Funny Woman

Women aren’t as funny as men.

Did that get your attention? Whether or not you agree with this statement, it is undeniable that those six words represent one of the most debated issues in the funny business.

One of the best places to look for signs of life in the feminine comedy landscape is among the graduettes of “Saturday Night Live,” NBC’s celebrated live comedy show and one of the longest-running programs on television.

While many of the women below were fine-tuning their humorous craft before being hand-selected by creator and producer Lorne Michaels, the iconic New York stage has played a significant role in their success following their tenure at “SNL.” These laughable ladies have also all had their own television careers since graduating from Lorne’s tutelage. Take a glance at these stat sheets of selected silly performers who happen to be women.

You might come to see that there aren’t funny genders, just funny people.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus
“SNL” Career: 1982-1985

Louis-Dreyfus was the youngest female cast member to join “SNL” at a thumb-sucking age of 21 years and 8 months.

Makes you feel pretty inadequate, right?

She met co-creator Larry David, a writer at “SNL,” who later cast Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the famous and equally sardonic Elaine Benesin in the wildly successful “Seinfeld.” Nine seasons later, when “Seinfeld” came to an end, Louis-Dreyfus and her costars drifted around the entertainment world in a Bermuda Triangle of unsucessful films and television shows. Louis-Dreyfus, however, was the first to break what had been dubbed the ominous “Seinfeld” Curse.

She played the voice of queen ant Atta in Pixar’s “A Bug’s Life,” and had a critically acclaimed recurring role in “Arrested Development” before starring in her own hit comedy show, “The New Life of Old Christine.” Now she’s the lead in “Veep,” a political comedy, for which she has raked in even more praise.

With a Golden Globe, four Emmy Awards and six Screen Actors Guild awards among myriad nominations, Louis-Dreyfus represents a long and highly successful comedy career.


Tina Fey
“SNL” Career: 1997-2006

Tina Fey is perhaps the only one who could rival Louis-Dreyfus’ success. She currently has eight Emmy awards for comedy writing, acting, producing and guest performing, as well as two Golden Globes and five Screen Actor Guild awards for her labors in the world of TV comedy.

Fey has also been a trailblazer in her own right as a woman in the comedy sphere.
She was the first female head writer of “Saturday Night Live” and the youngest ever recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Beyond “SNL,” she created the critically adored TV comedy “30 Rock” as a look into the world of live variety show television. She was co-host to the Golden Globes with Amy Poehler in 2013 and 2014.
Their incredible dynamic and celebrity status as beloved comedians played a key role in making both broadcasts the best viewed in recent years.

Fey recently celebrated her 44th birthday but has already attained immortality. She will be forever known for her satirical “SNL” appearances as vice-president candidate Sarah Palin. She’s also not to be forgotten for her writing and her role in the comedy shrine must-have, “Mean Girls,” which is both quotably hilarious as well as a keen commentary on the issue of bullying.

Beyond her management role in “30 Rock,” she has continued work as a TV producer, now overseeing a new NBC series “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” which stars Ellie Kemper of “The Office.”

Her life and insights are beyond impressive and are worthy of further investigation. We suggest you check out her New York Times best-seller “Bossypants” or the Fey-narrated audiobook, which received a Grammy nomination.


Maya Rudolph
“SNL” Career: 2000-2007

Daughter of music industry power couple Minnie Riperton and Richard Rudolph, Maya Rudolph had the background and natural ability to demand a space on “SNL” based on vocal ability alone.

Thanks to her singing talents and chameleon-like ability to take on an incredible number of characters regardless of gender, age and race, Rudolph has been seen executing dozens of celebrity singer impressions hilariously. We’ve seen her as Beyoncé, Diana Ross, Jennifer Lopez, Liza Minnelli, Whitney Houston, Barbara Streisand and so many others.

Beyond attentive mimicry, Rudolph has brought hilarity to the screen with outrageous performances, partially thanks to the character-heavy emphasis of the Groundlings comedy main stage in Los Angeles. Rudolph has spent much of her career following “SNL” providing both humorous and heartfelt performances in films like “Away We Go,” “Bridesmaids” and “The Way, Way Back.” She was a prominent character in the NBC parenting comedy “Up All Night,” but the show was short-lived.

However, she hopes to be back and successful in the NBC programming lineup by re-introducing the prime-time variety hour. “The Maya Rudolph Show” aired May 19 to many elated fans of her work. It received mixed reviews, particularly concerns regarding if the variety show has a place in modern television. However, it also  left audiences and critics both hoping to see more of Rudolph before making any final conclusions.

One of the biggest positives of the program was how much Rudolph was able to showcase her skillful music-comedy blend.


Amy Poehler
“SNL” Career: 2001-2008

As a “Saturday Night Live” anchor of the Weekend Update alongside Fey and later Seth Meyers, Poehler has been far from polarizing when it comes to determining whether or not this comedian has talent.

Like many other “SNL” greats, Poehler spent some time performing at Chicago’s Second City, the comedy Mecca, as well as ImprovOlympic. It was during this time that Fey and Poehler first met and developed their friendship. Poehler departed from her friend’s side to co-found the Upright Citizen’s Brigade, an improv comedy stage in New York.

While at “SNL,” she enjoyed a lucrative and noteworthy career like the comedians above. She was a capable and ambitious writer, undaunted by the opinions of her male coworkers. She also had a position of high respect for maintaining a versatile and memorable performing presence.

Not long after departing from “SNL,” Poehler became the lead in “Parks and Recreation,” a series in which Poehler plays the passionate and amiable local government official, Leslie Knope.

While she is considered one of the academy’s currently most under-recognized comedians in television for her work on “Parks and Recreation,” Poehler can instead find tranquility in her other projects. She has begun to dabble in producing with her leadership in recent Comedy Central hit “Broad City.”

Poehler has also empowered young women beyond her character Leslie Knope. Her Tumblr “Smart Girls at the Party” is a blog collection of interviews with impressive young women. It has won acclaim in the form of a Shorty Award and contributed to her recognition in the 2011 edition of TIME’s “100 Most Influential People in the World.”

She is, of course, on our list of Most Influential People in the World of Comedy.