Joel Maisel

Joel Maisel is Midge's husband, a garment-business heir who moonlights as a stand-up comic at the Gaslight Cafe, certain he's on the verge of a real career. He's charming, a little vain, and leans hard on his wife's quiet backstage help without quite admitting he needs it.

Michael Zegen plays Joel's self-regard with just enough warmth that you understand why Midge married him before the show starts pulling back the curtain on his mediocrity. The comedy of a man convinced he's the funny one, married to someone actually funny, gives the whole series its founding irony.