Entertainment

Top Female Comedians to Celebrate National Humor Month

Top Female Comedians to Celebrate National Humor Month

By Chloe Cornell

With the persistent political mayhem and serious state of chaos we seem to be living in, it’s important to to take time out, remove yourself from reality and laugh a little. Since April is National Humor Month, we recognize some top female comedians who have broken barriers and have been trailblazers in unique ways.


Ellen Degeneres

Ellen DeGeneres is one of the most well-known comedians in history and one of the few people to have received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor a U.S. citizen can receive, from Obama in 2016. Obama awarded DeGeneres the medal in part because of her bravery in coming out as a lesbian twenty years earlier – as herself on The Oprah Winfrey Show and simultaneously as her character on her television show Ellen in 1997, which 40 million people tuned in to watch. This made her the first openly lesbian actress to play an openly lesbian character on television. Though only a short time ago, the country was a very different environment then where same sex marriage was not legal, and many people did not approve of or accept LGBT rights. Though there was some support from her fans and the LGBT community, and she received an Emmy Award for her groundbreaking coming-out episode, the backlash from resistance to a gay lead character storyline led to the cancelling of her sitcom in 1998 and she was unable to find work in Hollywood for many years.

Fortunately times have changed and Ellen’s amazing sense of humor and kindness have led her to an extraordinarily successful and varied career that includes such diverse honors from having the second highest retweeted photo in history from the 86th Academy Awards to serving as Special Envoy for Global AIDS Awareness. Forbes listed her as the 50th most powerful woman in the world in 2015 and reported that she had a net worth of $77 million in 2017. With 77.4 million followers, she is the seventh most followed person on Twitter. She has 51.9 million Instagram followers as well. Ellen has received 30 Emmys, 20 People’s Choice Awards – more than any other person in history, and numerous other awards and honors over the course of her career. Her beloved, top rated talk show is consistently nominated and wins Daytime Emmy Awards and her message of promoting kindness and fun through her contagious dancing has led her to be a highly valued spokesperson for major brands including American Express, Cover Girl and J.C. Penney, host for many award shows including the Grammys, the Primetime Emmys and the Academy Awards, and a judge on American Idol.

DeGeneres played the beloved character Dory in Finding Nemo and Finding Dory. In 2004 she was awarded the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress, for Finding Nemo, the first time an actress won a Saturn Award for a voice performance. She has written three books and has won six American Comedy Awards for her stand up comedy shows. Juggling many additional roles, DeGeneres owns her own record label called “eleveneleven,” and has a lifestyle brand called Ed by Ellen (launched in 2015). She is an outspoken animal rights and gay rights activist, as well as a vegan.

In 2008, DeGeneres married actress Portia de Rossi (Santa Clarita Diet, Scandal, Arrested Development) who was born in Australia.

DeGeneres is currently working on a new stand up comedy special for Netflix. In the meantime, you can watch previous stand up performances on YouTube (see this issue’s Recommendations) and DeGeneres’s hilarious and inspirational commencement speech about her struggles and success that she gave at Tulane University in 2009 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e8ToRVOtRo


Amy Schumer

In a short period of time, Amy Schumer has reached the top of the comedy ladder. Her varied experiences include speaking at the recent LA sister event for The March For Our Lives, opening for Madonna, hosting the MTV Awards, posing in the world renowned Pirelli Calendar, writing a best-selling autobiography, writing and starring in her first film, and headlining comedy shows all the while collecting nominations and awards.

The comedian rose to fame appearing as a contestant on the TV series, Last Comedian Standing in 2007. She then created, produced, wrote, and starred in her own comedy show Inside Amy Schumer (2013) on Comedy Central for which she won a Peabody Award. She launched her film career by writing and starring in the movie Trainwreck (2015), for which she was nominated for a Writers Guild of America award for Best Original Screenplay and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. Trainwreck’s success led Time magazine to include her in their list of 100 most influential people and Barbara Walters to include her in the “10 Most Fascinating People” TV special that same year.

Schumer wrote her first book entitled The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo (2016), which maintained its stature on New York Times’ Non-Fiction Best Seller list for two weeks. She later starred in Snatched (2017) with Goldie Hawn. She appeared on Broadway in the comedy Meteor Shower (2017) and most recently, married Chris Fischer in a surprise wedding, with her best friend, actress Jennifer Lawrence in the wedding party. Schumer’s newest film, I Feel Pretty is being released later this month (more details in our Recommended section).

