Joy Behar talks her return to the stage in her new play ‘My First Ex-Husband’

Joy Behar returns to the stage in her new play, My First Ex-Husband.

Written by Behar over the span of 12 years, the new show features a rotating cast of actresses playing women who tell stories about the people they used to be married to. While fictional, the play is based on interviews Behar conducted with women in her life. It opens off-Broadway on Thursday, and The View co-host says it’s great to finally be producing something she spent so much time writing.

“I had to find people who were willing to talk about their first marriage,” Behar said. “Everything is anonymous, obviously, and the names are changed. The places are changed, the dates, all sorts of things. No one will recognize who they are. So, that took a while.”

Performing alongside Behar is one of her best friends of over 40 years, actress Susie Essman.

“People say to me, ‘How come you never had a fight with each other?’ We never fought. We never had a problem. And I’ve had girlfriends that have ghosted me or I’ve ghosted them over the years, you know. But not her,” Behar said.

She says she loves performing her own comedy for the instant feedback of laughter.

“With the drama, you don’t know if they’re crying. You don’t even know if they’re moved or touched. You can’t tell,” Behar said. “I like to have that immediate response. It might be my own insecurities, I don’t know. But that’s what it is. So, I like comedy.”

While My First Ex-Husband is funny, Behar says it has its serious moments.

“I was surprised at how funny it was, frankly,” Behar said. “Because it is poignant. I mean, a divorce is not a happy occasion. And yet, when you talk about what happened in retrospect and with distance, it’s funny.”