a 1989 comedy in which Boosler's character awakens to find herself transformed into a cockroach.

Elayne Boosler's 1992 New Year's Eve comedy-variety special, Elayne Boosler's Midnight Hour, was a 90-minute show filmed at The Town Hall in New York City and was telecast live on Showtime.

Elayne Boosler appeared on HBO's Comic Relief for six years and was a frequent guest on Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect.

Elayne Boosler moderated a forum sponsored by the National Organization for Women during the 2004 Democratic Party presidential primaries that was televised on C-SPAN.

Elayne Boosler has written for other performers, such as her work on Rodney Dangerfield's 1986 comedy special It Ain't Easy Being Me.

Elayne Boosler wrote comedic material for Barbra Streisand that the singer used during her banter between songs.

Elayne Boosler has written several pieces published in high profile publications: She wrote a tribute to Andy Kaufman for Esquire in 1984.

In 2018, Elayne Boosler wrote for Time about her experience of performing for the White House Correspondents' Dinner and the reaction to Michelle Wolf's performance at the event that year, as well as a piece for CNN about trying to excuse offensive behavior by claiming it was a "joke".

Elayne Boosler has written pieces for George, USA Today and The New York Times and was a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post between 2011 and 2017.

Elayne Boosler was a frequent guest during election cycles on Larry King Live, CNN and Company and after-debate round tables on CNN.

Elayne Boosler is a supporter of the Women's Reproductive Rights Assistance Project, an organization that raises money for women who are unable to pay for either emergency contraception or a safe and legal abortion.

Elayne Boosler began working in animal rescue in 1996, first by volunteering at Boxer Rescue of Los Angeles, eventually joining its board of directors and raised the down payment needed for them to buy a rescue kennel.

Elayne Boosler lived with comedian and actor Robin Williams from 1977 to 1978.

Elayne Boosler would be up there just performing, telling jokes.

Elayne Boosler was interviewed for the 2018 HBO documentary Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind.

Elayne Boosler lived with Andy Kaufman for three years and remained close friends with him until his death in 1984.

Elayne Boosler wrote an article for Esquire in Kaufman's memory, and dedicated her 1986 Showtime special Party of One to him.