The League of Extraordinarily Funny Women: 50 Trailblazers of Comedy

The League of Extraordinarily Funny Women: 50 Trailblazers of Comedy

The League of Extraordinarily Funny Women: 50 Trailblazers of Comedy

The League of Extraordinarily Funny Women: 50 Trailblazers of Comedy

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Overview

A celebration of the most groundbreaking women in comedy who used humor to shake up the status quo and change perceptions of gender and comedy forever.

The League of Extraordinarily Funny Women celebrates the outstanding contributions of fifty women in comedy past and present. From legends like Lucille Ball, Joan Rivers, and Tina Fey to current comedy heroes like Issa Rae, Lena Waithe, Abbi Jacobson, and Tig Notaro, this beautifully illustrated book charts a rich lineage of women using humor to speak truth to power, tangle with sensitive subjects, challenge the status quo, and do anything but sit still and stay quiet when laughs are on the line.

Some of these women broke boundaries as pioneers on stage as well as in front of and behind the camera. Others penned their way into the history of American humor, redrawing the boundaries of writers' rooms to include diverse voices and perspectives. Through their collective work as stand-ups, sketch and improv comics, humor writers, and slapstick film stars, these women formed a network forged by creativity, guts, and a deep love of what comedy can do and be. In the process, they continue to pass their knowledge and insights from woman to woman, from funny generation to funny generation, offering support, inspiration, and, above all, laughter.



Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780762466641
Publisher: Running Press Book Publishers
Publication date: 04/16/2019
Pages: 232
Sales rank: 1,105,662
Product dimensions: 6.90(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Sheila Moeschen, PhD, is a Boston-based gender and pop culture writer with a doctorate in gender and theater studies. She has played an active role behind the scenes at the Women in Comedy Festival since its launch in 2009. She is the author of Acts of Conspicuous Compassion: Performance Culture and American Charity Practices and her work has appeared on the Huffington Post, I AM THAT GIRL, RYOT, Red Line Roots, and Feminine Collective. Sheila has been a featured contributor on NPR and on Trailblazers with Walter Isaacson.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Snarky, Sassy, Super Smarties 4

Samantha Bee 6

Lena Dunham 10

Elaine May 14

Lizz Winstead 19

Julia Louis-Dreyfus 24

Tina Fey 28

Robin Thede 33

Nora Ephron 37

Courageous, Creative, Character Comics 42

Molly Shannon 44

Carol Burnett 48

Amy Poehler 53

Mabel Normand 58

Lily Tomlin 63

Whoopi Goldberg 68

Kate McKinnon 73

Lucille Ball 77

Gilda Radner 82

Dauntless, Defiant, Daringly Disruptive 86

Sarah Silverman 88

Chelsea Handler 92

Amy Schumer 95

Mae West 99

Kathy Griffin 104

Moms Mabley 108

Margaret Cho 111

Ali Wong 115

Joan Rivers 119

Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson 124

Sandra Bernhard 128

Magnificent, Marvelous, Mighty Misfits 132

Melissa McCarthy 134

Amy Sedan's 138

Kristen Wiig 142

Mindy Kaling 146

Marie Dressier 151

Kristen Schaal 156

Maria Bamford 160

Fanny Brice 164

Ellen DeGeneres 169

Tracey Ullman 173

Phyllis Dilier 177

Brave, Bold, Brazen Badasses 182

Tig Notaro 184

Issa Rae 187

Leslie Jones 190

Maysoon Zayid 194

Lena Waithe 197

Rachel Bloom 200

Cameron Esposito 203

Aparna Nancherla 207

Nasim Pedrad 210

Jessica Williams 213

Wanda Sykes 217

Afterword 220

Further Reading 221

Acknowledgements 223

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