Judy Gold (born November 15, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, podcaster, television writer, author, producer, and activist. She won two Daytime Emmy Awards for her work as a writer and producer on The Rosie O'Donnell Show. From 2015-2025, Gold hosted the podcast It's Judy's Show with Judy Gold. Her collection of essays, "Yes I Can Say That: When They Come for the Comedians, We Are All in Trouble," was published in 2020. In 2023, she turned her book into a solo show, "Yes, I Can Say That!" directed by BD Wong.
Early life Gold was born on November 15, 1962, in Clark, New Jersey. Gold grew up in a Jewish home with her two siblings. She plays piano. Gold moved to Manhattan, New York from New Jersey in 1984 after she graduated from Rutgers University.
Stand-Up Gold started stand-up when she was nineteen years old; she did her first set at Rutgers in 1981. She was passed at Catch a Rising Star in 1985, and has been a regular at the Comedy Cellar since the 1980s.
In an interview with Marc Maron, Gold revealed her comedic influences were Joan Rivers, Phyllis Diller, and Totie Fields. Gold's stand-up specials have aired on Comedy Central, LOGO, and HBO. She has been featured in Netflix's Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration, and in the companion documentary about LGBTQ+ comedians OUTSTANDING: A Comedy Revolution, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Gold has released three comedy albums: 2004's Judith’s Roommate Had a Baby, 2018's Kill Me Now, and 2020's Conduct Unbecoming.
Television and film Her first television role was on Roseanne in 1991, followed by a series regular role on Margaret Cho's 1994 sitcom All-American Girl. Gold was cast as Gloria Schechter, one of Cho's characters friends. Gold's acting credits include: Tripped Up, She Came To Me, Love Reconsidered, and Wings. Her recent TV credits include Showtime's City On A Hill and The First Lady, FX’s Better Things, and Apple TV+ Extrapolations. Other guest appearances include Girls5Eva, Broad City, Hulu's Life and Beth, and recurring roles on Awkwafina, TBS’ Search Party, and Netflix's Friends from College.
She was a focus of Trevor Noah’s documentary XCLD: The Story of Cancel Culture. In 2007, she was featured in the film Making Trouble, a tribute to female Jewish comedians, produced by the Jewish Women's Archive.
She was also a writer on the final season of FX's Better Things.
Gold is a subject of the Hulu documentary Hysterical. She has made appearances on The Tonight Show and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Gold has been a guest on The View, The Today Show, The Drew Barrymore Show, and a free-speech advocate on MSNBC, CNN and NewsNation She has appeared on the Food Network, including competing on Chopped All-Stars and Rachel vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off.
From 1999 to 2010, Gold hosted HBO's At the Multiplex with Judy Gold. She appeared as a commentator on 2007 truTV's World's Dumbest....
She's featured on Mindy Kaling's new Hulu show "Not Suitable for Work", as well as in Larry David's new HBO show, "Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness." Judy will play Sheryl Vanzandt on The Varnell Hill Show, a spin-off of the 90's sitcom Martin (TV series), premiering September 1, 2026 on Paramount+.
Stage shows Gold has written and starred in the Off-Broadway shows: Yes I Can Say That!, The Judy Show – My Life as a Sitcom, and 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother. She was a featured player as Gremio in The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park all-female production of The Taming of The Shrew. She also co-starred in Off-Broadway's Clinton! The Musical, and Disaster! The Musical.
Gold's one-woman show 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother, co-written with Kate Moira Ryan, is based on a series of interviews with more than 50 Jewish mothers in the United States. Their stories are interspersed with anecdotes about her own mother and her life as a lesbian mother of two sons. It ran at the Ars Nova Theater in New York City in early 2006 and reopened later that year at St. Luke's Theater.
On June 30, 2011, The Judy Gold Show: My Life as a Sitcom, began previews at Off-Broadway's DR2 Theatre in New York City. This one-woman show was an homage to the classic sitcoms of Gold's youth. The show is written by Gold and Kate Moira Ryan and directed by Amanda Charlton. The show officially opened on July 6, 2011. The New York Times called the show "highly entertaining." The New York Post called the show "gleefully self-deprecating". The show subsequently opened in Los Angeles June 18, 2013, and had a one-month run at the Geffen Playhouse.
