Comedian Carol Leifer started performing stand up in the late 1970's alongside Paul Reiser, Larry David, and Jerry Seinfeld. She later went on to write and produce Seinfeld, The Ellen Show and The Larry Sanders Show.
Leifer spoke to Fresh Air about her memoir, When You Lie About Your Age, the Terrorists Win: Reflections on Looking in the Mirror. The book, now out in paperback, details Leifer's coming out story, her early days in stand up, and her relationship with her father.
"My father was the kind of guy who'd always say 'Throw out any subject and I got a joke on it,'" says Leifer. She recounts one of the high points of his life, when he filled in as the entertainment at a convention full of psychologists. "And he killed," she recalls.
This interview was first broadcast on April 23, 2009.
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