In on the Joke Ending Explained: The Unfinished Battle for Gender Equality in Comedy

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

How the Book Ends: A Straightforward Account

Shawn Levy’s In on the Joke concludes with a chapter titled simply “Conclusion.” It opens with a 1970 Bob Hope NBC comedy special where the host pretends women’s liberation has dethroned him. Seventeen women, including Phyllis Diller, Totie Fields, and Minnie Pearl, perform sketches in which they take on traditionally male roles—TV news anchors, taxi drivers, showbiz executives. Levy notes that the director, producer, and all ten writers were men, and that none of the women were paid anything close to Hope’s salary.

The chapter then jumps to a January 1970 New York Times article headlined “The Funny Thing Is That They Are Still Feminine,” which surveyed young women comedians (Joan Rivers, Lily Tomlin, Madeline Kahn) about dating and fashion. The article closes with Jo Anne Worley recalling Jerry Lewis’s advice that a female comedian “should never be unattractive and that a man should always want to take her in the next room and give her a big hug.”

Levy next presents a September 2016 Forbes list of the highest-earning comedians. Amy Schumer finished fourth with $17 million, making her the first woman ever to appear on that list. Schumer remained the only woman on the list through 2019.

The conclusion then argues that despite superficial progress—epitomized by The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel—women still struggle to be seen, accepted, and paid as equals in stand-up comedy. It cites the 2021 reality that a wave of rising female comedians (Iliza Shlesinger, Nikki Glaser, Jenny Slate, and many others) must hustle just to reach parity with ordinary male comics.

Levy closes by naming the pioneers profiled in the book—Moms Mabley, Hattie Noel, Jean Carroll, Minnie Pearl, Belle Barth, Pearl Williams, Rusty Warren, Jorie Remus, Phyllis Diller, Elaine May, Anne Meara, Totie Fields, Joan Rivers—and asserts that they “laid out a path” and “blazed a discernible trail where one never existed before.” The final lines ask readers to think of those women the next time they enjoy a set by Amy Schumer, Ali Wong, Leslie Jones, or Hannah Gadsby, because “the things they did and said, and the paths they worked so tirelessly to blaze: those endure.”

Climax of the Book

The narrative climax is not a single event but a juxtaposition. The Hope special and the Times article represent the old order: women used as props in a male-created fantasy of equality, and their work treated as a novelty focused on appearance. The Forbes stat—Schumer as the first woman on the list in 2016—represents a genuine but isolated breakthrough. Levy uses this contrast to argue that systemic inequality persists, even as he celebrates the pioneers who made Schumer’s achievement possible.

Major Character Outcomes

Jean Carroll retired in the mid-1960s, choosing family over fame. She died in 2010 at 98, largely forgotten.
Phyllis Diller died in 2012 at 95, leaving a legacy of resilience and self-belief.
Joan Rivers endured the fallout with Johnny Carson in 1986 and husband Edgar Rosenberg’s suicide in 1987. She returned to the stage within months and continued performing for decades.
Jackie "Moms" Mabley died in 1975 after achieving crossover success in her sixties. Her groundbreaking comedy albums remain influential.
Minnie Pearl continued her career into the 1990s. She died in 1996.
Elaine May dissolved her partnership with Mike Nichols in the early 1960s. She went on to write and direct films; her legacy as a comedy pioneer is secure.
Rusty Warren retired in 1990 and died in 2021.
Totie Fields died in 1978.
Belle Barth and Pearl Williams died in the 1970s and 1990s respectively, their careers defined by censorship battles.

Not all women are individually detailed in the conclusion, but Levy weaves them into the final argument.

Resolved and Unresolved Threads

Resolved threads:

The book shows that each profiled woman created her own path, persisted through resistance, and achieved success. That narrative arc is complete for every major figure.
The question “Can a woman be a successful stand-up comedian?” is definitively answered: yes, repeatedly and across decades.
The theme of self-invention is resolved: every woman crafted a persona (Moms’s wise grandmother, Diller’s mad housewife, Rivers’s insult comic) to navigate a hostile industry.

