Joy Behar, the well-known, iconic, beloved comedian and talk show host, will be performing her show, “MY FIRST EX-HUSBAND with JOY BEHAR,” at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on August 2nd, 2025, at 8:00 PM. Known for her uncanny sharp wit and phenomenal storytelling, this must-see event in Westhampton Beach at WHBPAC is guaranteed to be a night full of laughter and insightful commentary, especially because Joy Behar will be joined by Susan Lucci, Jackie Hoffman, and Veanne Cox telling true-life divorce stories. The very fact that these stories will be told by some of the biggest names in show business makes it both outrageous and relatable. Joy Behar was kind enough to share some of her thoughts with hamptons.com.
East End audiences love Joy, and the fact that she lives on the East End means she loves the East End. She joked, “Do they love me? How do you know that?” adding, “I really couldn’t tell you the answer to that. I do know that my show, this past week, when we did it at Bay Street Theater, was very well received. I mean, they seem to love it. And so, in fact, I thought they loved it even more than they loved it in New York City.” She confessed, “There are terrific audiences out here in the Hamptons. I’m thrilled to be doing this show again, August 2nd, at Westhampton Beach. I’m assuming that we’ll have a good crowd there too.”
Talking about the Hamptons, Ms. Behar said, “I’ve been coming out to the Hamptons since I was in college. We had a sorority house in Hampton Bays back in the ’60s when I was in college. Then, during leaner years, in the 1960s, when I was first married, we were in Centereach (L.I.). So, I’m a kind of Suffolk County girl. At first, I rented in the Hamptons, and then I finally bought something. So, yeah, I’ve been there a long time. I love the Hamptons.”
When discussing her ability to always have relevant material, Ms. Behar said, “I don’t know, I think I’m tuned into people. As a stand-up comedian for more than 35 years, I think that keeps you on your toes, because when you’re a comedian, you’ve got to be on your toes.”
Who helped her the most when she started as a comedian? She said, “We’re talking around 1980 when I was working as a receptionist at Good Morning America, and I used to do comedy at night. I remember Kay Ballard. The story goes that one day, I was on the phone interviewing Steve Allen in my job as a receptionist. They would give me a brief moment away from the phone, answering people’s calls. On this day, they said, “Talk to Steve Allen and find out what his New Year’s resolution was, et cetera. So I spoke to him, and I made him laugh! Steve Allen said to me, ‘You’re too funny for that job.’ And he put me on a show that he had called the Steve Allen Comedy Hour.” Continuing this story she said, “And when I was there, they taped the shows twice. They have two different audiences to see which show was better. On the first show, I was so nervous, I blew it. On the second show, Kaye Ballard stood there while I was doing my bit and stood left of me so that I would feel confidence. I think that helped me tremendously. Then I became very good friends with her after that. Of course, Barbara Walters helped me by giving me this job (The View). I thank her to this day. That was in 1997, we’re getting into 30-year territory.
About the upcoming “MY FIRST EX-HUSBAND with JOY BEHAR” at WHBPAC she said, “I would like to say that the men are going to enjoy it as much as the women. One of the things I noticed is at Bay Street, and even in New York City when we did it, the men are louder than the women. They recognize themselves or they recognize their friends, and they like the show. So I would encourage men to come and see it. It’s women telling the stories of other women’s first marriages.”
Joy Behar made a point saying that each monologue has, “a beginning, middle and end, but the whole night consists of multiple individual stories.”
For more information about tickets, visit https://whbpac.org.
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