Judy Gold

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Judy Gold
Judy perform 2.jpg
Born (1962-11-15) November 15, 1962 (age 62)
Occupation(s)Stand-up comedian, actor, television writer, producer, author, podcaster, activist
Years active1986–present
Height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
PartnerElysa Halpern [1]
Children2
Website judygold.com

Judy Gold (born November 15, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, podcaster, television writer, author, producer, and activist. She won two Daytime Emmy Awards for her work as a writer and producer on The Rosie O'Donnell Show . [2] Gold hosts the podcast It's Judy's Show with Judy Gold. [3] Her collection of essays, "Yes I Can Say That: When They Come for the Comedians, We Are All in Trouble," was published in 2020. [4] In 2023, she turned her book into a solo show, "Yes, I Can Say That!" [5] directed by BD Wong.

Contents

Early life

Gold was born on November 15, 1962, in Clark, New Jersey. Gold grew up in a Jewish home with her two siblings. She plays piano. She first performed stand-up on a dare when she was a music student at Rutgers Universit y. [6] Gold moved to Manhattan, New York from New Jersey in 1984.

Stand-Up

Gold started stand-up when she was nineteen years old; she did her first set at Rutgers in 1981. [7] She was passed at Catch a Rising Star in 1985, and has been a regular at the Comedy Cellar since the 1980s. [8]

In an interview with Marc Maron, Gold revealed her comedic influences were Joan Rivers, Phyllis Diller, and Totie Fields. [9] Gold's stand-up specials have aired on Comedy Central, LOGO, and HBO. She has been featured in Netflix's Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration, and in the companion documentary about LGBTQ+ comedians OUTSTANDING: A Comedy Revolution, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Gold has released three comedy albums: 2004's Judith’s Roommate Had a Baby, 2018's Kill Me Now, [10] and 2020's Conduct Unbecoming.

Acting

Her first television role was on Roseanne in 1991, followed by a series regular role on Margaret Cho's 1994 sitcom All-American Girl. Gold was cast as Gloria Schechter, one of Cho's characters friends. Gold’s acting credits include: Tripped Up, She Came To Me, and Love Reconsidered. Her recent TV credits include Showtime’s City On A Hill and The First Lady, FX’s Better Things, and Apple TV+ Extrapolations . Other guest appearances include Girls5Eva , Broad City , Hulu’s Life and Beth, and recurring roles on Awkwafina , TBS’ Search Party, and Netflix’s Friends from College .[ citation needed ]

She was a focus of Trevor Noah’s documentary XCLD: The Story of Cancel Culture. In 2007, she was featured in the film Making Trouble, a tribute to female Jewish comedians, produced by the Jewish Women's Archive. [11]

She was also a writer on the final season of FX’s Better Things. [ citation needed ]

Gold is a subject of the Hulu documentary Hysterical. She has made appearances on The Tonight Show and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Gold has been a guest on The View, The Today Show, The Drew Barrymore Show, and a free-speech advocate on MSNBC , CNN and NewsNation She has appeared on the Food Network, including competing on Chopped All-Stars and Rachel vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off. [ citation needed ]

From 1999-2010, Gold hosted HBO's At the Multiplex with Judy Gold. She appears as a commentator on 2007 truTV's World's Dumbest... .[ citation needed ]

Gold is the author of Yes I Can Say That: When They Come For The Comedians, We Are All In Trouble (2020, HarperCollins; ISBN   9780062953773), a book about free speech and cancel-culture which was featured in The New York Times Book Review .

Stage shows

Gold has written and starred in the Off-Broadway shows: Yes I Can Say That!, The Judy Show – My Life as a Sitcom, and 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother. She was a featured player as Gremio in The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park all-female production of The Taming of The Shrew. She also co-starred in Off-Broadway’s Clinton! The Musical, and Disaster! The Musical.

Gold's one-woman show 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother, co-written with Kate Moira Ryan, is based on a series of interviews with more than 50 Jewish mothers in the United States. [12] Their stories are interspersed with anecdotes about her own mother and her life as a lesbian mother of two sons. [13] It ran at the Ars Nova Theater in New York City in early 2006 and reopened later that year at St. Luke's Theater.

On June 30, 2011, The Judy Gold Show: My Life as a Sitcom, began previews at Off-Broadway's DR2 Theatre in New York City. This one-woman show was an homage to the classic sitcoms of Gold's youth. The show is written by Gold and Kate Moira Ryan and directed by Amanda Charlton. The show officially opened on July 6, 2011. The New York Times called the show "highly entertaining." [14] The New York Post called the show "gleefully self-deprecating". [15] The show subsequently opened in Los Angeles June 18, 2013, and had a one-month run at the Geffen Playhouse. [16]

In 2011, Gold was named a Givenik Ambassador. [17] In 2015, she appeared off-Broadway as Eleanor Roosevelt in the satiric musical Clinton: The Musical at New World Stages. [18]

Her one-woman show, based on her book, Yes I Can Say That! premiered in March 2023 and was directed by BD Wong at 59E59 Theaters.

