Behar, Joy 1943- (Joy Beher)
BEHAR, Joy 1943- (Joy Beher)
PERSONAL: Born Josephina Victoria Occhiuto, October 7, 1943, in Brooklyn, NY; daughter of Gino (a truck driver) and Rose (a seamstress) Occhiuto; married Joe Behar (a college professor), January, 1965 (divorced, 1981); companion of Steven Janowitz (a junior high school mathematics teacher), beginning 1982; children: (with Behar) Eve. Education: State University of New York, Stony Brook, M.A.
ADDRESSES: Offıce—c/o The View, ABC-TV, 320 West 66th St., New York, NY 10023. Agent—William Morris Agency, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10019-6026; (lectures) Harry Walker Agency, Inc., 355 Lexington Ave., 21st Floor, New York, NY 10017.
CAREER: Actress and comedienne; former English teacher. Good Morning America, ABC-TV, receptionist, c. early 1980s. Appeared in television series, including (as host) Way Off Broadway, Lifetime, 1987; (as Helga) Baby Boom, National Broadcasting Company (NBC), 1988-1989; (as cohost) Live from Queens, Lifetime, 1994; (as cohost) The View, American Broadcasting Companies (ABC), 1997—; also appeared in the series One Night Stand. Guest star on television shows, including "The Six Southern Gentlemen of Tennessee," Sports Night, ABC, 1998; "The Marry Caitlin Moore Show," Spin City, ABC, 2000; Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, ABC, 2000; Intimate Portrait: Star Jones (special), Lifetime, 2000; "True Story," Bette, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), 2001; (under the name Joy Beher; as voice of 42) "42," Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, ABC, 2001; (as guest host) The Rosie O'Donnell Show, 2001; Marshall's Women in Comedy (special), 2002; also appeared in episodes of Charlie Rose, Hollywood Squares, Larry King Live, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Late Night with David Letterman, The Late Show with Jay Leno, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, and Politically Incorrect; provided voice for an episode of the animated series Dr. Katz. Had own comedy special on Home Box Office (HBO), 1990; appeared in the television pilot The Rock.
Actress in films, including (as Gertrude) Hiding Out (also known as Adult Education), DeLaurentiis Entertainment Group, 1987; (as Dottie) Cookie, Warner Bros., 1989; (as herself) Wisecracks (documentary), 1991, Alliance International, 1992; (as Ruby) This Is My Life, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1992; (as Marilyn) Manhattan Murder Mystery, TriStar, 1993; and (as Mary) Love Is All There Is, Samuel Goldwyn Company, 1996. Former host of a call-in radio show on WABC. Appeared in stage productions, including Comedy Tonight, Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, New York, 1994; and The Vagina Monologues, off-Broadway, 2000; also appeared in The Food Chain, off-Broadway; and in The Marshall's Women in Comedy Festival, Theatre at Avery Fisher Hall, New York.
AWARDS, HONORS: CableACE awards, for 1990 HBO special and for guest appearance on Dr. Katz; Gracie Allen Tribute Award, Foundation of American Women in Radio and Television, 2000; Special Advocate Award, New York City Public Advocate, 2000; Safe Horizon Champion Award, 2001, with other The View cohosts; Daytime Emmy Award nominations for best talk show and best-talk show hosts (with other The View cohosts), National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, 2003, for The View.
WRITINGS:
Joy Shtick; or, What Is the Existential Vacuum andDoes It Come with Attachments? (comedy), Reed Publishing (New York, NY), 1999.
Author of "Tell Me about It," a monthly column in Good Housekeeping, 2001—.
SIDELIGHTS: Joy Behar is probably best known today as one of the cohosts of The View, a popular television program that features a group of women discussing political and social issues, but she began her show-business career as a stand-up comedienne. After nearly dying from an ectopic pregnancy in 1979, Behar, then a junior high school English teacher, decided to follow her dreams of being in show business. She quit her teaching job and took one as a receptionist with the television program Good Morning America, hoping to get her foot in the door with a network. In the evenings, she performed at New York-area comedy clubs. The Good Morning America job did not lead to greater things—in fact, Behar was fired in 1983 because, she says, she tended to use her dry humor on callers who did not always appreciate it—but she became increasingly popular on the stand-up scene. By the late 1980s, her comedic success was beginning to earn her roles on television and in films.
Behar transferred some of her stand-up material to print in Joy Shtick; or, What is the Existential Vacuum and Does It Come with Attachments? The book opens like a memoir, with Behar discussing the events in her life that propelled her into stand-up, but after that she deals with the same issues that she covers in her comedy routines: the challenges of middle age, the antics of her Brooklyn-dwelling Italian-American family, the differences between men and women. Commenting on Behar's "shrewd, polished stand-up lines" in this book, People reviewer Edward Karam wrote, "At her best, Behar can coin a phrase with the right balance of zing and sting."
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:
PERIODICALS
Christian Science Monitor, December 22, 1994, Frank Scheck, review of Comedy Tonight, p. 11.
Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), August 11, 1997, Ted Cox, review of The View, p. 3.
Daily Variety, July 9, 2002, Melissa Grego, "Behar Views Love for ABC Sib," p. 14.
Denver Post, March 20, 2001, Joanne Davidson, "View Host Joy Behar to Headline Girls Night Out," p. E-07.
Family Circle, May 15, 2001, Glenn Plaskin, "Flea Market Diva," pp. 24-25.
Good Housekeeping, November, 1999, Liz Smith, "The View from the Inside," p. 118; April, 2001, Kate Coyne, "Joy Behar Irons Her Clothes," p. 240.
Hollywood Reporter, November 27, 2002, Marilyn Moss, review of Marshall's Women in Comedy, p. 17.
Homestyle, July-August, 2001, Susan Swimmer, "At Home with . . . Joy Behar," p. 116.
Lansing State Journal (Lansing, MI), January 3, 2000, Mike Hughes, review of The View, p. D1.
Library Journal, May 1, 1999, Kathy Ingels, review of Joy Shtick; or, What Is the Existential Vacuum and Does It Come with Attachments?, p. 74.
Mediaweek, February 21, 2000, John Consoli, "Jesting Joy Honors Igor," p. 26.
Morning Call (Allentown, PA), February 23, 2001, Dave Howell, "In the View of Joy Behar, a Hectic Pace Is Normal," p. D1; March 1, 2001, Dave Howell, "Joy Behar Puts Her Hidden Fears on View at the State," p. D10.
Multichannel News, July 15, 2002, Linda Moss, "Family Taps ABC's Behar for Specials," p. 80.
New Woman, January, 1992, Leah Rosch, "Funny Ladies," pp. 90-92; September, 1992, Bruce Williamson, review of Wisecracks, p. 30.
New York, November 9, 1992, Dinitia Smith, "Joy Shtick," pp. 48-53.
New York Post, July 9, 2002, review of Love, Hate and Joy, p. 81; March 13, 2003, "Emmy Biggies Are . . . Us! Ladies of The View Head Daytime Lineup," p. 104.
New York Times, July 29, 1984, Phil Berger, "The New Comediennes," pp. 26-32; December 19, 1994, Stephen Holden, review of Comedy Tonight, pp. B3, C11; January 1, 1995, Vincent Canby, review of Comedy Tonight, p. H5; August 21, 1997, review of The View, pp. B1, C11.
People, October 20, 1997, Steven Lang, "Joy Ride: After Seventeen Years of Stand-up Comedy, Joy Behar Can Now Enjoy The View," pp. 111-112; May 17, 1999, Edward Karam, review of Joy Shtick, p. 53; August 19, 2002, "Pop Quiz with Joy Behar," p. 22.
Publishers Weekly, March 15, 1999, review of Joy Shtick, p. 37.
Record (Bergen County, NJ), March 23, 1996, "Last Laugh for Teacher," p. L1; September 26, 1997, Raymond A. Edel, "Bringing a Woman's Touch," p. Y2; April 20, 2001, Ed Condran, "Comedian with a View of Giving Back," p. 25.
Seattle Times, March 13, 2003, "The View, Dr. Phil Up for Daytime Emmys," p. F4.
Self, May, 1998, Laura Morice, interview with Behar, pp. 182-189.
Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), August 11, 1997, Jerry Krupnick, review of The View, p. 23; February 6, 2000, Charles Einstein, "Her Act's a Joy to Behold," p. 7.
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), August 19, 1997, Noel Holston, review of The View, p. 8E; December 3, 1999, Tim Harlow, "Joy Ride," p. 28.
Time, April 26, 1999, Joel Stein, interview with Behar, p. 104; May 22, 2000, James Poniewozik, review of The View, p. 126.
TV Guide, July 25, 1998, Michael Logan, "View Masters," pp. 20-23; October 24, 1998, Michael Logan, "Forced to View Soaps," p. 39; March 25, 2003, Ileane Rudolph, "Joy-full," pp. 49A-52.
Variety, December 10, 1986, review of Helen Reddy and Joy Behar, p. 90; January 2, 1995, Jeremy Gerard, review of Comedy Tonight, p. 81; November 3, 1997, Joe Leydon, review of The "M" Word, p. 104.
Woman's Day, October 27, 1987, "Take My Husband, Take My Husband, Please," p. 256.
ONLINE
ABC.com: The View,http://abc.abcnews.go.com/theview/ (June 4, 2003).
Internet Movie Database,http://www.imdb.com/ (May 23, 2003), "Joy Behar."