25 Best Modern Female Comedians
by LesFleursDuMal | created - 21 Mar 2014 | updated - 26 Feb 2017 | Public
1. Joan Rivers
Actress | Spaceballs
Joan Rivers is an American talk show host, comedian, writer and actress from Brooklyn, New York. She voiced Dot Matrix from Mel Brooks' Spaceballs. She has portrayed in several films and shows such as Shrek 2, Look Who's Talking, The Smurfs and Iron Man 3. She passed away in September 2014 at ...
2. Kathy Griffin
Actress | The Cable Guy
Kathy Griffin was raised in the near-west Chicago suburbs, in an Irish-American family. She has three older brothers and an older sister. When her parents retired to California, Kathy moved west with them after graduating from Oak Park River Forest High School, and began trying to break into show ...
3. Chelsea Handler
Actress | This Means War
Chelsea Handler was born in Livingston, New Jersey, to a Mormon mother, Rita (Stoecker), who was born in Germany, and an American-born Jewish father, Seymour Handler. She was the youngest of six children. In 2002, Chelsea was one of the stars of Oxygen's Girls Behaving Badly (2002). Chelsea got her...
4. Joy Behar
Actress | Ice Age: Continental Drift
Joy Behar was born on October 7, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012), Hall Pass (2011) and Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993). She has been married to Steve Janowitz since August 11, 2011. She was previously married ...
5. Sarah Silverman
Actress | Wreck-It Ralph
Sarah Silverman was most recently the host of the two-time Emmy-nominated weekly topical series, I Love You America, which streamed on Hulu and also received a Writers Guild Awards nomination.
Silverman is currently working on a musical adaptation of her 2010 memoir and New York Times Bestseller ...
6. Natasha Leggero
Actress | He's Just Not That Into You
Natasha Leggero is an American comedian, actress and writer. She rose to fame after appearing as the host of the MTV reality television series The 70s House in 2005, and as a regular round-table panelist on Chelsea Handler's late-night talk show Chelsea Lately from 2008 to 2014. Leggero created the...
7. Lisa Lampanelli
Actress | Drillbit Taylor
Lisa Lampenelli is one of the most high-profile insult comics. Though actually born in Connecticut, she is identified as a New Yorker, where she built up her career on the stand-up comic circuit. She is known for her outrageous pot shots at celebrities as well as references to her own weight and ...
8. Loni Love
Actress | Mother's Day
Loni Love was born on July 14, 1971 in Detroit, Michigan. After graduating from Cass Technical High School on 1989, she went to Prairie View A&M University in Houston, Texas for about 4 years & got her engineering degree. Though Loni Love is a stand-up comedian, Loni worked as an engineer for IBM ...
9. Whoopi Goldberg
Actress | Ghost
Whoopi Goldberg was born Caryn Elaine Johnson in the Chelsea section of Manhattan on November 13, 1955. Her mother, Emma (Harris), was a teacher and a nurse, and her father, Robert James Johnson, Jr., was a clergyman. Whoopi's recent ancestors were from Georgia, Florida, and Virginia. She worked in...
10. Tina Fey
Actress | Date Night
Elizabeth Stamatina Fey was born in 1970 in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia, to Xenobia "Jeanne" (Xenakes), a brokerage employee, and Donald Henry Fey, who wrote grant proposals for universities. Her mother is Greek, born in Piraeus, while her father had German, Northern Irish,...
11. Margaret Cho
Producer | Margaret Cho: PsyCHO
Margaret Cho was born on December 5, 1968 in San Francisco. Her grandfather was a Methodist minister who ran an orphanage in Seoul during the Korean War. Ignoring the traditions of her patriarchal culture, her mother bravely resisted an arranged marriage in Korea & married Margaret's father, who ...
12. Michelle Collins
Actress | Hit Job
Michelle Collins is known for Hit Job (2021), Motivated! (2022) and The View (1997).
