NEW YORK —  The black sidekick joining shock jock Don Imus on his return to the airwaves today is an Oxford-educated Texas cowgirl whose career has ranged from broadcast journalism to stand-up comedy, sources told The Post.

Karith Foster, a Harlem resident who grew up outside Dallas, was brought on by Imus to ease tension stirred up by his racist comment about the Rutgers women's basketball team, which got him booted in April, sources said.

Foster was raised in upscale Plano, Texas, which she describes on her Web site as having “the ethnic diversity of a Klan rally."

After earning a degree in broadcast journalism from Missouri's Stephens College, she went on to study at Oxford University in England before taking a reporting job at ABC.

She later moved to the production team of Barbara Walters' “The View" - where she was exposed to the world of stand-up comedy.

She was soon appearing at several top comedy clubs, including Caroline's in New York and LA's The Laugh Factory.

Foster's TV credits include NBC's “Last Comic Standing" and the original “Showtime at the Apollo."

Despite her Texas roots, “I'm really a Jewish girl from Long Island trapped in this body, which technically makes me a JA-AP [Jewish African-American Princess]," she jokes on her Web site.

“So it's not ‘talk to the hand,' but ‘talk to the manicure.'"

Imus' new show debuts today at 6 a.m. on WABC radio. A station spokesman declined comment.