We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy / Yael Kohen

New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
A Very Oral History
With a New Introduction by the Author

“We Killed shines in its details and its anecdotes....Well crafted and entertaining.”—The Boston Globe 

From live comedy to television and bestseller lists, women rule the comedy industry—and, as this fascinating oral history shows, they have fought long and hard to make their way to the top. In We Killed, Yael Kohen assembles America’s most prominent comediennes—along with the writers, producers, and nightclub owners in their orbit—to piece together the rise of women in American comedy. Beginning with the emergence of Phyllis Diller and Joan Rivers in the fifties, and moving forward to the edgy intelligence of Elaine May and Lily Tomlin on to the tough-ass stand-ups who would take SNL by storm, Kohen chronicles the false starts, backslides, and triumphs of female comedians. With a chorus of more than one hundred creative voices, We Killed takes us backstage to tell the story of the revolution that brought us Tina Fey, Sarah Silverman, and Chelsea Handler—and a world where women can be smart, attractive, sexually confident, and flat-out funny.