Personal life

Gold is a lesbian. She was in a relationship with Sharon Callahan for nearly 20 years. Together they have two children, Henry and Ben, whom she frequently referenced on the show Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn . [19] She met her current partner, Elysa Halpern, on a blind date set up by Time Out New York in 2007. [20] Gold is very active in both the LGBT and Jewish communities. [21] She was active in support of the 2004 and 2008 Democratic presidential campaigns. [22] Gold serves on the Board of Directors of the National Coalition Against Censorship.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
2001 The Curse of the Jade Scorpion Voltan's Participant
2004 Our Italian Husband Nun #2
2017 Gilbert HerselfDocumentary
2021 Hysterical HerselfDocumentary

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1991 Roseanne Amy1 episode
1993 Rumor Has It Panelist1 episode
1994–1995 All American Girl Gloria Schechter18 episodes
1995 HBO Comedy Half-Hour: Judy GoldHerself
1995 Here Come the Munsters Elsa Munster HydeTV movie
1995 The City Judy Silver1 episode
1996 Wings Brenda1 episode
1997Lois Lives a LittleShort
1998 Arli$$ 1 episode
2000 The Drew Carey Show Leslie2 episodes
2000 Law & Order Deborah Patterson1 episode
2000Sidesplitters: The Burt & Dick StoryDick's MotherShort
2001The Ballad of Lucy WhippleBuck McPheeTV film
2002 Sex and the City Barnes & Noble Clerk1 episode
2002 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Forensic Gynecologist1 episode
2003 Comic Remix Herself1 episode
2003The GynecologistsMrs. LeBlancShort
2004 Ed Judge Fisher1 episode
2005Here! Family1 episode
2007–2008 Super Normal The Roving Eye / Madam Midterm / Granny15 episodes
2008–2013 World's Dumbest Herself114 episodes
2009 Ugly Betty Joan1 episode
2011 The Glades Rebecca Thornquist1 episode
2012 30 Rock Judy Gold1 episode
2013 The Big C Rabbi1 episode
2013 2 Broke Girls Jerri1 episode
2014 Melissa and Joey Janey2 episodes
2014 Teachers Lounge Gym Teacher1 episode
2015 Louie Marina1 episode
2015 The Jim Gaffigan Show Judy Gold1 episode
2016 Broad City Angela1 episode
2016 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Judy1 episode
2016 Crisis in Six Scenes Phonebooth Woman1 episode
2016 Search Party Paulette Capuzzi2 episodes
2016What's Your F#@king Deal?!HerselfPost-Production
2017 Nightcap Deb Hafner5 episodes
2018 Murphy Brown ICE Agent Lynch1 episode
2020–2022 Better Things Chaya5 episodes
2021; 2023 Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens The Librarian2 episodes
2022 Girls5eva Dr. Madden1 episode
2025 Hell's Kitchen Herself1 episode

Web

YearTitleRoleNotes
2013Real Actors Read YelpHerself1 episode, streaming on YouTube
2015AmbienceEstelle1 episode, streaming online
2023 Around the Sun (audio drama) Paula3 episodes

References

  1. Musto, Michael (March 7, 2016). "Comic Judy Gold: 'I'm Way More Jewish Than Lesbian!' | Out Magazine". Out.com. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  2. "N.Y. comedian Judy Gold feels right at home in S.F." www.sfgate.com. Archived from the original on January 14, 2010. Retrieved August 28, 2025.
  3. "Judy Gold Remembers That First Laugh". Rutgers Alumni Association. Retrieved August 28, 2025.
  4. "Yes, I Can Say That". HarperCollins. Retrieved August 28, 2025.
  5. "'Yes, I Can Say That!' Review: The Freedom to Offend (Published 2023)". April 3, 2023. Retrieved August 28, 2025.
  6. Lara, Adair (December 24, 2003). "N.Y. comedian Judy Gold feels right at home in S.F." San Francisco Chronicle. p. D-1. Archived from the original on December 1, 2007. Retrieved March 20, 2007.
  7. Rosenberg, Sheri Radel (August 12, 2024). "Judy Gold, 61: Just Humor Me". AGEIST. Retrieved August 28, 2025.
  8. McGlynn, Katla (March 14, 2016). "An Oral History of the Comedy Cellar". Vanity Fair. Retrieved August 28, 2025.
  9. Johnson, Mark (July 25, 2013). "Episode 409 - Judy Gold". WTF with Marc Maron Podcast. Retrieved August 28, 2025.
  10. Stroud, Court. "Judy Gold Kills Us Now: The Emmy-Winning Comedian Dishes About Her New Album". Forbes. Retrieved August 28, 2025.
  11. Deming, Mark (2012). "Making Trouble: Three Generations of Funny Jewish Women". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . Archived from the original on August 26, 2012. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  12. Shulman, Randy (January 31, 2008). "Gold Rush: When she's not milking the room for laughs, comic Judy Gold juggles a career, two kids and her 85-year-old Jewish mother". Metro Weekly. Retrieved March 13, 2008.
  13. Hoban, Phoebe (January 27, 2006). "Listen to Your Mother! And Other Advice". New York Times. Retrieved March 20, 2007.
  14. Rooney, David (July 8, 2011). "'The Judy Show: My Life as a Sitcom' – Review". The New York Times.
  15. Vincentelli, Elisabeth (July 11, 2011). "Self-deprecation adds punch to 'Judy&apos". New York Post.
  16. "The Judy Show – My life as a sitcom". The Geffen Playhouse homepage. Archived from the original on August 28, 2013. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
  17. Gioia, Michael. "John Tartaglia and Judy Gold Are New Givenik Ambassadors (Video)". Playbill.com. Playbill. Archived from the original on December 26, 2011.
  18. "Emmy-Winning Comic Lands Role in Off-Broadway's Clinton The Musical". Playbill.com. February 5, 2015. Archived from the original on February 7, 2015. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  19. "Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn TV Show: News, Videos, Full Episodes and More". TVGuide.com. November 29, 2011. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  20. "How a Comedian With a One-Woman Show Spends Her Sundays (Published 2023)". August 19, 2023. Retrieved August 28, 2025.
  21. Fadem, Rachel (January 6, 2021). "Every Safe Space Has a Door: An Interview with Comedian Judy Gold". Lilith Magazine. Retrieved August 28, 2025.
  22. "Judy Gold: 'There's no funny without the truth' - Off the Cupp with S.E. Cupp". iHeart. Retrieved August 28, 2025.