Adrianne Tolsch

Adrianne Tolsch (October 31, 1938 – December 7, 2016) was an American comedian. She was long associated with the Catch a Rising Star comedy club in New York City, as a performer, club manager and the club's first woman emcee. She also performed on Broadway and in cabaret shows and was a graphic artist. She was married to fellow comedian and writer Bill Scheft.

Adrianne Tolsch
Adrianne Tolsch (2014)
Born(1938-10-31)October 31, 1938
DiedDecember 7, 2016(2016-12-07) (aged 78)
Known forComedy
Height5 ft 4 in (163 cm)[1]
Spouse(s)Bill Scheft
Children1

Early life

Tolsch grew up an only child in the Flatbush[2] neighborhood of Brooklyn.[3] She attended Erasmus Hall High School,[2] and got an arts degree from Brooklyn College.[4] Her family was Jewish.[5] From a young age she idolized Lenny Bruce,[5] so her father once snuck her into a Bruce show in the Village by claiming she was a midget.[6]

Career

Tolsch's first career was as a graphic artist, doing architectural renderings among other work.[7][8] She eventually left this work after starting comedy in 1976.[9][5] She began performing improv with The Original Cast troupe before starting in stand-up comedy.[3] Performing had an allure for her. "The first time I ever got a standing ovation, you could have taken me right to comic heaven. It was such an affirmation. It's attention, love, it's everything but food and rent."[10][8]

At that time, there were few women working in standup comedy, and fewer still could earn a full-time living at it.[4] When Tolsch herself first started in comedy, she kept her day job as a commercial graphic artist while performing at night.[1] During this time, the women comics in New York would often congregate on Sundays at Tolsch's West Side apartment. "There are so few of us that we need to get together. The camaraderie is essential and we are so all over the lot that we don't get to talk together all that much."[4]

She eventually became a success in the New York City comedy club circuit, and became the first woman emcee at Catch a Rising Star.[9] She also managed the club for years, and served as a mentor for young comics.[2] She considered comedian Richard Belzer to be her mentor, as he had helped her get her start at Catch a Rising Star.[1] In 1981 she was the only woman emcee in any of the New York clubs, in part because she was adept at dealing with hecklers.[9][11]

My name is Tolsch. Tolsch is Russian for 'the yogurt has spoiled.' Where you from? New Jersey? You here for the water? Must be your first time, you ordered the food. We had a nice nonsectarian Christmas at our house. My mother let me hang my earrings from her fern.

— Adrianne Tolsch[9]

She toured as a comedian, appearing in comedy clubs throughout all over the United States and in England and Australia.[12] In her career she opened for such acts as Jay Leno, The Pointer Sisters, Bobby Vinton, Pat Cooper and Billy Crystal.[12]

Tolsch also appeared on Broadway in the comedy review 3 From Brooklyn in 1992 at the Helen Hayes Theatre. She also co-hosted a weekly syndicated radio show called The Better Sex.[2]

Her last project was the documentary film Take My Nose...Please: Women, Comedy and Plastic Surgery which she and Scheft executive produced together.[3] The film was directed by journalist Joan Kron and examines the pressure on women to be attractive, via comedy.[13]

Awards and honors
Tolsch on stage Oct 2015

She won Outstanding Female Stand-Up Comic at New York City's MAC Awards in 1990[14], 1991[15] and 1994.[16] Her one-woman shows Trucks, Guns and Mayonnaise (2004) (which was about her life on the road as a comic}[17] and None of Your Damn Business (2006) both won cabaret awards.[3] The documentary Take My Nose...Please won the audience awards at the Miami Film Festival and the Berkshire International Film Festival.[13]

Personal life

Tolsch was married to comedian and writer Bill Scheft, who she met when he (at first unsuccessfully) auditioned for her at Catch a Rising Star in December 1980.[2] They moved in together in 1984 and married in June 1990.[18] She was an avid crossworder along with Scheft.[19]

She died of esophogeal cancer on December 7, 2016.[3] Aside from Scheft, she was survived by a son and a grandson[12] from one of her two previous marriages.[4]

References
  1. Beiswenger, Tom (December 23, 1988). "Tolsch finds a hospitable spot on the comedy club circuit". Star-Gazette. Elmira, New York. p. 25. Archived from the original on July 16, 2019. Retrieved July 16, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
  2. Barnes, Mike (December 7, 2016). "Adrianne Tolsch, Pioneering Stand-Up Comic, Dies at 78". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on December 16, 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  3. Chavez, Danette (December 8, 2016). "R.I.P. stand-up comedian Adrianne Tolsch". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on July 16, 2019. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  4. Ferretti, Fred (March 2, 1981). "Heard the One About the Female Comic?". New York Times. p. A16. Archived from the original on April 24, 2011. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  5. Carter, Alan (December 26, 1986). "Listen, I'm Here to Stay". New York Daily News. p. 138. Archived from the original on July 16, 2019. Retrieved July 16, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
  6. Zoglin, Richard (2008). Comedy at the Edge: How Stand-up in the 1970s Changed America. New York, NY: Bloomsbury USA. pp. 99, 190–191. ISBN 9781582346243. OCLC 176861824 – via Google Books.
  7. Berger, Phil (July 29, 1984). "The New Comediennes". New York Times Magazine. p. 27. Archived from the original on May 24, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  8. Berger, Phil (2000). The Last Laugh: The World of Stand-up Comics. New York: Cooper Square Press. p. 388. ISBN 9780815410966. OCLC 1028597480 – via Google Books.
  9. Ferretti, Fred (January 2, 1981). "Now Let's Give A Big Welcome to the Newest Comics in Town". New York Times. p. C1, C16. Archived from the original on May 24, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  10. Berger, Phil (September 6, 1984). "Women comedians beginning to take center stage as stand-up stars". Chicago Tribune. p. 76. Archived from the original on July 16, 2019. Retrieved July 16, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
  11. Borns, Betsy (1987). Comic Lives: Inside the World of American Stand-up comedy. Simon & Schuster, Inc. p. 136. ISBN 0-671-62620-5. OCLC 15792005. Adrianne Tolsch says that, like stand-up in general, the key to dealing with hecklers is to remember, ‘it’s all about control…it’s not what you say, it’s how fast and forcefully you say it’
  12. Evans, Greg (December 7, 2016). "Adrianne Tolsch Dead: Pivotal Stand-Up Comic, Wife Of 'Letterman' Writer Was 78". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 22, 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  13. McNary, Dave (October 20, 2017). "'Take My Nose…Please!' Comedy Documentary Lands at the Orchard". Daily Variety. Archived from the original on October 20, 2017. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  14. "1990 MAC Awards Nominees and Winners". Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs. Archived from the original on December 30, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  15. "1991 MAC Awards Winners and Nominees". Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs. Archived from the original on December 31, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  16. "1994 MAC Award Nominees and Winners". Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs. Archived from the original on December 31, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  17. "Off the Road - Take a Laugh Break With Adrianne Tolsch". New York Daily News. December 2, 2004. p. 140. Retrieved July 16, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
  18. Darrow, Chuck (June 9, 1991). "Stand-up comics share bed, board and laughs". Asbury Park Press. p. 60. Archived from the original on July 16, 2019. Retrieved July 16, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
  19. Amlen, Deb; Scheft, Bill (June 5, 2018). "Start of a Quip". New York Times WordPlay Blog. Archived from the original on June 10, 2018. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
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