(New York Jewish Week) — Meet Leah Forster, the comedian from Borough Park, Brooklyn, who moonlighted as a trailblazer in the Hasidic community for nearly a decade starting in 2006. While she was busy cracking jokes for select female audiences, she also taught at Bais Yaakov high schools. Some may call that multitasking; we just call it a comedy miracle.
However, what do you do when the audience expects you to deliver punchlines but also has a strict dress code? Forster faced the uphill battle of navigating a world where comedy clashed with the tenets of her faith. “Every time I was booked, it was the same spiel: dress this way, don’t say that, and for heaven’s sake, no accents. Just plain old Leah,” she quipped during an interview on the 18Forty podcast. “Talk about your creative limits!”
In a plot twist that even Hollywood would envy, in 2014, Forster came out as a lesbian. Cue dramatic music and a two-year hiatus from comedy. When she finally returned to the stage in 2017, the transition felt less like a smooth ride and more like an episode of “Survivor: Comedy Edition.” Several members of her former community simply couldn’t handle her new identity, even if her material barely touched on it.
Enter the headline-making New Year’s Eve shows of 2018. After discovering her sexual orientation, outraged rabbis threatened to revoke kosher certifications from her venues. The show went on, but not without mythical drama—think “The Price Is Right” meets “Will They Or Won’t They” soap operas.
Fast forward to today: Forster’s comedy maintains a distinct Jewish flavor, drawing heavily from her Borough Park upbringing. She serves up a comedic stew featuring characters like the tenacious Baily and the stylish yet conflicted Peshy. With nearly 75,000 social media followers, it’s safe to say she’s cooking with gas—or maybe just a very hot kugel.
Alongside her bustling comedy career and juggling motherhood, Forster fields day jobs in home health care and teaching. Yes, you read that right; she’s the comedic wonder woman the world didn’t know it needed. On August 16, she’s set to perform at The Chosen Comedy Festival at the Coney Island Amphitheater, which promises laughs and probably a few unexpected plot twists. Spoiler alert: the New York Jewish Week is serving as the media partner.
In a recent interview with New York Jewish Week, Forster reflected on her journey. If she could time travel and chat with her younger self, what would she say? “Well, young Leah, keep laughing; just remember to leave the ‘please be reasonable’ jokes out of your set,” she’d probably advise her past self.
