Stand-Up Comic Judy Tenuta, Known As ‘The Love Goddess,’ Dies At 72

Judy Tenuta, the comedian and musician also known by her onstage persona “The Love Goddess,” passed away at the age of 72. She reportedly died from ovarian cancer according to her publicist Roger Neal. She was surrounded by family and loved ones in her Los Angeles home when she passed on Thursday afternoon.

Tenuta had a wholly unique act blending brash insult comedy inspired by the Borscht Belt greats as well as vaudeville acts, and had some incredible joke writing skills to back it all up. Early on in her career she began incorporating an accordion in the act as well, which gave her performance an even more surreal quality.

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Judy Lynn Tenuta was born in Oak Park, Illinois, on November 7, 1949, a county very close to Chicago where she would later get her start in comedy. She was one of nine children and had an Irish-Catholic upbringing. Tenuta majored in theatre at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and gained an interest in comedy by performing at the renowned improv theater The Second City.

She was never afraid to skewer topics related to religion, especially Catholicism, politics and other things that others may find difficulty joking about. Tenuta had a long-running bit about practicing her own religion “Judyism,” and apparently even dressed as the Virgin Mary in one of her first stand-up routines in Chicago.

Tenuta was huge in Chicago by the time she moved to New York for a spell where she made her TV debut on Letterman and also performed alongside Ellen DeGeneres and Rita Rudner for an HBO comedy special. She eventually moved to Los Angeles, where she’d find some work in voiceover and film/tv acting, though she always stayed a stand-up through and through.

She was nominated for two Grammy Awards for her work on her stand-up comedy albums, and also wrote two comedic books called Full Frontal Tenudity and The Power of Judyism. Tenuta certainly brought her unique persona into everything she did, and old videos of her performances still hold up as hilarious many years later.

Tenuta was also a staunch advocate for gay rights through her whole career. She had a particularly passionate following in the LGBT community, and performed extensively in gay bars early in her career. Her website even had a contact form to request Tenuta as an ordained minister (of Judyism, obviously) for same-sex marriages only.

The Letterman YouTube channel posted Tenuta’s debut performance in honor of her death, and the short set is absolutely worth a watch or two. It’s obvious right from the start that even as a young comic, Tenuta was fiercely confident and naturally funny to boot.