Funniest Female Stand-Up Comedians On the Rise

By Elana Goodwin on October 20, 2014

While the majority of the most prominent stand-up comedians are male, there are a good number of hilarious female stand-up comedians, even if they may not be household names like Louis C.K. or Jerry Seinfeld.

Besides Sarah Silverman, Kathy Griffin, Ellen DeGeneres and Amy Schumer, there are other somewhat unknown female stand-up comedians who are on the rise and worth noticing and watching.

Photo Credit: lifestylevillas.net

Aparna Nancherla. The comedian appeared on Conan last year to perform stand-up, making history as the first Indian-American woman to do stand-up on late-night television.

At the time, she was writing for “Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell,” which was canceled soon after, but she’s still been named on numerous “Comedians to Watch” lists.

Nancherla has a background in improvisation, as she studied at the Washington Improv Theater, the renowned Upright Citizen’s Brigade in both their NY and LA troupes, and the Groundlings. She’s opened for various comedians including “Bob’s Burgers” star Eugene Mirman, Maria Bamford, Dave Attell, Rob Delaney and Chris D’Elia.

In May 2014, Time magazine named her one of “The 140 Best Twitter Feeds of 2014″ as her Twitter (@aparnapkin) is definitely laugh-worthy with tweets like “You’ve got to hand it to Christopher Columbus, because he would have definitely taken it anyway & then murdered you” and “Nobody’s more mad with power than whoever’s controlling the radio on a road trip.”

Nikki Glaser. The comedian and writer currently hosts a podcast with fellow comedian Sara Schaefer called “You Had To Be There.”

She was previously co-host of the MTV late-night talk show “Nikki & Sara Live” which was canceled in 2013 after two seasons. Glaser started performing stand-up at age 18, and in less than two years had earned a spot as a semi-finalist on the NBC show “Last Comic Standing.”

In 2013, Glaser guest starred on “Inside Amy Schumer” and today, is a regular contestant on Comedy Central’s “@Midnight.”

Iliza Shlesinger. In 2008, Shlesinger won the sixth season of the NBC show “Last Comic Standing,” and was both the first woman to do so as well as the youngest winner (and still is).

Besides stand-up, Shlesinger also hosted “Excused,” a syndicated reality-based dating competition, which was on air from 2011-2013. Shlesinger has also performed at the renowned Montreal Just for Laughs festival.

Her debut one-hour comedy special “War Paint” is available on Netflix and reached No.1 on the iTunes charts. She’s currently touring the U.S. with dates at various comedy clubs through April 2015.

Erin Foley. This female stand-up comedian made her debut on Conan in 2013 before guest starring on the now canceled NBC series “Go On” starring Matthew Perry. Foley has performed at the Montreal Comedy Festival three times and has had roles in “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Almost Famous.”

Foley also appeared on TV Guide’s series “Stand-up In Stilettos” hosted by Kate Flannery as well as Comedy Central’s series “Mash Up” hosted by TK Miller. She’s currently on tour in the U.S. doing stand-up.

Jamie Lee. The hilarious Lee was also a semi-finalist on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” and went on to be a writer for “The Pete Holmes Show.” She was named one of the “Top Five Comedians Who Should Be Movie Stars” by Nerve.com and one of the “Top 18 Women You Should Be Following On Twitter” by Huffington Post.

Her twitter (@TheJamieLee) is hilarious and worth following, as she tweets posts like “Whenever someone’s like ‘I have a lot of skeletons in the closet … ,’ it’s like we get it you have a walk-in, boast much?” and “Awkward moment when you see two people who wore the same outfit to the party wait three people oh they’re cops.”

Currently, Lee is a cast member on the new MTV series “Girl Code” which airs Tuesdays at 9:30 and 10:30 p.m. ET/PT.

Tig Notaro. Notaro may be a bit more well-known but she’s still on the rise. Her album “Tig Notaro LIVE” was nominated for a Grammy. She performed the “Live” set at Largo in L.A. a day after meeting with an oncologist to get her prognosis for breast cancer and in the audience that night was Louis C.K. and Ed Helms.

C.K. put the recording of Notaro’s set up on his website as he thought it was “… an amazing example of what comedy can be. A way to visit your worst fears and laugh at them” and it sold 75,000 copies in the first week.

Time magazine praised ”Live” saying, “Notaro’s resounding strength makes this album something that lifts the soul of the listener as much as it entertains.”

Notaro most notably appeared on “The Sarah Silverman Program,” and has also guest starred on “The Office,” “Bob’s Burgers,” “Inside Amy Schumer” and more. She had her own half-hour Comedy Central special, and has been on various late-night talk shows.

So if you’re looking for a laugh, check out these hilarious female stand-up comedians who may be a bit under the radar now, but are surely on the rise.

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