Anne Meara: An appreciation

Back in the ’50s and ’60s, “funny” was seen as “unfeminine” — stand-up comediennes (sic) were, almost to a woman, self-deprecating about their looks. Some (Phyllis Diller, Minnie Pearl) exaggerated what was no more than plainness (if that) into schticky grotesquerie through makeup and costuming; others (Joan Rivers, Totie Fields) just made cruel jokes at their own expense. All of these women, though, presented themselves as unlovable and asexual, whether married or not.

Not Anne Meara, though. She and her partner, Jerry Stiller, made their marriage part of their routine, but in a way that poked fun at their differences rather than make them the foundation for a battleground. (I still remember a bit they did, c. 1966, about Jerry’s Batman toothbrush.) They may have lacked the edge of Mike Nichols and Elaine May — fellow alums of Chicago’s Compass Players, precursor of Second City and ground zero of improv in the United States — but Stiller and Meara had both successful careers and a happy home life.

The two got married in 1954 and performed together off and on for the next 60 years. They first hit national attention with Ed Sullivan and the many other popular variety shows of the ’60s; continued through their Blue Nun ads in the ’70s; and ended up in a web series produced by their son, Ben, in 2010-2011. Meara also had plenty of solo gigs, including recurring TV roles (Archie Bunker’s Place, ALF, Sex and the City) and parts in movies (The Boys from Brazil, Fame).

Today, there are plenty of professional comics who are smart and funny and unapologetically attractive, and who don’t need to deprecate their femininity — Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Amy Schumer. They owe a debt to Anne Meara. And so do all funny women everywhere, even those who have never taken the stage.

Thanks, Anne.