It has been 12 years since I first interviewed, and was introduced to comedian and songwriter D'yan Forest. At that time D'yan was starring in her one woman show in the NYC Fringe Festival entitled I Married A Nun.

Since then, D'yan's career has exploded. She earned one of the highest honors possible, a place in the Guinness World Records for being the Oldest Working Female Comedian in the World. She has performed at comedy clubs all over New York City and in Paris and was featured on The Drew Barrymore Show.

Now, D'yan will be celebrating her 90th Birthday with a huge party at Joe's Pub this Monday, July 29, 2024 at 7pm EST!

In this interview, D'yan once again answered my call, but this time she reveals:

• What she is looking forward to most about her upcoming birthday show
• What she likes about performing at almost 90-years-old as opposed to her 30s/40s/50s
• How she stays so young
• Best advice for someone switching careers
• So much more

Connect with D'yan: Website, Instagram

Entitled 90 Years of Songs & Scandal, D’yan, with her trusty ukulele in hand, takes the audience back to when she was just seven years old, telling the hilarious tales of her storied life that led her to become the 90-year-old woman she is today.

1. The last time we did an interview together was in 2012, when you were 78 years old. Now, you are about to celebrate your 90th birthday at Joe's Pub with a concert entitled 90 Years of Songs & Scandal. What do you feel has been the biggest change for you in these 12 years since we've spoken? I’ve gotten older. As you get older, the physical body seems to get into trouble all the time. I’ve had a few operations, and I’m feeling very well, but time does take a toll on you. I have found out that when you get older, you get wiser. Believe me, I am much wiser now in personal contacts and relationships and show business than I was 12 years ago.

Thank goodness I’ve kept the optimistic view of life and work and I keep plowing along. I am busier than ever in my career. This year I performed in New York, in Paris, and the Hamptons in both English and French. I’ve been on several TV shows, including The Drew Barrymore Show, have been interviewed by magazines and newspapers, and just did a documentary for The New York Post about older women. I am the oldest woman on Tinder. The last 12 years has had its ups and downs, but they were very, very interesting.

2. What are you looking forward to most about this celebration at Joe's Pub? I am celebrating my 90th birthday, and I feel it is a recognition of all my years in show business. In fact, it’s a brand-new show that I’ve written covering my beginnings in show business and up to now, my 90th birthday.

Most people have no idea how I worked my way up performing since the age of seven in Boston to now, performing in the classiest nightclub in New York. The show, 90 Years of Song and Scandal, will cover my career.

3. What should audiences know about this upcoming show before they attend? Audiences should know that I’m covering the history of my parents, agents etc., but also scandalous adventures and songs from my experiences through the years. People sometimes get shocked by what I say, but they love it.

4. Since the show is called 90 Years of Songs & Scandal, what is the first song you knew had to be in this show? The first song that had to be in the show is from Oklahoma, the musical that I saw in Boston when I was 8 years old. It was in tryouts until it opened on Broadway in 1943. My parents took me to a matinee, and I loved the singing, dancing and story, and became obsessed with the character in the show Ado Annie. She had a “bad” reputation in the show, and was the town slut, and the only slut in the Rodgers and Hammerstein catalog. I was obsessed by her and whenever I heard the song "I Can’t Say No," I sang along with it for the next several years.

Ross Matthews, Drew Barrymore, D'yan Forest
The Drew Barrymore Show

5. What is the most scandalous thing you have done in your almost 90-years on this earth that you don't talk about in the show? I have talked about all the scandalous things I’ve done in my life in my one woman shows and my book, I Did it My Ways. There is nothing I’ve done in my life that I haven’t talked about.

6. What do you love about performing at almost 90-years-old as opposed to when you were in your 30s/40s/50s? In my early 40’s and 50’s, I was mainly a cabaret singer either doing American show tunes or becoming a French international singer. Depending on what audience I was performing for, I did a French show, Italian show, Irish show and in the Catskills a Jewish show. I performed in all these different languages and was a success.

Nowadays, I am myself, and not an international character. I tell stories and jokes about myself and my adventures. I play piano, ukulele and use a pianist accompanist so I am the whole package.

7. At 87-years-old you entered the Guinness World Records for being the Oldest Working Female Comedian in the World. What did this honor mean to you? Getting this honor was a huge surprise. My friend Lynn-Ruth Miller who was six months older than me held the record, but she passed away last year. It was a tragedy for her, but a lucky break for me.

When I go on stage and tell people about this Guinness World Records, and show my picture and blurb in their book, people are so impressed with me, and think I’m the greatest.

