Women's History Month - 2026 / Funny Ladies

I thought this year I'd talk about some of my favorite "comediennes"; several of whom we've recently lost.  Lost too soon.  And many who are still with us.  I have always preferred women comics.  Sure men are funny.  I love a lot of male comedians too.  But that old sexist argument that men are funnier than women...sorry guys.  It's simply not true. I think that when a woman is funny and knows it and pursues it; she is able to tap into things men either can't or won't.  Comedy, a performer "being funny," is a form of acting.  I think that acting is, at it's core, a very female undertaking.  Let's face it: the Oscar winner/speech we all wanna see; the one we're MOST interested/invested in; is the Best ACTRESS.  Why else do they save the bestowing of the Best Actress Oscar to the penultimate slot in the proceedings; right before Best Picture?  And it raises an interesting thought.  Why is a female comedic performance almost never awarded the prize--that is, if it's even nominated?  They have...Marissa Tomei anyone?  But they're few and far between.  
The above photo is of Madeline Kahn in 1964.  I find this picture fascinating.  I mean she's gorgeous, yes; but there's something weirdly timeless about it. It doesn't  look like 1964.  It has a sort of startling immediacy, like it was taken five minutes ago.  Most of the gals of '64 posing for a yearbook picture would've looked more like this, I'm thinking:

In this portrait, Madeline seems on the verge of either laughing or crying; as though she's the masks of comedy and tragedy fused in this moment.  What's the old adage? Something along the lines of: "Drama is hard; but comedy is a bitch."  I'll also make this observation.  IMHO I think that drama doesn't necessarily have ANY comedy in it. Look at Hamnet, for example.  That one didn't even have comic relief.  But I think comedy ALWAYS has some element of "drama" in it.  That sub-sub-subtext of laughing through the tears.  And I think that's why lady comics are funnier.  And I know that Madeline had this quality naturally.  When she was doing broad(!) comedic stuff and even more so in her quieter moments.  Which is why she is one of my all time favorite performers and, again, in my humble opinion, the funniest comic of any sex we've ever had.  I could show you any of her famous, show-stopping comedic moments; but let's look at her in something where she's not even the focus of the scene:

Maybe it's just her.  She's funny and sad at the same time; even just standing there and trying to figure out what's going on.  The character of Eunice is a nagging shrew; but Khan brings so much more to it.  Like, you can tell from the above scene that she's really in love with Howard and is worried that Judy is the kind of person who poses a threat...there's just so much there without even really trying.
So, I'll talk about these ladies a little (some of my favorites) and then play a clip and...that's it.

Teri Garr
One of my favorite movies (perhaps my very favorite) is Tootsie.  Teri Garr was nominated for an Oscar for her performance, which was comedic; but she lost to Jessica Lange from the same movie for her supporting performance which was, I think, decidedly not comedic.  Usually two people from the same movie cancel one another out.  But Lange was also nominated for Best Actress.  It seems like the Academy was determined to give her an Oscar.  I can't say that Garr deserved it, as all the actors in that category that year were fantastic; but I do wish she had won.  I think part of Garr's brilliance was her reactions, more so then overtly, extroverted comedy.  Yeah, just watching her face as someone else is talking is a joy.  I think that was her vein of gold.  She was kind of the funny straight woman, if that makes sense.  Here she is in Young Frankenstein:

Carol Burnett
Of course.  What else can I possibly say?  And here she is with Ms. Khan.  And also, another truly funny lady who, I think, often gets overlooked VICKI LAWRENCE.  Here are the three of them together in one of what I think is the greatest comedy sketches of all time:

Ego Nwodim
Gone too soon from SNL.  Or maybe not.  It seems her comedic, perhaps genius, was never properly tapped until the tail end of her tenure.  "Lisa from Temecula" kind of took everyone by surprise.  And then "Miss Eggy."  And then she was gone.  Why?  I hope it was her own decision.  Let's take a look!

Diane Keaton
Now, I think Diane was a comic whose comedic chops kind of went unexplored, even by herself.  She was charming- funny.  Daffy.  But if you look at Annie Hall, her "comedic" role for which she won the Oscar; I would say that she's only being "funny" for about 20 percent of it.  There's really no active, overtly comic scene of her being funny.  Perhaps this one?

I think she's "funny" by proxy; simply because her great sense of humor and ready laugh are infectious.
Of course this list could go on and on with iconic comedy legends and lots of other famous contemporary lady comics.  Oh, I guess we can't leave Lucille Ball out.  I think her very funniest bit was the Vita-veta-vegamin commercial.  Perhaps because the typically (in real life) brass-balled redhead lets in more than a little vulnerability?

I guess I'm going for more of the "unsung" ladies here.  For example, Mira Sorvino, whose performance alongside  now legendary Lisa Kudrow is just flat out funny.  This scene to me, is comedy perfection.  It's all about what isn't said and the looks on their faces:

Not to get too "woke" here; but I want to be multi-culti.  Now, there are not a whole lot of Asian lady comics but Constance Wu was consistently funny on Fresh Off the Boat and hopefully she'll do more comedy in the future!

Melissa Villasenor, late of SNL was super funny but unfortunately mucho underutilized.  I hope she comes back from wherever it is she went!

Speaking of Saturday Night Live...
Back in the OG day when it was NBC's Saturday Night I adored equally the trifecta of Gilda, Jane and Larraine.  In fact, I lived my life for those Video Vixens!

But I had a soft spot for Larraine Newman.  She almost seemed to lurk in the shadows.  Almost never did recurring characters.  She was kind of mysterious, which is what may have made her my true favorite.  Let me see if I can find an online clip...

And even today, there's almost nothing out there with Larraine.  Maybe that's a good thing?

In closing, I was trying to find a Pacific-Asian-Islander lady comic and this actress came to mind.  Her name is Kaliko Kauahi and you may remember here as Sandra on Superstore...

And speaking of funny...
The lady in the above clip, playing "Dina."  Her name is Lauren Ash.  She's a Canadian doncha know, eh?  And she's hilarious.  Here she is being a little more serious:

So, I guess this sort of points up that Funny Ladies are a global phenom.  A worldwide joy.  And that's lucky for all of us.

CFR   3/22/26

P.S.
The whole point of this really, was to talk about Catherine O'Hara who we know recently passed.  Another chameleon who disappeared into her roles, which is maybe why I forgot about her from the jump.
Catherine O'Hara
Discovered her via SCTV back in the day when it first came on NBC.  So many truly great moments!  This one with her other distaff colleague from that show, comes to mind:

That's even funnier than I remembered!
​How about when she did Meryl Streep and blowed up real good?  Here's the best version of that I could find:

And here are both of them in a scene from Heartburn that I think nicely illustrates the transubstantiation between comedy and tragedy:

The pie in the face, right?  The All-Time comedy go-to.  Yet here it is at the culmination of the movie, rendered into tragic heartbreak.  By a skilled tragedian who is equally great at comedy and a true comedian who finds the humor (and thus the truth) in drama.  Both women.  Both geniuses.

FIN