The iconic combination of a cocktail dress and inappropriate jokes is one of the reasons why the series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel stands out so much. The show is set in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the narrative criticizes societal issues of the time using a New York Jewish married woman who has her life turned upside down in a matter of seconds. Using the scenario of the popularization of stand-up comedy, Amy Sheppard Palladino (Gilmore Girls creator) creates a world impossible to stop watching and characters that will compel you to follow their journey and root for them.
The story is set in the early 1960s when the sexual revolution and women's rights movement started. That is why this period is perfect for the edgy and provocative comedy Mrs. Maisel does. She was inspired by various Jewish comedians such as Jean Carroll and Joan Rivers, who started their career during the same period. Maisel's cut-throat quick style is intoxicating to watch, and the homage paid to the Jewish comedians is present in most of her performances.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel follows Upper West Side housewife Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan), who works hard on being the perfect wife and woman in every sense. When her husband leaves her for his secretary, Midge doesn't know what to do, so proceeds to search for her new life and what that might bring. Saying dirty jokes on stage, and ranting about her marital problems, seem too good to be true, especially for a woman to do, and Midge fights against her urge to perform. She is progressive and modern in every way possible, though: how she communicates, stands up for herself, and judges people around her. Her manager, Susie (Alex Borstein), will do everything in her power to make Midge a star.
From calling out men for trying to humiliate her to how she thinks her parents don't know she is not a virgin (her two kids should have been a given), Midge shares a part of herself every time she stands before a mic. Here are her best stand-up performances in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and why they are important.
8 Telethon
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Midge has to think on her feet and deliver an amazing performance for almost no one to see. After a few setbacks, she is placed in the last spot, around midnight, for an Arthritis and Rheumatism Telethon. Her incredible sense of humor and likability on stage makes her one of the best acts of the telethon, even if few people saw it. Midge doesn't allow the schemes of her competitors and people in the business to bring her down or diminish her talent. She takes a stand and tries to make the best of her situation, reminding the audience that it is necessary to remain true to who you are and believe that you can achieve your goals regardless of the situation.
7 The Forbidden Word
Midge is thrown off-stage a couple of times during her career - nothing new about that. However, it is usually because of something controversial or when she takes her clothes off (granted, that only happened once). After her best friend, Imogen (Bailey De Young), has a baby, she decides to bring the topic of pregnancy and giving birth to the stage, since she had two kids herself. Midge goes on and on about the lack of biological logistics that goes into natural childbirth, blaming man (and God) for such a thing.
The comedian that performed before her talked about syphilis in detail, which was no reason to make him stop his act. However, the word 'pregnant' was too much for the owner of the club: he cuts her performance short and then kicks her out of his club. Midge is furious and rants about the hypocrisy alongside her manager, Susie. It's not so much what she said on stage that is so important, but how something natural like childbirth affected people enough that she had to stop, while syphilis was an 'okay' topic. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel episode hearkens back to a time when Lucille Ball was being pressured to not mention pregnancy or appear pregnant on her hit show I Love Lucy, as recounted in the documentary Lucy and Desi.
6 Revenge
After destroying her career by doing an improvised performance and nearly outing her friend and boss, Shy Baldwin (LeRoy McClain), Midge is furious. "I'm talking Medea-level revenge." The comedian expresses how she should move on and be a 'better man.' She says that she is a woman, so she won't do that. Feelings outside of happiness and sadness were usually not associated with women onscreen in the era, so Midge makes a case of stating how angry she is and breaks another stereotype. It is refreshing to see a female character being so open about her anger and how she wants to get her revenge, but since it is Midge, the set is also hilarious.
5 Motherly Duty
After smoking marijuana for the first time, Midge goes on stage. She starts explaining how she was talking to a group of people while smoking, and the topic of children emerged. The comedian notices she doesn't have a picture of her kids and then starts to talk about motherhood and brings the question: "What if I wasn't supposed to be a mother?"
Midge proceeds to talk about how motherhood is imposed on women due to their biological conditions. She starts to question if that was the right decision for her, since she only did it because it was expected of her. She makes the women in the audience question if they would rather travel the world or embark on any other life path that doesn't involve diapers, in a period when such a topic wasn't even an option.
4 Sex and Man, Sex With Man, Sex With Sexy Man
Mrs. Maisel takes a stand and talks about the contraceptive pill (created in the late 1940s) and how it affects women everywhere. Women's sexual life is one of Midge's main topics in her stand-ups. She is vocal about her own experiences (some good and some not so much) while advocating for women's rights in saying yes and no when regarding sexuality. She also points out the hypocrisy regarding how divorced women, at the time, were almost considered 'virgins' again - showing the taboo was not only for a woman to get divorced, but for them to have an active sex life after taking their wedding ring off.
3 Tiny Baby Hands
After getting bumped into the last act of the night, Midge has had enough. Her dress has a mustard stain, her hair is disheveled, she is drunk, and most importantly: she is furious. Having to hear bad joke after bad joke, the female comedian is tired of being treated as inferior because of her gender. She is not only funnier than them, in every sense of the word, but she is also a better performer. "Am I supposed to find them intimidating?" Midge then proceeds to go off script and roast all the male comedians, showing how ridiculous they really are for waiting for her to bomb her performance. Which, needless to say, she doesn't.
2 We Were Always The Ones in Charge
In Midge's most emotionally vulnerable set, after her ex father-in-law has a heart attack, she describes the craziness of her life in the past hours. Then, she states how men are supposed to be the strong ones, the leaders. That is especially noticeable in a hospital where doctors have pens and charts and move quickly from room to room. But the nurses, who don't even have a pen, are the ones that hold your hand when you cry. "What if we discover one day that we were always the ones in charge, just no one told us." Performing in an illegal strip club, she questions the power women hold then and makes the viewer question how much that has changed over the past years. It's one of the best 'smash the patriarchy' moments on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
1 Penny Pan
The one that started it all, the first stand-up performance Midge does while incredibly intoxicated has to be the best and number one on this list. After discovering that her husband (Michael Zegen) cheated on her and decided to leave her, shattering the life she created and dreamed about, Midge crumbles into pieces. In the process of digesting the news, however, she finds her true self and the talent she would never have pursued if not for Joel's betrayal: her comedic career.
Everything about her best performances is present in this one: her unfiltered jokes and satirical commentary about social norms fill the stage with laughter from the crowd. It is the first time Midge does something for herself without thinking about the consequences and the people trying to influence her, showing the hidden potential women can have if they break the barriers created for them.