A New Jersey stand-up comedian got the "last laugh" (har, Post) when she won a suit brought upon her by her mother-in-law two years ago. Sunda Croonquist had spent years using her marriage into a Jewish family as comedy fodder, but after a while her mother-in-law Ruth Zafrin wasn't finding her act so funny, and sued her over her "malicious" shtick. Husband Mark signed on as Sunda's lawyer, and courtroom hilarity most likely ensued. Now, a judge has ruled that Croonquist's jokes are protected speech.
The judge ruled that Croonquist's jokes, like the one about her sister-in-law having a voice like a cat in heat, are covered by the First Amendment because they are "colorful, figurative rhetoric that reasonable minds would not take to be factual." So are jokes like suggesting a doctor should have given her a pain blocker for the first five years of her marriage, and saying the only thing she (a black woman) and her mother-in-law have in common is "we don't want to get our hair wet" (instant rimshot). Next up: Croonquist is sued by Delta for dissing their food.
