Jean Carroll

Long before the "housewife comic" became a type, Jean Carroll stood alone at the microphone with no song or dance to fall back on, telling stories about her husband, her daughter and her own vanity. She first appeared on Ed Sullivan's programme in 1948, when it was still called Toast of the Town, and was invited back more than 20 times; Joan Rivers and Lily Tomlin grew up watching her. Recommended recording: Girl in a Hot Steam Bath, her 1960 Columbia album, which now survives mainly as second-hand vinyl. The Jewish Women's Archive hosts clips of her 1960 and 1964 Sullivan sets, the quickest way to hear her timing.