Joy Behar
Josephine Victoria "Joy" Behar (; née Occhiuto) is an American comedian, television host, actress, and writer. She co-hosts the ABC daytime talk show "The View", where she is the only original panelist still regularly appearing. She hosted "The Joy Behar Show" on HLN from 2009 to 2011 and "" on Current TV, from 2012 until the channel switched formats in August 2013. Behar's latest weekly late-night talk show, "Late Night Joy", aired on TLC in 2015. She also wrote "The Great Gasbag: An A–Z Study Guide to Surviving Trump World". Early life. Behar was born Josephine  Victoria Occhiuto in 1942 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, the only child to a Roman Catholic family of Italian descent. Her mother, Rose ("née" Carbone), was a seamstress, and her father, Gino Occhiuto, was a truck driver for Coca-Cola. Behar earned a BA in sociology from Queens College in 1964 and an MA in English education from Stony Brook University in 1966. From the late 1960s to the early 1970s, she taught English on Long Island at Lindenhurst Senior High School in Lindenhurst, New York. She studied acting at the HB Studio. Career. Career beginnings. Behar started her career  in show business in the early 1980s as a receptionist and later a producer on "Good Morning America". She was a stand-up comedian and made appearances on ABC's "Good Morning America" and "The New Show", a short-lived Lorne Michaels NBC project. In 1987, she hosted a variety talk show on Lifetime Television called "Way Off Broadway" that included Larry David as a writer and performer. She also hosted the show "Live from Queens"; was a regular on NBC's "Baby Boom"; and continued to work the comedy club circuit. She had minor film roles including "Cookie", "This  Is My Life", and "Manhattan Murder Mystery". On WABC radio she hosted a talk-show, and made appearances on HBO comedy specials "One Night Stand" and "Women of the Night 2". Section::::"The View". In 1997, Behar became one of the original panelists of the ABC daytime talk show "The View", which was co-created by Barbara Walters. Behar originally appeared only on the days when Walters was off, but she ultimately became a permanent co-host. Behar occasionally hosted a segment called "Joy's Comedy Corner" in which she presented both established and up-and-coming comedians. In August 2009 , Behar and the other co-hosts, Whoopi Goldberg, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Sherri Shepherd, and Barbara Walters, won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host following over a decade of nominations for the show. On March 7, 2013, it was announced that Behar would be leaving the show at the end of the current season. She told "Deadline", "It seemed like the right time...You reach a point when you say to yourself, 'Do I want to keep doing this?' There are other things on my plate I want to do — I've been writing a play, I've been  neglecting my standup". Her last show was on August 9, 2013 in which the program staged a "This is Your Life" style tribute to Behar. After departing in 2013, Behar continued to guest co-host throughout 2014 and 2015. On August 25, 2015, ABC announced that Behar would return as a regular co-host starting with the premiere of the 19th season on September 8, 2015. Behar was quoted as saying, "Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in. Plus, Steve was getting tired of applauding every time I gave my opinion. But I'm happy  to be back home. And I'm looking forward to sticking my two cents into the hot topics, especially now that Hillary and the Donald are in the spotlight." During a discussion about the 89th Miss America pageant in 2015, Behar referenced contestant Kelley Johnson's attire during her monologue and questioned why she had on "a doctor's stethoscope". Behar's remark, in addition to fellow co-host Michelle Collins', resulted in an immediate social media backlash from the nursing profession, including the hashtag #NursesUnite. Behar and Collins later addressed the controversy on air. Consequently, multiple companies pulled their  sponsorships from the series. In 2018, while analyzing television personality Omarosa's comments in regards to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's religiosity, Behar stated: "It's one thing to talk to Jesus, it's another thing when Jesus talks to you. That's called mental illness, if I'm not correct, hearing voices." Content analysis organization Media Research Center subsequently launched a campaign demanding an apology from Behar and urging viewers to do the same, resulting in 40,000 calls to ABC as well as 6,000 complaints to the show's advertisers. Pence himself responded and accused the show of  expressing "religious intolerance". The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger later stated that Behar has directly apologized to Pence. On March 13, she issued an apology on air, stating: "I think Vice President Pence is right; I was raised to respect everyone's religious faith, and I fell short of that. I sincerely apologize for what I said." Section::::"The Joy Behar Show". Beginning in 2007, she occasionally filled in as a guest host on "Larry King Live". On June 11, 2009, Behar announced that she would be hosting her own news/talk program on CNN's HLN beginning in the  fall of 2009, titled "The Joy Behar Show". She did not leave "The View" but worked on both shows simultaneously. Despite reportedly being the network's second-highest-rated show, HLN decided to cancel the talk show after only two years. The final broadcast of "The Joy Behar Show" aired on December 15, 2011. Section::::"Joy Behar: Say Anything!". In June 2012, it was formally announced that Behar would be getting another talk show, "", premiering September 4, 2012 on the Current TV network. Before the new show's launch, Behar began acting as fill-in host for Eliot Spitzer's Current  TV talk show, "Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer", starting on July 18, 2012. The show ended in August 2013 due to Current TV being purchased by Al Jazeera and being replaced by Al Jazeera America. Section::::"Late Night Joy". Behar's short-lived weekly late night talk show, "Late Night Joy", premiered on TLC on November 4, 2015. Each episode features Behar having intimate chats with friends in her New York City apartment. It was cancelled after 5 episodes. Other work. Behar has performed in theatrical plays, including "The Food Chain", "The Vagina Monologues", and "Love, Loss and What I Wore". She  has also performed in an Off-Broadway one-woman show entitled "Me, My Mouth and I". She has written multiple books, such as a collection of humorous essays and stories called "Joy Shtick — Or What is the Existential Vacuum and Does It Come with Attachments?" and a children's book called "Sheetzucacapoopoo: My Kind of Dog", published in 2006. She appeared on the eighth season of Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown and finished in fourth place, behind Robin Tunney, Christopher Meloni and Macy Gray, but ahead of Andy Dick. She played for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. On October 27 , 2017, Behar appeared as a guest on "Real Time with Bill Maher". Behar portrayed the role of Dr. Lucy in the 2011 comedy film "Hall Pass". She also recurred in Woody Allen's Amazon series, "Crisis in Six Scenes". Personal life. From 1965 to 1981, Behar was married to college professor Joe Behar. They have a daughter, Eve Behar Scotti. She has a grandson named Luca. After 29 years together, Behar married Steve Janowitz in 2011. Behar resides in The Hamptons. She also owns a home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She is a Democrat. Bibliography. Behar has  authored several books, including several children's books: