PIONEERS OF TELEVISION

FUNNY LADIES

SATURDAY, JANUARY 20 @ 6:00PM

Comedy crosses boundaries, and in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, many female entertainers struggled just to enter the male-dominated world of stand-up and television. Self-deprecation, acting dumb and playing down their looks were some of the strategies these funny ladies employed to be taken seriously. While many comedians today get their laughs from shock value, racial and sexual characterizations or expletives, the first female stars of network television had no such fallbacks and instead entertained with pure talent and screen savvy. “They are just funny — silly as hell,” is how Betty White describes these pioneers, who are also her peers.

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