What I find ironic, is that I’m the same person who’s been performing all these years and now I’m just older and got the award for being old. Oh well, such is life.

8. Four years ago, you released your memoir, I Did It My Ways. What did you learn about yourself from writing your autobiography that you didn't know living through it? The autobiography is about my life and I didn’t realize that people would be fascinated by it when they read it. I wrote it during the pandemic because I couldn’t perform, but I could write all the stories about my life.

I am amazed when people come up and tell me they like this part of the story or another part of the story best. I had no idea that it would affect people that much. I wrote things that I had never told anybody, and I was at first afraid, but then said, "What the heck, let it all out," and it worked.

9. You started performing comedy after 9/11 when musicians weren't getting much work, which is the career you had done before comedy. For someone out there who is looking to change careers or pivot their current one like you did, what advice would you give to them? My advice for anyone who wants to change careers is do whatever you have to do to make a change. Don’t listen to a lot of your friends. They all discouraged me from doing comedy, as they said I was too old, they said it was going to be late late nights, and that people wouldn’t laugh.

I hesitated doing it for a while and then I just leapt in, and I found that all my friends were wrong. I’m not too old, people laugh, and the shows aren’t too late. Looking back I think some of my friends were really jealous and didn’t want to see somebody else succeed.

10. What do you feel is your secret to staying so young? My secret to staying young has many, many reasons. First, I have kept up my sports activities ever since I was a teenager. I played tennis for many years, but also had been golfing at the same time. Now, I play golf and walk the golf course at least two or three times a week, while other old ladies take a cart. I get exhausted, but it keeps me in shape. Swimming is the other sport that I have done for years, and do that at least 2 or 3 times a week.

The second thing is that I have made many younger friends over the years, through comedy or sports. I am current with everything that’s going on, and just don’t talk about what we had for dinner last night. That keeps my brain young. I also read The New York Times every day, and also spend a month or so in France every year so these activities keep my brain very active.

I think that’s why I stay young.

11. What is something you still want to accomplish that you haven't done yet? I would love to be able to work in different clubs all over the states and around the world. I love new environments and cultures. I hope that this will happen when I’m 91.

12. What do you think your drag name would be? I’m really not sure, maybe Diana the Queen!

BONUS QUESTIONS:

13. Pancakes or French Toast? Pancakes

14. Most unusual place you've been kissed? In a country or on my body?

15. Favorite NYC location to go on a date? Gene’s Restaurant in the West Village. I’m famous there! Not only is the food great but I did a TV segment there.

D'yan Forest, Photo Credit: Christine Coquilleau

More on D'yan Forest:

D'yan Forest is a one of a kind performer who has performed cabaret and stand-up all over the world with notable performances in New York, Edinburgh, Paris and even Ethiopia. At 85 years old, she brings her unique perspective and vibrant personality to every performance she does whether it’s on stage or screen. Critics have called her everything from "saucy," "witty," "irrepressible," and a "naughty version of Betty White."

At the age of 4, D'yan got into show business when she started playing recitals in her parents living room in Boston. Next, she picked up the ukulele, started singing and got into a dance band, which led to the trumpet, drums and naturally – the glockenspiel. While attending the Cite Universitaire de Paris, she began appearing in cafes, cabarets and nightclubs throughout the City of Lights. Paris appearances led to performing in other European countries. D'yan developed an international act with songs in nine languages. After returning to the states, she settled in New York City and was soon playing and singing in upscale rooms at the Waldorf, the Plaza and the Park Lane as well as saloons and piano bars, which led to working in the theatre.

New York stage credits include Gigi, Guys And Dolls, Shaw’s The Music Cure, Ladies In Retirement, and Helen in Grandmother Sylvia's Funeral at The Soho Playhouse. Her film & TV work includes the principal role of The Mother in Soldier's Heart, which has been screened in film festivals throughout the world. Other independent films include Sweet Flame with Anne Meara and Mira Sorvino and Coney Island Baby directed by Parker Ellerman. D'yan's appeared on Saturday Night Live, Comedy Central as well as national and international commercials and print campaigns. This past year, she was on the TV show France Has Incredible Talent.

Over the past few years, D'yan has regularly performed in cabaret and comedy venues in New York and Paris. New York cabaret appearances include The Metropolitan Room, The Duplex, The Ukulele Cabaret and The Cutting Room. She can also be seen working on her distinctive stand-up act (complete with ukulele) at Gotham Comedy Club, The Broadway Comedy Club, Le Poisson Rouge, Under St. Marks, and Dixon Place in Manhattan. Paris clubs include Paname, Jamel, Gymnase, and La Nouvelle Seine.