Judy Tenuta, the “Petite Flower, Giver Goddess, Fashion Plate, Saint” as she introduced herself on her first comedy album, passed away from ovarian cancer over the weekend at the age of 72, according to the Associated Press.

As a kid, I grew up listening to my parents’ comedy albums — Bill Cosby mostly, although I occasionally spun Richard Pryor and Cheech and Chong records when I could sneak the records into my room. Cosby’s Himself, Eddie Murphy’s Raw, and a never-ending stream of Gallagher specials were in regular rotation on HBO and Showtime in the early 80s. By the time I was sixteen and working, I began purchasing my own comedy albums. In between my Sam Sam Kinison and Andrew Dice Clay tapes was a single pink cassette: Judy Tenuta’s subtly titled Buy This, Pigs.

I discovered Tenuta the same way I discovered almost all of those comedians, through cable television. HBO’s 1987 stand-up special, Women of the Night, put several female comedians in front of millions of Americans for the first time. In a single 60-minute special I was introduced to Ellen DeGeneres, Paula Poundstone, Rita Rudner, and perhaps the oddest and most unique of the bunch, Judy Tenuta, whom most people probably referred to as “the one with the accordion.” I had a VHS recording of the special on a tape full of stand up comedy performances, which I used to watch repeatedly.

To say Tenuta’s material wasn’t for everybody is an understatement. She’s weird, awkward, and alternates between loveable and brash. When a man Tenuta describes as resembling “a squid in stretch pants” blows cigar smoke in the petite flower’s face, she tells him “if I wanted to shorten my life, I’d date ya.” When the man offers to whisk her away to Japan to be come his geisha girl, she complains that she doesn’t have the time to bind her feet. The punchlines alternate between saying funny things, and saying things funnily. On the day she came home to discover her house missing, she first blamed herself for leaving it out in the open. She quickly discovered that her dimwitted brother Bosco had burned the house to the ground. When asked why he would do such a thing, Tenuta (impersonating her brother’s voice) responds, “it was laughing at me.” Shaking her head, Tenuta explains things to her brother. “No, Bosco, it was laugh-ing with you!”

Tenuta establishes her character in that first performance, referring to the crowd as “stud puppets”, claiming that everybody wants to possess her, and repeatedly inserting her goofy 80s catch phrase, “it could happen.” Also, multiple times throughout her performance she breaks into song — sometimes accompanied by piano while other times, like on her country/western tribute to the Pope, playing along with her accordion. When she notices a member of the audience staring at her, she spits her gum onto the floor and tells him to “crawl for it.”

Tenuta’s first album, Buy This, Pigs contained almost all of her material from that first HBO performance and more. I listened to the tape over and over, memorizing every word and nuance of her delivery and even working some of her jokes into my own school hallway material.

The problem with basing your entire stage presence on such an outlandish character is that, I assume, it can make getting other acting jobs difficult. According to IMDB Tenuta has had 56 acting roles, and chances are you haven’t seen a single one of them. Some of the more interesting sounding roles include Sgt. Farfalloni in Loves Bites, Samantha Rottweiler in Butch Camp, Rhonda in Plump Fiction and Madame Mulva in First Period. She also did a lot of voice work, voicing characters in shows such as Dr. Katz, Duckman, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, and Cow and Chicken. While she didn’t appear in many (any?) mainstream films, she continued acting into her 70s, with multiple film appearances in 2020.

Many years ago I learned that in 1988, just as both comedians were still up and coming, Tenuta married Emo Phillips. Phillips is not mentioned on Tenuta’s Wikipedia entry, but the fact does appear on her IMDB page. That relationship had to be a crazy collision of immeasurable proportions. Although no divorce date is available online, by all accounts the relationship did not last long.

By the time I had my first car I was subjecting all my passengers to Judy Tenuta’s material, and I’m sure all of my high school friends will remember a line or two from that tape. While Judy Tenuta was not a huge influence on my life, a little part of her comedy made me who I am, and that same little part is sad she’s gone.

Tenuta was diagnosed with cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic. I recently found this video on YouTube which was a Zoom appearance Judy made on a very small time show. The vide currently has 20 likes (21 with mine) and 850 views. In the video, Tenuta talks a little about her life and diagnosis.

For those who never saw it, here is Judy Tenuta’s appearance on HBO’s Women of the Night comedy special.