Schumer is politically active, specifically she is a strong proponent of gun control and mental health funding after a fatal shooting occurred during a showing of her movie Trainwreck. Schumer also spoke at the Women’s March on Washington D.C. in 2017 and is second cousins with Senate Minority Leader and Senior New York State Senator Chuck Schumer.


Tina Fey

Tina Fey, the writer of the pop culture phenomenon movie and now Broadway show Mean Girls, is another multi-hyphenate who is a comedian, actress, writer, and producer. In 2010, Fey became the youngest person to ever receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Additionally, over the course of her career, Fey has received nine Primetime Emmy Awards, five Screen Actors Guild Awards, four Writers Guild of America Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.

In addition to being one of the most beloved awards show hosts alongside fellow comedian and friend Amy Poehler, Fey is most well known from her work on Saturday Night Live, which she wrote for and starred in, most famously as the Republican politician, Sarah Palin. The Associated Press awarded Fey the AP Entertainer of the Year for her uncanny portrayal. Fey and Poehler also received much acclaim co-hosting SNL’s Weekend Update together, which was the first time the segment was co-hosted by two women. After leaving SNL, Fey created and starred in the television series 30 Rock based on her experience at SNL. She’s also had leading roles in Baby Mama, Date Night, Muppets Most Wanted, Sisters with Amy Poehler, and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Fey also co-created the award-winning Netflix comedy show, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. In 2011, Fey wrote her memoir, Bossypants, which was on The New York Times’ Best Seller list for five weeks consecutively.

Fey has just begun filming on the 2019 slated Netflix movie, Wine Country along with Poehler (who is also directing and producing) and other Saturday Night Live alums Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, Paula Pell and Emily Spivey.


Tiffany Haddish

The comedian and breakout star of the movie Girls Trip who spawned the viral all-consuming mystery “#WhoBitBeyonce?” has rocketed to superstar status in the past year. Referred to as Bite-gate in the press, the top trending anecdote/pop culture guessing game that Haddish unleashed in an interview in this month’s GQ Magazine is just the latest example of this savvy comedian’s entertainment abilities.

Haddish’s seemingly overnight success really began years earlier when she was a “professional extra” as she jokingly referred to herself before starring in the first season of OWN’s television drama If Loving You Is Wrong from 2014 to 2015, and then starring on the NBC sitcom The Carmichael Show from 2015 to 2017. She also performed in the 2016 comedy film Keanu. However it was her endearing, joyous personality on set that helped Haddish become popular with the behind-the-scenes crews, and those friendships led her to reading the script and ultimately getting cast in Girls Trip. Haddish’s standout performance received rave reviews including a New York Film Critics Circle best supporting actress award and launched her career and popularity to new heights. Rolling Stone Magazine called her the hot breakout comedian for 2017. Her stand-up comedy special Tiffany Haddish: She Ready! From The Hood to Hollywood premiered on Showtime in August. Her lifelong hero Oprah surprised her on set of her Ellen interview. She became the first black female stand-up comedian to host Saturday Night Live in November 2017. She released her New York Times bestselling autobiography, The Last Black Unicorn in December. Haddish was then honored with announcing the nominees for the 2018 Academy Awards, and her hilarious presentation at the Oscar show with fellow comic Maya Rudolph was unanimously hailed as one of the best moments of the ceremony, and led to social media calls for them to host the show in 2019 and do a reboot of the movie Thelma and Louise.

Though Haddish is enjoying the limelight now, her childhood made her all too aware of the importance of humor. In her book and interviews she candidly details her difficult childhood going in and out of foster homes and living with her grandmother after her mother suffered a brain injury in a car accident. Haddish regularly thanks her audience at comedy shows for paying their taxes, which in turn paid for her foster care. While money was a constant struggle, her current success now affords her the steep bills for her mother’s extensive medical care with the best brain injury doctors.

Haddish’s next role is co-starring opposite Tracy Morgan in the TBS sitcom The Last O.G. which airs April 3rd. This will be her first lead in a sitcom and Morgan’s first acting gig since his severe car accident in June 2014. Upcoming films include the comedy Night School with Kevin Hart releasing in September, starring roles in The Kitchen, The Oath and another called The Temp which she also executive produced, and she is currently in production on the future comedy Limited Partners which she will star in and executive produce. Haddish will also voice a main character in the Netflix animated comedy Tuca & Bertie. Finally, Haddish is currently on a stand up comedy tour and you can find a show near you below.

https://www.ticketmaster.com/Tiffany-Haddish-tickets/artist/1632335

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