Mother-in-Law to Comedian: Enough With the Funny Business

[WSJ_law_blog]

Ever watch a comedian do a riff on a family member — Margaret Cho comes to mind — and wonder just how well it sits with the mother, father or grandmother? We always feel just a hint of sympathy for the butt of the joke, and then wonder if it’s all made okay by some intra-familial financial arrangement.

All is not okay in the situation involving comedian Sunda Croonquist and her mother-in-law. Croonquist is being sued by her mother-in-law, Ruth Zafrin, for defamation after Zafrin decided she’d had enough of being Croonquist’s punchline. Click here for the AP story; here for the NY Post story; here for the amended complaint, filed in May in New Jersey federal court.

Most of the jokes alluded to in the lawsuit seem to trade on the ethnic and cultural difference between Croonquist, who is half-black and half-Swedish, and her mother-in-law, who is Jewish.

For instance, according to the AP: Croonquist pokes fun at her mother-in-law’s reaction to the news she was pregnant with her first child: “OK, now that we know you’re having a little girl I want to know what you’re naming that little tchotchke. Now we don’t want a name that’s difficult to pronounce like Shaniqua. We’re thinking a name short but delicious. Like Hadassah or Goldie.”

And here’s one, on her first visit to her mother-in-law’s house: “I walk in, I say, ‘Thank you so much for having me here, Ruthie.’ She says, ‘The pleasure’s all mine, have a seat.’” Then, in a loud aside, ‘Harriet, put my pocketbook away.’”

According to the AP story, Croonquist’s mother-in-law used to enjoy the black-member-of-a-Jewish-family jokes. But that after Croonquist posted information on her Web site that, according to her in-laws, made it easy to figure out her in-laws’ identities. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and demands that Croonquist remove any offensive statements from her Web site, routines and recordings.

Croonquist says she’ll consider dropping the offensive language, but refuses to pay any settlement. She has moved to dismiss the lawsuit.

“They’re nice jokes. There’s nothing bad, nothing defamatory,” says Croonquist. To the AP, she adds that it should be obvious that she’s not anti-Jewish. She converted to Judaism before she met her husband and keeps a kosher house.

One question we had: with whom does Croonquist’s husband and Zafrin’s son — lawyer Mark Zafrin — align himself? A pretty good hint lies here: Mark Zafrin’s law firm is repping Croonquist.

Oh to be a fly on the wall at the Zafrin’s Thanksgiving dinner this year.