"The mother of us all" : the unwritten legacy of Jean Carroll -- "You're Jean Carroll" : from immigrant daughter to American vaudevillian -- A woman in the stand-up "fraternity" : Jean Carroll and stand-up comedy in the post-vaudeville era -- "The first lady of laughs" : Jean Carroll on the nightclub comedy scene -- "Take it from me" (and they did) : Carroll's battle for a television sitcom -- Sullivan spots and party records : playing Jewish without saying "Jewish" -- Not without my "rotten kid" : caretaker versus comedian

"Piecing together the forgotten story of Jean Carroll, the first Jewish female stand-up comedian, this book reveals the history of women in comedy, American Jews, and how stand-up found its feet"--