In her new one-person show, comedian Judy Gold ambitiously attempts to blend traditional stand-up, autobiographical material, a tribute to the great female comedians of the past who’ve influenced her, and social commentary about the growing danger of social, political and even physical attacks on comedians around the world. It’s a tricky balance, but the talented and engaging performer manages to pull it off. Yes, I Can Say That!, co-written by fellow comedian Eddie Sarfaty and based on Gold’s 2020 book of the same name, has its rough spots. But overall, it proves enlightening, informative and, most important of all, funny.
Aided by sound effects and projections of images ranging from female comedians she’s admired to such subject headings as “Vaginas in Comedy,” Gold freely alternates between stand-up comedy, signaled by her use of a handheld microphone and a tendency to shout her lines, and more serious commentary, albeit still packed with one-liners, delivered in more sober tones. She pays lavish tribute, complete with imitations, to such inspirations as Phyllis Diller, Totie Fields, Joan Rivers, Moms Mabley and other women who entered the field at a time when it was largely dominated by males. And speaking of males, she has harsh words for Jerry Lewis, who once said about female comics, “A woman doing comedy doesn’t offend me, but sets me back a bit. I think of her as a producing machine that brings babies in the world.”
Ouch. It’s no wonder Gold refers to him as a “misogynist pig.”
Gold proves herself adept at analyzing the art form to which she’s devoted her life, demonstrated by her comments in the section about “crossing the line.” As an example, she delivers a joke using the Holocaust as a punch line. It’s very funny, but, as she points out, she has to be careful about when and where she uses it. On the other hand, she exults that if the audience laughs, and for the right reasons, it’s akin to winning the lottery. She cites several recent examples of comedians who don’t stay within politically correct territory and suffered career problems as a result.
One of those was Gold, who once made jokes about a Hasidic woman in Brooklyn who had her wig torn off while she was walking on the street with her children. Someone posted some of the jokes online, resulting in Gold getting vociferously attacked (we see a sample of the nasty emails) and receiving negative press publicity. But she’s clearly unbowed, not only repeating the jokes here but also expanding them. And they’re indeed hilarious, as is her imitation of Senator Chuck Schumer, whose speechifying style she compares to “reciting the Mourner’s Kaddish.”
Needless to say, Gold has little use for comedians kowtowing to people’s sensitivities, as exemplified by the trend of providing “safe spaces” that even some comedy clubs have come to embrace. She quotes her collaborator Sarfaty, who says, “Going to a comedy club and expecting not to get offended is like going on a rollercoaster and expecting not to get scared.”
She cites cases of comedians around the world who have been imprisoned by their governments and even killed, including her hero, Afghan comedian Khasha Zwan, who was murdered by the Taliban. In the execution video posted online, he’s seen making jokes and mocking his killers until the very end.
A particularly moving segment involves her tribute to such fellow comedians as Bob Smith, a close friend who continued performing after being diagnosed with ALS until audiences could no longer understand his slurred speech. And who continued to write jokes until his death with the aid of an iPad on which he typed them out with one finger.
If all this makes the show sound like a TED talk, it couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, the evening occasionally slips toward didacticism. And the staging by BD Wong can feel too cutesy at times with its visual and sound effects serving as theatrical rim shots. But Gold is so naturally funny, her delivery and comic timing so impeccable, that belly laughs are to be had in abundance. And while it may be true that Yes, I Can Say That! is preaching to the choir, that doesn’t make its sermon any less important or its preacher any less uproarious.
Yes, I Can Say That! opened March 21, 2023, at 59E59 and runs through April 16. Tickets and information: 59e59.org