13. Kristen Wiig
Actress | Bridesmaids
Kristen Carroll Wiig was born on August 22, 1973 in Canandaigua, New York, to Laurie J. (Johnston), an artist, and Jon J. Wiig, a lake marina manager. She is of Norwegian (from her paternal grandfather), Irish, English, and Scottish descent. The family moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, before ...
14. Amy Poehler
Actress | Inside Out
Amy Meredith Poehler was born in Newton, Massachusetts, to high school teachers Eileen Frances (Milmore) and William Grinstead Poehler. Her brother is comedian Greg Poehler. She is of Irish (from her mother) and English, Irish, German, and Portuguese (from her father) descent. Amy was first ...
15. Heather McDonald
Actress | White Chicks
Heather McDonald was born on June 14, 1970 in San Fernando Valley, California, USA. She is a writer and actress, known for White Chicks (2004), Dance Flick (2009) and Female Moments (2014). She has been married to Peter Dobias since May 27, 2000. They have two children.
16. Rosie O'Donnell
Actress | A League of Their Own
Rosie O'Donnell was born into an Irish-American family in Commack, Long Island. She is the third of five children born to Roseann Teresa (Murtha) and Edward Joseph O'Donnell, an electrical engineer for the defense industry. Her mother died when she was 10. She said that she watched TV nearly 24 ...
17. Debra Wilson
Actress | Over the Hedge
Debra Wilson was born on April 26, 1962 in South Ozone Park, Queens, New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Over the Hedge (2006), Batman: The Enemy Within (2017) and Scary Movie 4 (2006). She has been married to Cliff Skelton since April 8, 2006.
18. Sarah Colonna
Actress | Insatiable
Sarah Colonna was born in Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany. She is a writer and actress, known for Insatiable (2018), Chelsea Lately (2007) and Shameless (2011). She has been married to Jon Ryan since July 10, 2016.
19. Cristela Alonzo
Writer | Cristela Alonzo: Middle Classy
Cristela Alonzo was born on January 6, 1979 in San Juan, Texas, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Cristela Alonzo: Middle Classy (2022), Cristela Alonzo: Lower Classy (2017) and Cars 3 (2017).
20. Jane Krakowski
Actress | 30 Rock
Jane Krakowski was born in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, to Barbara (Benoit), a college theater instructor, and Edward Krajkowski, a chemical engineer. Her father was of Polish descent and her mother has French-Canadian and Scottish ancestry.
Jane was the winner of the 2003 Tony Award for her ...
21. Whitney Cummings
Writer | Whitney
Whitney Ann Cummings is an American stand-up comedian, actress, writer, director, producer and pod-caster. A native of Washington, D.C., Cummings pursued a comedy career in Los Angeles after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, where she had studied with the intention of becoming a ...
22. Stephnie Weir
Actress | MADtv
Stephnie Weir was raised in Texas and attended Odessa Junior College studying theater and broadcasting. Following that she went on to attend Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, were she studied anthropology and women's studies.
As she expanded on her creative talents in Chicago, Ms. Weir ...
23. Aisha Tyler
Actress | Archer
Aisha Tyler is an award-winning director, actor, comedian, New York Times bestselling author, podcaster and activist. She is an Emmy-winning television host and multiple award-winning voice actor for Archer (2009).
Aisha's feature directorial debut, Axis (2017), was shot in just seven days on ...
24. Lynne Koplitz
Actress | The King of Staten Island
Lynne Koplitz was born on June 13, 1969 in Long Island, New York, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for The King of Staten Island (2020), Top Five (2014) and Gays: The Series (2014).
25. Fortune Feimster
Actress | The Mindy Project
Stand-up comedian, writer, and actor, Fortune Feimster, is one of the busiest women working today. She first became known as a writer and panelist on E's hit show Chelsea Lately, and then starred as a series regular on The Mindy Project for Hulu and Champions for NBC. She has gone on to have many ...
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