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Video: Bette Midler – Those Wonderful Sophie Tucker Jokes
By Mister D
June 26, 2026
Yes — Those Wonderful Sophie Tucker Jokes is essentially the very first full “Joke?A?Thon” Bette ever did.
Why it counts as the first Joke?A?Thon
Before The Bette Midler Show (1973–1976 era), Bette absolutely told jokes — especially in the Continental Baths days — but they were one?offs, ad?libs, or scattered between songs.
“Those Wonderful Sophie Tucker Jokes” is the first time she:
Structured a long, uninterrupted run of jokes
Built a character persona (Sophie Tucker) to deliver them
Stacked punchline after punchline in rapid?fire succession
Turned the joke?run into a set piece
Recorded it officially (on Live at Last, 1977)
That makes it the prototype for all later Bette joke?marathons — the “Joke?A?Thon” format she’d return to in concerts, TV specials, and Vegas.
Why it matters in her evolution
This segment is the moment where Bette:
Moves from “singer who tells jokes”
To “comedienne with a signature joke?run routine”
It’s the DNA for later bits like:
The Mud Will Be Flung Tonight! era
The “Soph” jokes in Clams on the Half Shell Revue
The Vegas Showgirl Must Go On joke?runs
The 2014 Divine Intervention Sophie Tucker revival
Everything traces back to this first, polished, theatricalized joke?cascade.
So yes — it’s the first true Joke?A?Thon
It’s the origin point of the Bette Midler joke?run tradition.
The first time she turned a string of jokes into a set, a persona, and a show?stopping comedic identity.
