As 2024 draws to a close, the JWA team takes a moment to celebrate some of the incredible moments and achievements of Jewish women and gender-expansive people from the past year. Here are our picks for the standouts that inspired us, made us laugh, and reminded us of the power of resilience, community, and creativity.

JWA chats with Leah Berkenwald, co-creator of the new audio-drama, A Feminist Romance Novel, Podcast! Temptations at Sweetwater Creek.

I admire Handler’s ability to talk about aspects of her identity that many shy away from. As a Jewish comedian that is a critical part of the rule book: lean into discomfort.

JWA talks to Marisa Scheinfeld, founder and director of the Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project. 

These fun movies from the early 2000s are still watched frequently as they are thought to be timeless classics, but the awkward and problematic comments have yet to be addressed.

In Janice fromFriends and Fran fromThe Nanny, I see some of myself—a chatty Jewish woman with curls and a loud laugh—and I never found Janice annoying, or saw Fran as anything less than who she is: funny, beautiful, independent.

The first episode’s failure to pass the Bechdel Test was my first hint thatBumper in Berlinwould not be the continuation of the Pitch Perfect movies I expected. 

This article looks at the place of American Jewish women in comedy. It chronicles the reasons comedy has been a difficult field for women and looks at the careers of several remarkable women who found success in different eras and forms of comedy.

Sandra Bernhard is an American actor, stand-up comedian, singer, memoirist, and talk show host. She has been a high-profile LGBTQ+ presence over a career that has spanned five decades. Bernhard’s work amalgamates the three perspectives that she has said define her: “the feminist, the social commentator, the Jewess.”

On February 21, 2005, Jewish comedian, actress, singer, and writer Rain Pryor received an NAACP Theatre Award for her one-woman autobiographical play, “Fried Chicken and Latkes.” In the play, Pryor explores her experiences with racism growing up Black and Jewish in Beverly Hills, CA, as well as her complex relationship with her father, the late comedian Richard Pryor.

Over and over, Midge hurts people who trusted her, and the show lets her get away with it.

Born Sadie Zeigman, Jean Carroll was the first Jewish woman stand-up comedian. Famous throughout the United States and England in the 1950s and 1960s, she innovated a new style of anecdotal, conversational stand-up.

Sarah Silverman is an American stand-up comedian, writer, and actor known for her sharp, detached stage persona and boundary-pushing material that often deals with themes of Jewish identity.

Amy Schumer is one of America’s most loved and successful comedians. Her career is built on a true riches-to-rags-to-riches story and is firmly centered on growing up in an unconventional Jewish upbringing.

Gilda Radner demonstrated that sharing one’s struggles publicly through humor can be a powerful act.

Whatis Jewish comedy?

Episode 50: Laughing with Liz Glazer (Transcript)

On December 3rd, 2019, actress and comedian Tiffany Haddish became a bat mitzvah on her 40th birthday.

Here are eighteenheimishe tunes to get your ortho slides a tappin’ and your tush a boppin’.

Episode 38: Joan Rivers and Treva Silverman: Partners in Comedy (Transcript)