D'yan Forest: The Fearless Comedian Who’s Still Pushing Boundaries at 90
At 90 years old, D’yan Forest is proving that life — and laughter — don’t have an expiration date. The Guinness World Record holder for the Oldest Working Female Comedian still takes the stage with her signature mix of bold humor, music, and unapologetic storytelling. Whether she’s performing in New York or Paris, playing golf, swimming, or writing about her extraordinary life, D’yan is unstoppable.
“People ask how I keep going,” she says. “Well, I take 12 pills a day — including prednisone, which, frankly, I think is helping! It makes me talk more, but that’s fine. I’m a comedian — I should talk more.”
D’yan’s journey to stand-up was anything but conventional. Raised in a conservative Boston household, she never imagined she’d one day be cracking jokes in front of packed comedy clubs. After a “scandalous” divorce, she set sail for Paris, a city that captured her heart and forever shaped her career. She started out as a French cabaret singer, working in golf clubs, country clubs and nightclubs, reinventing herself along the way. But after the 9/11 attacks, her career came to a sudden halt.
“All my gigs were canceled overnight,” she recalls. “Musicians were out of work, and I got really depressed. But I knew I had to perform — I just had to figure out a new way.”
That “new way” was comedy, an art form she had never seriously considered before. A casual conversation with comedy club mogul Caroline Hirsch set her on a path that would define the next chapter of her career. With her ukulele in hand, D’yan developed a one-woman show that was both hilarious and risqué.
“I don’t think I’m vulgar,” she insists. “Some older folks say I am, but I don’t curse much in my act. I’m just… risqué. I push boundaries, but always with a wink.”
That approach caught the attention of Joan Rivers, who famously called her “the filthy ukulele player.” D’yan laughs at the memory. “I corrected her — I said, ‘No, Joan, I’m just risqué.’ She got it. She was one of my heroines.”
Her comedy isn’t just about making people laugh — it’s about challenging perceptions. For years, she’s been talking about older women dating younger men, long before Hollywood finally caught on.
“I’ve been saying for years that older women can go out with younger men,” she says with a grin. “Now, suddenly, it’s in two movies. Well, guess what? I’m 90, and I still want people to know that even we can have fun.”
D’yan’s resilience is unwavering. Earlier this year, she suffered a black eye after being assaulted in New York City, but she didn’t let that stop her. Instead, she performed for her 90th birthday at Joe’s Pub, even calling out the detective who handled her case — who was sitting in the audience.
Even the COVID-19 pandemic couldn’t slow her down. Stuck at home, she poured her life into her memoir, I Did It My Ways, a no-holds-barred account of her journey from Boston to Paris, from heartbreak to reinvention, from cabaret singer to comedian.
“I let it all out,” she says. “Things I never say in conversation, I put in the book. Some people were shocked, some loved it — but I figured, why not tell the whole story?”
Now, with her latest show, "Swinging on the Seine," still drawing crowds in New York and Paris, and new performances lined up at Joe’s Pub and the New York Fringe Festival, D’yan shows no signs of slowing down.
She’s still reading the room, still adjusting her act on the fly, and still delivering punchlines that make people of all ages laugh.
“I start my set with, ‘Hi, everybody. I’m D’yan, and I’m 90 years old… in case I don’t make it through the show,’” she jokes. “Most of the time, people laugh. And if they don’t? Well, I make them laugh.”
For D’yan Forest, comedy isn’t just a career — it’s a way of life. And at 90, she’s proving that the best punchlines are still ahead of her.