Unresolved threads:

The battle for gender equality in comedy remains unfinished. Levy points to ongoing pay disparities and underrepresentation, as evidenced by Schumer being the sole woman on the Forbes list.
The double standard that women must be “attractive but not too attractive” or “funny but not threatening” persists.
The book does not resolve the question of why female comedians still lack a “girls’ club” to match the male comedy boys’ club.

Theme Resolution

Gender discrimination: Not resolved; the chapter explicitly states “the battle for gender equality is still, half a century later, being waged.”
Censorship and double standards: Not fully resolved; while overt censorship declined, implicit biases still constrain women’s material and opportunities.
Self-invention and persona: Resolved—each woman succeeded by creating a distinctive persona, and that strategy proved viable for later generations.
Persistence and resilience: Resolved—every major figure persisted through setbacks, and their resilience is celebrated as a core legacy.
Trailblazing legacy: Resolved—the book argues that these women “created the cracks in the glass ceiling” and “their legacy endures in every contemporary female comedian’s success.”

The “Epilogue” – Illustrations Chapter

Chapter 12 is a photo gallery, not a narrative epilogue. It features archival images of Moms Mabley, Hattie Noel, Jean Carroll, Minnie Pearl, Sophie Tucker, Belle Barth, Rusty Warren, Phyllis Diller, Jorie Remus, Elaine May, Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller, Totie Fields, and Joan Rivers. Captions note traits such as style, persona, or historical context. The chapter visually underscores the book’s theme of recovering overlooked pioneers.

Reasonable Interpretations of the Ending

Optimistic reading: The pioneers succeeded against enormous odds, and their trailblazing made later triumphs inevitable. The Forbes list proves progress, however slow.
Pessimistic reading: A single woman on the Forbes list fifty years after Mabley started recording shows how little has changed. The 1970 Hope special’s mockery of equality wasn’t satire—it was reality, and many of the same dynamics persist.
Uncertain reading: Levy’s final paragraph calls for gratitude, not celebration. The battle continues, and the true outcome remains unknown.
Authorial caution: Levy acknowledges writing as a man in the #MeToo era, signaling that his account is necessarily partial and that women’s own stories deserve primary attention.

Six Specific Reader Questions and Answers

1. Does the book claim that things are now equal for women in comedy?

No. The conclusion explicitly states “women are still struggling… to be seen, to be accepted, and, crucially, to be paid as equals.” The Forbes fact—Amy Schumer as the first woman ever—underscores how far from equal the industry remains.

2. Why does the book end with a photo gallery instead of an epilogue?

The illustrations chapter provides a visual companion, humanizing the women and reinforcing the theme of recovery. It serves as a tribute rather than a narrative wrap-up. The real epilogue is the Conclusion, which draws the thematic threads together.

3. What happened to Joan Rivers after the events described in the book?

The book follows Rivers through Edgar Rosenberg’s suicide and her return to performing. It notes that she continued to evolve, but stops short of her later talk show, red carpet hosting, and death in 2014. The author focuses on her early career trajectory.

4. Were there any women who “made it” fully in the author’s view?

Levy suggests that each woman achieved success on her own terms, but none achieved full parity with male contemporaries in pay, respect, or opportunity. Phyllis Diller and Joan Rivers became major stars, yet still faced reduced pay and limited roles. The author treats their successes as hard-won but incomplete.

5. Is the book’s final message hopeful or despairing?

Both. Levy quotes rising female comedians “hustling like crazy” just to reach parity, calling it “despairing.” Then he compares their lot to the pioneers’, arguing that the earlier generation “laid out a path.” The final note is one of gratitude and cautious hope: “those endure.”

6. How does the author handle his identity as a male writer about women’s history?

Levy directly addresses this in the Author’s Note, explaining that his daughter and partner inspired him to fill a gap in comedy histories. He acknowledges the potential pitfalls of writing as a man in the #MeToo era and promises to present the women’s lives “with accuracy, empathy, and appreciation.” The conclusion reinforces this by centering the women’s own work and legacy.