Queer women have been performing comedy for a long time, even if audiences haven’t always realized it. Saturday Night Live hires like Kate McKinnon (cast in 2012) and Punkie Johnson (cast in 2020) made headlines as the first openly lesbian and first openly Black lesbian cast members, respectively. Yet, many viewers might not realize that Denny Dillon and Danitra Vance, who were on SNL in the 1980s, were the earliest known queer women on the show. They and other queer women who have gone largely unrecognized helped pave the way for some of the most prolific comedians throughout history.
Moms Mabley (1890s-1975)
Jackie “Moms” Mabley, born Loretta Mary Aiken, started her comedy career playing vaudeville shows. She became a regular on the Chitlin’ Circuit, a series of venues throughout the United States where Black performers could book gigs during segregation, and was the first woman to have a solo comedy show at the Apollo, where she became a regular performer.
Mabley became most famous for her stage character “Moms,” an old woman who wore house dresses and liked young men, as evidenced by one of her signature lines: “Ain’t nothin’ an old man can do for me but bring me a message from a young man.” Offstage, Mabley dated women and wore silk shirts and suits like the one she sported in her first film role (1933’s The Emperor Jones). Although her relationships with women were not known to the public, they were no secret among people who knew Mabley personally.
Mabley enjoyed enormous success on the stage in the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s. During the 1960s, she also appeared on TV shows like The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and The Ed Sullivan Show and released numerous comedy albums.
Lily Tomlin (1939-)
Lily Tomlin began her comedy career in the 1960s, performing at clubs in New York City and on TV shows like The Garry Moore Show and Music Scene (on which she appeared with Moms Mabley). From 1969 to 1973, she gained national attention as a cast member on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, where she played characters like Edith Ann the little girl and Ernestine the telephone operator, becoming known for signature catchphrases like "And that's the truth" and "One ringy dingy, two ringy dingy."
Tomlin made her film debut in the 1975 movie Nashville, for which she earned an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress. Since then, Tomlin has worked steadily in films, television and plays. The comedy series "Grace and Frankie" launched in 2015, teaming her up with Jane Fonda, one of her co-stars from the 1980 comedy 9 to 5.
Tomlin began dating her current wife and collaborator, Jane Wagner, in the 1970s. Although their relationship was not a secret among people who knew them, it didn’t garner much media attention until the 2000s. Tomlin and Wagner married each other in California in 2013, the year the state permanently legalized same-sex marriage.
