‘I Got the Last Laugh: The Life and Times of Jackie ‘Moms’ Mabley
Photos courtesy of Internet archives and Jubilee Theatre
—Jan Farrington
Back in the ‘60s, there were a handful of women comedians on TV—and almost none were women of color. So it’s not surprising that the remarkable (and definitely different) Jackie “Moms” Mabley grabbed my attention every time she showed up on a daytime talk show or a late-night program (probably one I wasn’t supposed to be up watching).
When I saw her, she was an older woman with a grab-bag style: knee socks, flat shoes, print dresses layered with Hawaiian shirts—in memory of the great-grandmother she loved. And she wore small hats (knitted, striped, flowery, beachy) that fit close to her head. Her voice was raspy, her laugh a deep “ha ha”—and as she once told Tommy on the Smother’s Brothers variety show, she liked “good clean dirty fun.”
By then, she’d been performing for half a century.
At Jubilee Theatre, director D. Wambui Richardson and the vibrant Crystal Williams bring Moms’ offbeat and trailblazing glory to life in I Got the Last Laugh: The Life and Times of Jackie ‘Moms’ Mabley. The play is by Emmy Award-winning writer James E. Carter, who was in the audience opening night. He lets Moms tell her own story, sometimes by answering the questions of an eager fanboy journalist (Joshua Sherman, whose Charlie is almost giddy about meeting Moms)—and sometimes lost in memories, almost talking to herself.
It’s possible, we learn, than Moms Mabley more or less invented stand-up comedy starting in the 1920s. She traveled the “Chitlin’ Circuit” in all-Black vaudeville shows, worked at the Cotton Club, made some movies, starred at the Apollo, and took her comedy to Carnegie Hall and the Ed Sullivan Show. Her jokes were out there for the time—but she was honest, surprising, and hilarious in a pre-PC way. And they made the Jubilee audience shout with laughter more than once.
For the many today who don’t know Moms, playwright Carter does a fine job introducing us to this one-of-a-kind performer. Many of her jokes were what they called “blue” back then (R-rated, more or less), but full of fun, and coming at you from unexpected and very human angles. Moms loved to crack wise about men and relationships, prejudice, gender roles, everyday happenings, and more. She came out as a gay woman at 27, dressed often in well-tailored suits, and sent friends notes signed “Mr. Moms.”
As for the rest, I think Moms (and James Carter) can handle the plot their way. Carter’s play doesn’t just go from joke to joke—but also includes what Moms remembered, including the tragic and abusive girlhood that shaped her life, and led her to be a lifetime mentor and “Mom” to struggling young people.
Ken’ja L. Brown’s costumes for Crystal Williams’ character are true-to-life and make us smile; Nikki DeShea’s lighting moves us around in time with minimum fuss; and the Apollo Theatre dressing room set (uncredited) floats in space and time beneath a New York cityscape painted in blues by Jennye James.
Moms is someone you’ll enjoy getting to know.
WHEN: September 26-October 19, 2025
WHERE: 506 Main Street, Fort Worth
WEB: jubileetheatre.org
