Female Comedians Who Are Killing It Right Now
Over the past decade, national clamor for female comedians has suddenly skyrocketed — thanks in no small part to paradigm-shifting female-led comedy Bridesmaids, which came out in 2011. Of course, we knew women were funny well before that. But somehow, it took a raunchy ensemble of Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, and more to convince the rest of the world that women deserve a fair shot when it comes to making people laugh.
As the 2010s rolled on, we saw a diverse pool of female talent come into the comedy spotlight. Women of all ages and backgrounds started to dominate the comedy scene, with women like Ali Wong and Tiffany Haddish releasing smash-hit standup specials on Netflix. These women have all pushed boundaries with their comedy, tackling everything from our squeamishness about the female body to ongoing race and gender inequalities in our society. They’re always bold, often raunchy, and excruciatingly funny — literally. Don’t watch Ali Wong’s Baby Cobra unless you’re ready for your abs to be sore from laughing.
Just a decade or so back, it was still considered a valid opinion to say that “women aren’t funny.” Blessedly, we’re leaving all that behind with the help of these female comedians killing the game right now. From TV and movies to streaming on Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon, here are all the game-changers you need to take notice of right now.
Click through to see some female comedians you should know in 2024.
A version of this article was originally published in December 2017.
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Ego Nwodim
Ego Nwodim’s wicked humor and fantastic comedy acting skills landed her a place on the SNL cast in 2018 and she has been one of the most beloved stars since. Outside of the hit show, she has continued her stand-up career and has starred in Netflix hits The Broken Hearts Gallery and Players.
Hannah Berner
Hannah Berner began her career as a reality TV star on Bravo’s Summer House but quickly pivoted to comedy after leaving the show in 2022. In addition to her stand-up and street interviews on TikTok, she is the host of two hilarious podcasts, Giggly Squad (with Paige DeSorbo) and Berner Phone. In 2023, Variety named Berner on their “10 Comics to Watch” list in 2023.
Taylor Tomlinson
Taylor Tomlinson’s stand-up skills are so revered that she has four Netflix specials and regularly sells out her tours. She was the only woman featured on Billboard’s “Top 10 Highest Grossing Comedy Tours of 2023” list.
Ilana Glazer
After beginning her career doing stand-up and improve in New York City, Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson’s hilarious webseries Broad City was picked up by comedy central and quickly made the writing-acting duo household names.
Whether it’s regaling us with her antics in Rough Night or giving a hilarious middle finger to the patriarchy, adulthood, and crappy people on Broad City, Glazer has time and time again proven to be one of the most exciting comedians working right now. In 2024, she did it all again by writing and starring in Babes.
Michelle Buteau
Glazer’s Babes co-star Michelle Buteau can do it all! In recent years, Buteau’s undeniable presence and unmistakable voice has taken over, from reality shows to hit movies. In addition to being The Circle‘s witty host, Buteau also crushed it in movies like Marry Me, Happiest Season, and Someone Great and in shows like First Wives Club and Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens.
In 2020, Buteau also released her Netflix comedy special Welcome to Buteautopia where she gets real about relationships, parenthood, culture and just about everything in between.
Rashida “Sheedz” Olayiwola
Rashida “Sheedz” Olayiwola got her break after appearing in the hilarious Amazon Freevee comedy series Jury Duty and we can probably expect to be seeing her a lot more. Olayiwola is starring in Disney+’s upcoming Marvel miniseries Ironheart.
Quinta Brunson
After finding success in YouTube comedy sketches and in A Black Lady Sketch Show, Quinta Brunson wrote and created Abbott Elementary, a mockumentary series on ABC on the lives of teachers in an elementary school in Philly. With a stellar cast including Sheryl Lee Ralph and James Tyler Williams, Brunson created a comedy masterpiece quipped with funny and yet heartwarming moments that make for the best TV. Most recently, Brunson won a Golden Globe for Best Leading Actress in a Comedy Show.
