Tenured Law Prof Takes Buyout, Becomes Stand-Up Comic

Following up on my previous posts (links below):  ABA Journal, Stand-up Student: One Attorney's Journey From the Classroom to the Comedy Club:

Liz Glazer loves to joke that she took the traditional route to becoming a comedian. First, she received her bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. Then, she was off to the University of Chicago for law school. She did a two-year stint at a law firm in New York before becoming a tenured law professor at Hofstra University.

After nine years, teaching more than 25 classes and publishing about a dozen scholarly publications, Glazer finally hit the road to perform at comedy clubs, open mic nights and at law schools.

She knew that she was making the right move because, as she explains it, she felt like she was having a professional orgasm, “which was like a regular orgasm, but I was 100% sure that I was having it.” ...

[She] loves to riff on her law background, which understandably gets her booked at law schools throughout the country at least once per week.

While some may not see law school as a joking matter, Glazer says she has the authority and the background to be able to jump right in and make lawyers laugh at themselves.

“I went to law school because my parents had this mentality that no one could take your education from you,” she jokes. “I’m like, ‘Does anyone want it?’ ...

As soon as Hofstra University offered buyouts for tenured professors because of a perceived budget crisis, Glazer knew that the time had come. With two years of income secured via her buyout, Glazer began her life as a stand-up comedian, which had plenty of overlaps with her legal career.

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• Wall Street Journal, Law Prof Gets Tenure, Then Takes Buy-Out To Switch To Stand-Up Comedy (Mar. 9, 2021)
• New York Times, What Standup Comedy And Deaning Have In Common (Jan. 23, 2022)