Kathryn Hahn's The Comeback Girl faces criticism for not casting a Jewish actress as Joan Rivers

HuffPost

Hahn, who will star in the Showtime limited series about the iconic comedian, is the latest non-Jewish actress to play a Joan Rivers-type comedian, following Jean Smart in Hacks and Rachel Brosnahan in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, as many noted on Twitter. (Hahn, who was raised Catholic, played a rabbi in Transparent. "Every network should have its own Joan Rivers project with which to compete at the Emmys — though at some point, they really should cast a Jewish woman to play her," says Vulture's Jackson McHenry. The New York Times comedy critic Jason Zinoman tweeted of Hahn's casting: "Two perhaps opposing thoughts: 1) Great actor, seems like a good fit 2) Maisel, Shiva Baby, now this. Hard to ignore that Jewish women are not getting cast for these roles...I mean, this is Joan Alexandra Molinsky we're talking about." He also pointed to Sarah Silverman's "eloquent, sweeping and pretty shocking take on how Jewish women are overlooked for Jewish roles in today's Hollywood."