Elayne Boosler

Elayne Boosler (born August 18, 1952, in Brooklyn, NY) is an American comedian and advocate for animal rescue. Boosler was born and raised in Brooklyn. She was the youngest child and only daughter. Her father was a Russian acrobat and a her mother was a Rumanian ballerina. She attended Public School in Brooklyn including Shellbank Junior High School and Sheepshead Bay High School. Boosler is married to Bill Siddons, music industry executive and former manager of The Doors. After a job as a singer/dancer in touring companies, and many unsuccessful waitressing jobs, Boosler worked as doorman at The Improvisation comedy club in New York for two and a half years. While working there she met comedian Andy Kaufman, a regular at the club, who convinced her she should do standup comedy. The two lived together in Greenwich Village for three years, and remained close friends until Kaufman's death. Boosler credits Kaufman for her "comedy education" as well as her other peers at the time which included Freddie Prinze, Jay Leno, Larry David, Richard Lewis, Richard Belzer, Jimmie Walker and Ed Bluestone. In 1986 Boosler became the first female to get her own one hour comedy special on cable when