The 10 Funniest Women Of All Time

When most people think of comedians they usually just think of the men and most movies or comedy tours are full of male comedians, to celebrate some of the female comedians Yahoo have come up with a list of the top female comedians. Take a look at the top 10:

10. Lucille Ball
“How I Love Lucy was born? We decided that instead of divorce lawyers profiting from our mistakes, we’d profit from them.”

Probably the single most influential woman figure in comedy, Ball’s long-running sitcom I Love Lucy not only forged the path for women on TV, but continues to run in syndication, holding its own against contempory television comedies that she and it undoubtedly influenced.

09. Jenny McCarthy
“My philosophy of dating is to just fart right away.”

The original naughty hottie, McCarthy started on the MTV dating show, Singled Out. Her crassness, crudeness, and tomboyish tongue often stole the spotlight and not only opened doors for her career, but also for foul-mouthed female followers like Chelsea Handler.

08. Tracey Ullman
“If God had intended for breasts to be seen, He wouldn’t have created large woolen pullovers.”

Regarded as the queen of sketch comedy, Ullman’s side-splitting sendups of famous men and women alike made The Tracey Ullman Show a hit in the 90′s and beyond. It also introduced the world to an animated family of five named The Simpsons.

07. Joan Rivers
“I don’t excercise. If God had wanted me to bend over, he would have put diamonds on the floor.”

The queen of the red carpet and savage wit. If women in comedy was a political office, Rivers would be the two-term president who won by a landslide. Respected by peers and audiences alike, Rivers’ witty tongue-lashings take aim at everything and everyone, including herself.

06. Roseanne Barr
“Women should try to increase their size rather than decrease it, because I believe the bigger we are, the more space we’ll take up, and the more we’ll have to be reckoned with.”

Barr’s success came at a time when audiences wanted it: an overweight, homely, mom-type who hid a hilarious sense of humor under her juice-stained sweats. Barr was lauded and loved for her true-to-life portrayal of supermoms everywhere, but also castigated for setting Tom Arnold loose on the world.

05. Ellen Degeneres
“My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She’s ninety-seven now, and we don’t know where the hell she is.”

Years ago, Degeneres turned her sitcom Ellen’s demise and media-fed questions about her sexuality into her current success as TV’s first openly-gay comedy/variety talk-show host. Her throne atop daytime television remains unchallenged, and her Queen of Nice title does nothing to tarnish her hilarity.

04. Carol Burnett
“We didn’t exactly starve, but we were pretty poor when I was growing up. I remember thinking, Oh gosh, if I could just make thirty dollars a month to help with the rent, that would be fabulous. So perhaps I envied performers when I heard that Bing Crosby made twenty dollars a minute.”

Along with Lucille Ball, Phyllis Diller, and Lily Tomlin, Carol Burnett is widely considered one of the fore-mothers of female comedy. The Carol Burnett Show, a long-running sketch comedy hour, sealed her fate as an American icon for women in comedy.

03. Amy Poehler
“I’ve said this before, that, when you’re in school and you’re the class clown, men are really good at making fun at other people and women are really good at making fun of themselves.”

Any fan of Late Night with Conan O’Brien will tell you some of the funniest moments on the show were when sidekick Andy Richter’s angry, hyperactive “kid sister” interrupted the show with her emotional outbursts. Poehler later went on to steal scenes on Saturday Night Live, host Weekend Update, and star in her own sitcom, NBC’s Parks and Rec.

02. Phyllis Diller
“You know you’re old if they have discontinued your blood type.”

To say that Phyllis Diller paved the way for zany, female comics would be like saying Michael Jordan was a pretty good basketball player. Diller’s original zaniness, wit, and personality were unlike any seen before, and her scratchy-voiced delivery of some of the most deadpan statements places her among the top originals of funny women.

01. Amy Sedaris
“I always got along with all types of people – popular people as well as drug addicts.”

“Weird,” “strange,” and “offbeat” are words used to describe Sedaris and her sense of humor, but only in conjuction with “funny.” Sedaris’ books, stints on TV, and talk show appearances have only confirmed these descriptions, but it is this uniqueness along with her sense of humor that makes her so original and funny.

I would not put Jenny McCarthy on this list instead I would add Kathy Griffin and Lisa Kudrow to the list, who is your top female comedians at the moment?

Popularity: unranked [?]

The 10 Funniest Women Of All Time

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