Sheryl Lee Ralph
As Barbara Howard in Quinta Brunson’s Abbott Elementary, Sheryl Lee Ralph hit comedy gold. In the show, Ralph perfectly blends seriousness with humor and makes for an uncannily accurate elementary school teacher. For her role, she’s received acclaim from fans and critics alike with her very own Emmy and Critics Choice Award wins.
Jennifer Coolidge
After years in only minor parts, Jennifer Coolidge has made her comedy comeback in White Lotus as the insanely funny Tanya. Since starring in the comedy/drama’s two seasons, Coolidge has won a Golden Globe, an Emmy, and two Critics Choice Awards. And even though her performances are funny, her award show speeches are absolutely hilarious.
In addition to the show, Coolidge has been in a variety of other projects including Shotgun Wedding, The Watcher, and Promising Young Woman – all must-watches!
Kate McKinnon
Kate McKinnon is one of the top comedians of the past couple of years, winning an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on Saturday Night Live two years in a row (2016 and 2017).
McKinnon has served as a singular voice of sanity and comedy in these ever-darkening times, politically and culturally speaking. She’s become someone we look to for relief, to poke fun at the men and women supposedly leading our nation, and though she’s left SNL, she’s definitely a comedian who isn’t leaving the spotlight anytime soon.
She’s also wowed in movies like Bombshell, The Spy Who Dumped Me, Rough Night and Barbie proving her comedy chops don’t end with TV.
Samantha Bee
While Samantha Bee’s late-night satirical news show, Full Frontal, was cancelled in 2022 after a 7-year run, we’re still applauding her work in a highly male-dominated field. For years, Bee has devoted her comedy to sticking it to the men and women (but mostly men) who seek to harm society in areas gender-related, race-related, economic, political, and so forth.
Tracee Ellis Ross
Tracee Ellis Ross has been hustling for the better part of the last two decades, so you better give this outstanding, warm actor — who also happens to be one of prime-time TV’s best female comedic performers right now — your time and attention. Ross is one of the stars of the consistently raved-about Black-ish on ABC, as well as new spinoff Mixed-ish.
This woman has kept us in stitches since her days on Girlfriends and isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
Aubrey Plaza
Aubrey Plaza is that darkly comedic indie goddess you need in your life. She might be best known to you as April Ludgate, the sullen but secretly sweet intern on Parks and Recreation, but Plaza has done so much more. She took a detour into genre-bending with FX’s Legion but got firmly back into her dark comedy/satire lane with the social media satire Ingrid Goes West and the debauched spoof of Boccaccio’s The Decameron, The Little Hours.
Plaza mixes dark and funny subject matter better than many men currently in the game, so bow down right now.
Bridget Everett
Bridget Everett began her career co-writing the hilarious Broadway show At Least It’s Pink: A Trashy Little Show alongside Sex and the City writer/director Michael Patrick King. After that, she burst on to our screens in Sex and the City: The Movie, Inside Amy Schumer and in Trainwreck.
Since then, she has delivered us many captivating performances and, since 2022, has been writing, producing and starring in HBO comedy series Somebody, Somewhere.
Jessica Williams
Jessica Williams is just getting started. She made her name as a featured correspondent on The Daily Show and has become half of the incredibly popular comedy podcast 2 Dope Queens, but nothing put her on the map quite like 2017’s The Incredible Jessica James. With that performance, Williams not only showed us that she do could drama as well as comedy but also that her comedic voice is singular and necessary to hear
Tig Notaro
Tig Notaro’s wit is drier than the Arizona heat in July, but damn if she isn’t one of the most incisive and observant comedians on the block. The story of her life before fame is incredible (a breast cancer survivor who underwent a double mastectomy while simultaneously surviving C-Diff and the passing of her mother), but it’s how she’s using her spotlight nowadays that’s making us take notice.
Her Amazon TV show, One Mississippi, is heartwarming, heartbreaking and genuinely riotous; try not to bruise a rib laughing at some key scenes. And her other specials, like Netflix’s Tig Notaro: Happy to Be Here and HBO’s Tig Notaro: Boyish Girl Interrupted are well worth a watch too.
