USPS Is Launching Betty White Commemorative Stamp
The 2025 stamp designs are out! There are the usual boring sets — American vistas? More U.S. flags? Vibrant leaves? — but one announcement has set comedy hearts aflutter: a commemorative stamp featuring the late sitcom superstar Betty White. Score!
“An icon of American television, Betty White (1922–2021) shared her wit and warmth with viewers for seven decades — including roles on The Golden Girls and The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” said the USPS in its announcement. “The comedic actor, who gained younger generations of fans as she entered her 90s, was also revered as a compassionate advocate for animals. Dale Stephanos created the digital illustration based on a 2010 photograph by Kwaku Alston. Greg Breeding, an art director for USPS, designed the stamp.”
In other words, Betty White was a badass.
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White isn’t the first comedian honored by the Post Office, but she’s on a very short list. While you can’t say that White is a “contemporary” comic, she’s the first one who’s had a moment this century — yep, I’m counting her because-the-people-demanded-it hosting stint on Saturday Night Live — to get the nod. She joins these comedians as the only funny people to be featured on an American postage stamp:
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Jack Benny, Fanny Brice, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, and Edgar Bergen and His Dummy, Charlie McCarthy
In 1991, the USPS released a five-stamp Comedians set, rendered in caricature by the great Al Hirschfield.
Lucille Ball
Lucy got a solo run with this 34-center in 2001.
Bob Hope
Letter-writers got their chance to lick Hope’s back in 2009.
Early TV Stars
Not a dedicated comedy set, but the USPS tribute to early TV memories included stamps celebrating The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, The Honeymooners, Howdy Doody, I Love Lucy, The Phil Silvers Show, The Red Skelton Show, The Tonight Show, You Bet Your Life with Groucho Marx and Milton Berle’s Texaco Star Theater.
The Betty White news was cause for celebration on the r/theGoldenGirls subreddit this morning. “I will now only be corresponding by physical letters,” posted one user, “so I can buy and use Betty White stamps.”