Comedians The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time  

Kel Varnsen
Originally by
216.4k votes 14.2k voters 987.7k views 282 items

List Rules The funny females on this list can be from the world of stand up comedy, television, radio or cinema.

The funniest female comedians star on our favorite sitcoms, perform standup at the top comedy clubs and best of all, make us laugh until we cry. These talented women comedians (or 'commediennes' if you're fancy) are just as funny as any male comedians, if not funnier. Plus, they get to tell female-friendly jokes that most men wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole. Girl comedians can just do some jokes better than the guys can.

Alone, these female comedians are utterly hilarious on their own, but when they team up, watch out. That was exactly the case in 2011 when funny ladies like Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy teamed up with some of the funniest minds in film today to make the smash comedy hit Bridesmaids. Previously, the blonde comedian was known mainly for her many quirky characters on Saturday Night Live, but she's more than just a funny lady, she's a smart (and beautiful!) one too.

For others, the leap from the gut-busting standup acts to primetime television came after the female comedians got noticed by the networks. Chelsea Handler, Whitney Cummings and even Ellen DeGeneres all paid their dues on the standup circuit before getting their own television series.

Whether these talented female comedians make us laugh with their television shows, appear in hilarious comedy movies, are familiar faces on Comedy Central or simply provide the best hilariously inappropriate jokes on celebrity roasts, each rival any of the top male comedians in the business today. Some of them are considered to be the funniest people of all time. Have a funny lady that makes you laugh until you wet your pants? White or black, young or old, tell us your favorites by voting up the best female comedians below.

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1
4,568 1,403
Betty White is listed (or ranked) 1 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
Sydni added age 97 Betty White Ludden, known professionally as Betty White, is an American actress, comedienne, author, producer, radio host, singer, and television personality. In 2013, the Guinness World Records ...more

2
4,257 1,076
Carol Burnett is listed (or ranked) 2 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
age 85 Carol Creighton Burnett is an American actress, comedian, singer, and writer. She is best known for her long-running TV variety show, The Carol Burnett Show, for CBS. She has achieved success on ...more

3
3,852 1,173
Lucille Ball is listed (or ranked) 3 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
SalvatoreIanni added Dec. at 78 (1911-1989) Lucille Désirée Ball was an American actress, comedian, model, and film studio executive. She was the star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, ...more

4
4,106 2,076
Tina Fey is listed (or ranked) 4 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
age 48 Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She is best known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, the ...more

5
3,139 1,616
Amy Poehler is listed (or ranked) 5 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
age 47 Amy Meredith Poehler is an American actress, comedian, voice artist, director, producer and writer. She was raised in Burlington, Massachusetts, graduated from Boston College in 1993 and moved ...more

6
2,830 1,471
Kristen Wiig is listed (or ranked) 6 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
age 45 Kristen Carroll Wiig is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer, well known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, and such films as Knocked Up, Walk Hard: ...more

7
4,262 2,106
Ellen DeGeneres is listed (or ranked) 7 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
age 61 Ellen Lee DeGeneres is an American comedian, television host, actress, writer, and producer. She was the star in the popular sitcom Ellen from 1994 to 1998, and has hosted her syndicated talk ...more

8
2,447 858
Gilda Radner is listed (or ranked) 8 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
Died at 43 (1946-1989) Gilda Susan Radner was an American comedian and actress. She was best remembered as an original cast member of the hit NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, for which she won an Emmy Award ...more

9
2,458 1,405
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is listed (or ranked) 9 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
Mark Holmes added age 58 Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus is an American actress, comedian, and producer. She is known for her television work on Seinfeld, The New Adventures of Old Christine, and Veep, which she ...more

10
2,274 1,194
Lily Tomlin is listed (or ranked) 10 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
age 79 Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She has been a major force in American comedy since the late 1960s, when she began a career as a ...more

11
2,787 1,505
Melissa McCarthy is listed (or ranked) 11 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
age 45 Melissa Ann McCarthy is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer. McCarthy first gained recognition for her role as Sookie St. James on the television series Gilmore Girls. On the ABC ...more

12
2,381 1,905
Joan Rivers is listed (or ranked) 12 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
Died at 81 (1933-2014) Joan Alexandra Molinsky, known as Joan Rivers, was an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and television host noted for her often controversial comedic persona — where she was ...more

13
1,573 1,216
Maya Rudolph is listed (or ranked) 13 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
age 46 Maya Khabira Rudolph is an American actress and comedian. She rose to prominence on the NBC television show Saturday Night Live, where she was a cast member from 2000 to 2007. She has also ...more

14
1,725 1,146
Phyllis Diller is listed (or ranked) 14 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
Dec. at 95 (1917-2012) Phyllis Ada Driver, better known as Phyllis Diller, was an American stand-up comedian, actress, singer, dancer, and voice artist, best known for her eccentric stage persona, her self-deprecating ...more

15
1,094 548
Cloris Leachman is listed (or ranked) 15 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
age 92 Cloris Leachman is an American actress of stage, film, and television. She has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards and one Daytime Emmy Award. She co-starred in the 1971 film The Last Picture Show ...more

16
1,544 917
Mary Tyler Moore is listed (or ranked) 16 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
age 82 Mary Tyler Moore is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in television sitcoms. Moore is best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, in which she starred as Mary Richards, a ...more

17
1,549 781
Madeline Kahn is listed (or ranked) 17 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
bdeitur added Died at 57 (1942-1999) Madeline Kahn was an American actress, comedienne and singer. A two-time Academy Award nominee, she also won an Emmy Award and a Tony Award. Kahn made her Broadway debut in Leonard Sillman's New ...more

18
2,184 2,009
Sarah Silverman is listed (or ranked) 18 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
age 48 Sarah Kate Silverman is an American stand-up comedian, writer, producer and actress. Her satirical comedy addresses social taboos and controversial topics, such as racism, having her comic ...more

19
2,192 1,620
Wanda Sykes is listed (or ranked) 19 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
age 54 Wanda Sykes is an American writer, comedian, actress, and voice artist. She earned the 1999 Emmy Award for her writing on The Chris Rock Show. In 2004, Entertainment Weekly named Sykes as one of ...more

20
1,808 1,449
Jane Lynch is listed (or ranked) 20 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
age 58 Jane Marie Lynch is an American actress, singer, and comedian. She gained fame in Christopher Guest's improv mockumentary pictures such as Best in Show. Lynch's television cameos include an ...more

21
1,266 771
Tracey Ullman is listed (or ranked) 21 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
bdeitur added age 59 Tracey Ullman is an English-American stage and television actress, comedian, singer, dancer, director, author, and screenwriter of dual British and American citizenship. Her early appearances ...more

22
1,585 1,272
Lisa Kudrow is listed (or ranked) 22 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
age 55 Lisa Valerie Kudrow is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer. She gained worldwide recognition for her ten-season run as Phoebe Buffay on the television sitcom Friends, for which ...more

23
1,144 767
Catherine O'Hara is listed (or ranked) 23 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
age 64 Catherine Anne O'Hara is a Canadian-American actress, writer and comedian. She is well known for her comedy work on SCTV and her roles in the films After Hours, Beetlejuice, Home Alone, Home ...more

24
1,363 779
Bea Arthur is listed (or ranked) 24 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
Dec. at 87 (1922-2009) Beatrice "Bea" Arthur was an American actress, comedian, and singer whose career spanned seven decades. Arthur achieved fame as the character Maude Findlay on the 1970s sitcoms All in ...more

25
1,332 853
Goldie Hawn is listed (or ranked) 25 on the list The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time
age 73 Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in television's Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and films such as The ...more