Funny woman D’yan Forest, who holds the Guinness Book of Records for the oldest working comedian, isn’t slowing down. On July 31, she turns 91 and will celebrate her birthday by performing her one-woman show at the iconic Joe’s Pub in Manhattan.
“This show is unlike anything I’ve ever done,” says Forest, who has celebrated three other birthdays performing at Joe’s Pub, including last year for her 90th. “My new show, called “A Gefilte Fish Out of Water” addresses antisemitism, something that I have experienced but never talked about in my routines.”
Forest, who was born Diana Shulman and raised in the suburbs of Boston, says Jewish hate is on the rise globally and it’s important to educate and enlighten people, even if it’s through comedy. “I started learning about being different when I was a little girl and the neighbors said my father couldn’t wash his car on Sunday because it was the Chrisitan sabbath,” says Forest. “I wanted to have a Christmas tree and my parents said we couldn’t because we were Jewish. And there were tennis and golf clubs we couldn’t go to because of our religion. So, through jokes and songs, I tell my story. I do a parody of the song If I were a Rich Man from Fiddler on the Roof —I sing if I Were a Christian Girl— I would Bidda Bidda Bidda Bum….. etc”
She admits that finding humor in antisemitism isn’t easy. “It tough to be a Jew nowadays,” says Forest who lost family in the Holocaust.
“It’s like the past has come back. But I hope through my songs, parodies, jokes and punchlines, audiences can see what it’s like being Jewish in the world today—especially young people, many who don’t even know about Hitler and the holocaust.”
Forest’s journey to the stage didn’t start with comedy; she began her career by playing the ukulele and singing. “I learned to play the ukulele when I was 16 years old, my parents bought me one for my birthday,” she says. “I wanted a guitar, but my parents said a guitar is for boys and a ukulele is for girls. I learned four chords from a book and played songs around the campfire at camp. I also took piano lessons starting at age five.”
For Forest, a big part of her life has been her French connection. When she was a junior at Middlebury College in Vermont, she spent the summer in France. “That was life changing for me–I loved it there, I fell in love with the culture, I perfected my French and made many connections,” she says. “There was a group of us, and we lived with families in Belfort, France and then spent a month biking from Avignon to Paris.”
After graduating college, she wanted to settle in Paris, but her parents had other plans for her –to get married. “So, I did, but it didn’t work out and after the divorce, I zoomed back to Paris and lived a dream,” says Forest, whose French adventures are recounted in her self-published memoir, I Did It My Ways.
By 1966, after “swinging and performing” in Paris,” Forest returned to the United States, moved to New York City, and lived in an apartment in the West Village, where she still lives today.
Once in New York, Forest took singing and acting lessons. “It came naturally,” says Forest, who played in bars, restaurants, venues and clubs in and around Manhattan.
Then at the age of 68, she ventured into stand-up comedy. It was shortly after 9-11 and people needed something light and humorous in their life. In 2003 she hired a comedy coach and set out on a new path.
“My act has always been sexy, risqué and self-deprecating,” says Forest, who has been called the filthy Betty White. “Betty made fun of her age, as I do, but I can say off color things that Betty could not say on national television.”
Over the years, she has appeared on Saturday Night Live, France’s Got Talent, the Drew Barrymore Show and Comedy Central. At least twice a year she travels back to France to perform in cabaret and comedy shows—and does it in French. She’s played at NYC venues including The Wild Project, Caroline’s on Broadway, and Gotham Comedy Club, where she performs once a month. She also is in a singing and ukulele group that performs in a canoe shed on the Gowanus Canal, in Brooklyn.
She attributes her success and long career to never giving up and being active. She swims, plays golf, tennis and oftentimes in the evenings, she will go the opera, see a Broadway musical or a movie or get together with friends. She also has a home in Southampton where she spends part of the summer.
Much of her off-time is spent writing and memorizing her new material and creating new songs. “It keeps my brain active” she notes.
Forest hopes to keep on performing, playing golf and traveling. And what would she like do for her 100th birthday? “I would love to say, perform, but at this age, all I can do is take each day as it comes.”
Joe’s Pub, at 425 Lafayette Street (at Astor Place). Tickets are $30.
publictheater.org/performances-jp/2025/d/d-yan-forest-a-gefilte-fish-out-of-water/.