Jenny Slate
As the years go by, Jenny Slate continues to impress us. From her voice acting on Netflix’s coming-of-age comedy Big Mouth to her role on low-fi indie comedy Landline, Slate never fails to make us laugh. After her breakout role in 2014’s Obvious Child, Slate has gone on to land roles in House of Lies, Parks and Recreation, Lady Dynamite, Bob’s Burgers, and more, even writing children’s book Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, which she later adapted into an Oscar-nominated feature-length movie in 2021.
Maya Rudolph
Thanks to her extraordinary wit and legendary celebrity impressions, Maya Rudolph has paved the way for younger female comedians while still maintaining her icon status. She was an SNL regular from 2000 to 2007 and continues to make occasional appearances on the show, even winning an Emmy in 2020 for her impression of Kamala Harris on the show.
She is also the star of hits like Grown Ups and Bridesmaids. Since 2022, she has been executive producing and starring in the comedy series Loot.
Kristen Wiig
Rudolph’s frequent collaborator, Kristen Wiig joined the SNL cast in 2005 until 2012 after beginning her career as an improv and sketch comedy actress. During her time at SNL, she received four Emmy nominations.
In 2011, Wiig wrote and starred in Bridesmaids, which is regarded as among the best comedies of the 21st century, and landed herself an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
Jean Smart
If we’re talking about women who are making it big in comedy recently, we can’t forget the one and only Jean Smart. Smart, who’s been in the industry for years, has found her comedy gold in Hacks where she plays the complicated and funny Deborah Vance. For her role, she’s won a multitude of awards including two back-to-back Emmys and Critics Choice Awards, a Golden Globe, and a SAG Award. Talk about the perfect role!
Ali Wong
Ali Wong is beloved by each and every person who has ever seen her work — sorry, it’s just true! Her three Netflix specials, Baby Cobra, Hard Knock Wife and Don Wong, both feature Wong heavily pregnant and delivering some of the most raw, honest pregnancy content we’ve ever heard. Wong isn’t afraid to get down and dirty about the wonders (and horrors) of the female body and trying to hack the system (i.e. not have to work) as a modern woman. Her latest special Don Wong, talks about everything from motherhood to her sex life.
Chelsea Peretti
You may know her from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but comedian Chelsea Peretti is a star in her own right, and it’s time that the world paid attention. Peretti was briefly a writer on Parks and Recreation, has nabbed a recurring role in Netflix’s Big Mouth, and popped up in 2018’s Game Night too. Her Twitter is also a genuine delight.
Nicole Byer
Four-tine Emmy-nominated Nicole Byer has been putting in the work for years, and now it seems like it’s paying off. Last year, the New Jersey native toured the country with her special brand of comedy. Her talent has led her to guest appearances on shows like BoJack Horseman, Transparent, and Bob’s Burgers, among others.
2018, however, felt like Byer’s breakout year. She’s been hosting the Netflix reality competition series Nailed It! Byer is so fun and her humor on the show is so infectious that she earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program three time, in 2020, 2021 and 2023. She’s the first Black woman to ever be nominated in the category. In 2022, she also received a nomination for her writing on her comedy special, Nicole Byer: BBW (Big Beautiful Weirdo).
Iliza Shlesinger
Since becoming the first woman and youngest contestant to win Last Comic Standing in 2008, Iliza Shlesinger has been taking over the comedy scene. The comedian has six comedy specials by way of Netflix, spanning from 2013 to 2022. She’s also appeared in a number of films and TV shows, including 2017’s Girlboss and 2020’s Pieces of a Woman.
Hannah Gadsby
Hannah Gadsby took the comedy world by storm with her 2018 Netflix special Nanette, in which she announced she was giving up comedy. Of course, with the world begging her for more, she decided to delay retirement a bit longer, and completed a live tour of her next Netflix special Douglas.
Gadsby puts it all on the table: her autism diagnosis, her violent experiences with sexism and homophobia, and what it really feels like to exist outside of the accepted mainstream in society. It’s moving as hell — and deeply, shockingly funny.