In 2011, Gold was named a Givenik Ambassador. In 2015, she appeared off-Broadway as Eleanor Roosevelt in the satiric musical Clinton: The Musical at New World Stages.
Her one-woman show, based on her book, Yes I Can Say That! premiered in March 2023 and was directed by BD Wong at 59E59 Theaters.
Writing Gold is the author of Yes I Can Say That: When They Come For The Comedians, We Are All In Trouble, a book about free speech and cancel-culture. It was released in 2020.
In 2021, Gold wrote an opinion essay for CNN, 'I Still Can't Stop Watching Cecily Strong's Clown.'
Personal life Gold is a lesbian. She was in a relationship with Sharon Callahan for nearly 20 years. Together they have two children, Henry and Ben, whom she frequently referenced on the show Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. She met her current partner, Elysa Halpern, on a blind date set up by Time Out New York in 2007. Gold is very active in both the LGBT and Jewish communities. She was active in support of the 2004 and 2008 Democratic presidential campaigns. Gold served on the Board of Directors of the National Coalition Against Censorship.
Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes2001The Curse of the Jade ScorpionVoltan's Participant2004Our Italian HusbandNun #2 2005 The Aristocrats Herself Documentary 2017 Gilbert Herself Documentary 2021 Hysterical Herself Documentary 2023 She Came to Me Susan Shaw 2023Tripped Up Chef Missy 2024Love... Reconsidered Susie
Television Year Title Role Notes1991RoseanneAmy1 episode1993Rumor Has ItPanelist1 episode1994–1995All American GirlGloria Schechter18 episodes1995HBO Comedy Half-Hour: Judy GoldHerself1995Here Come the MunstersElsa Munster HydeTV movie1995The CityJudy Silver1 episode1996WingsBrenda1 episode1997Lois Lives a LittleShort1998Arli$$1 episode2000The Drew Carey ShowLeslie2 episodes2000Law & OrderDeborah Patterson1 episode2000Sidesplitters: The Burt & Dick StoryDick's MotherShort2001The Ballad of Lucy WhippleBuck McPheeTV film2002Sex and the CityBarnes & Noble Clerk1 episode2002Law & Order: Special Victims UnitForensic Gynecologist1 episode2003Comic RemixHerself1 episode2003The GynecologistsMrs. LeBlancShort2004EdJudge Fisher1 episode2005Here! Family1 episode2007–2008Super NormalThe Roving Eye / Madam Midterm / Granny15 episodes2008–2013World's DumbestHerself114 episodes2009Ugly BettyJoan1 episode2011The GladesRebecca Thornquist1 episode201230 RockJudy Gold1 episode2012Are We There Yet?Sylvia Treadway1 episode2013The Big CRabbi1 episode20132 Broke GirlsJerri1 episode2014Melissa and JoeyJaney2 episodes2014Teachers LoungeGym Teacher1 episode2015LouieMarina1 episode2015The Jim Gaffigan ShowJudy Gold1 episode2016Broad CityAngela1 episode2016Unbreakable Kimmy SchmidtJudy1 episode2016Crisis in Six ScenesPhonebooth Woman1 episode2016Difficult PeopleJudy Gold1 episode2016Search PartyPaulette Capuzzi2 episodes2016What's Your F#@king Deal?!HerselfPost-Production2017I'm Dying Up HereJudy Elder1 episode2017NightcapDeb Hafner 5 episodes2018Murphy BrownICE Agent Lynch1 episode2020HelpstersCrossing Guard Carla 1 episode2020–2022Better ThingsChaya 5 episodes2021; 2023Awkwafina Is Nora from QueensThe Librarian2 episodes2022City on a HillCassandra Kassell 3 episodes2022ExtrapolationsSophie 1 episode2022The First LadyElizabeth Read 4 episodes2022Girls5evaDr. Madden 1 episode2022Life & Beth 1 episode2025Hell's Kitchen Herself Episode: "Five Comedians Walk into Hell..." 2026 Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness Evelyn Episode: "Deepthroat" 2026 The Varnell Hill Show Sheryl
Web Year Title Role Notes2013Real Actors Read YelpHerself1 episode, streaming on YouTube2015AmbienceEstelle1 episode, streaming online2023Around the Sun (audio drama)Paula3 episodes
References
External links
25 Questions for a Jewish Mother Voices on Antisemitism Interview with Judy Gold from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum All That Glitters