Who do you think has been the funniest female actress in this generation? I recently came across a post where someone named Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph as their top picks. After they polled the internet, these are the top-voted funniest women in this generation.
1. Kate McKinnon
“Kate has saved many bad-to-mediocre Saturday Night Live skits in her time and elevated several good ones to excellence. I quote, I wasn’t dealing with the top brass at least once a week. I thought she was funny in the movie Masterminds with Zach Galifianakis,” one replied.
“I had middling hopes for The Spy Who Dumped Me. She was adequately funny in Yesterday with what little she got to work with, but Ghostbusters and The Spy Who Dumped Me? Freaking hilarious!” another exclaimed.
“I had to scroll way too far down to find Kate. I adore her, and she always cracks me up. To this day, I can’t watch her Saturday Night Live alien abduction skit without dying laughing, but hey, different strokes for different folks,” a third suggested.
2. Michaela Coel
“Michaela Coel needs to be in this discussion. Appreciate she’s now doing more serious material, but her self-written sitcom Chewing Gum was the funniest thing in years. Unfortunately, it was released at the same time as Fleabag, so it may have been overlooked for not being as middle-class/critic friendly,” one stated.
“Chewing Gum might be the funniest show I’ve ever seen, pound for pound. Her serious work is still funny. I May Destroy You has a ton of laugh-out-loud moments. Oh, she’s fantastic, both as a performer and as a writer. I will watch anything she does,” a second agreed.
3. Jane Lynch
“Jane Lynch is so physical and expressive in her comedy, and I love her line readings. She makes every character she plays hilarious. She often plays alongside huge characters and never gets overshadowed,” admitted one.
A second confessed, “I can not believe I had to scroll so far down for Jane Lynch. This is insanity. She was the GOAT in Role Models. But, hands down, she was the best character in Party Down for sure!!”
“Her mad character in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is amazing. I can’t wait to see how she wraps up in the last season. Not to mention how she carried Glee on her shoulders like a champ!”
4. Rose Byrne
“Rose Byrne in The Spy and Neighbors was a surprising highlight for me because I originally knew her from X-Men: First Class and didn’t think much of her. But, genuinely nailed those roles amazingly,” one user replied.
“Yes, in The Spy, she was hilarious. I didn’t think she had it in her. It’s that whole beautiful person who has the surprising ability to be funny. Like Mark Wahlberg,” suggested another.
“She has had some very diverse roles. From Get Him To The Greek to Insidious, I’ve liked her acting in quite a lot of stuff. I first saw her in Damages, so it was wild seeing her show up in so many comedic roles after that. She’s incredible, though, every time,” a third responded.
5. Cecily Strong
Someone confessed, “This sketch where Bill Hader plays her old man husband, and they ruin a girlfriend’s game night is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. It’s not Cecily’s line, though she wrote it. Aidy’s delivery of ‘Oh my god, you can’t do that old man here’ is so good. It’s one of my favorite recent sketches.”
Another expressed, “I love her Gemma character, and the swooning sketch with Benedict Cumberbatch makes me cry-laugh. She was channeling some Carol Burnett-meets-Monty Python.”
6. Diane Morgan
“Oh, I just posted this one myself. I scrolled so far down and didn’t see it mentioned. Glad I kept going. Diane is a national treasure. Philomena Cunk and Mandy are just too hilarious. I’ve nearly blown my back out laughing hard at her acting,” one admitted.
“If people haven’t watched her series Mandy yet – do. Episodes are only 15 minutes, so it’s easy to get through and so weirdly funny. Everything she touches turns into comedy gold. She nails her delivery. I saw a live taping of her podcast last year, which was hilarious,” another suggested.
7. Aisling Bea
“Aisling Bea. Check out This Way Up or her many appearances on QI. So hysterical! Or her Taskmaster spot, hysterical,” someone replied. “I want more This Way Up!!! That show is so good. My pick for the funniest woman was Bea, and I loved their chemistry,” another agreed.
“Her QI appearance with John Barrowman was fantastic. We know that she’ll commit to a bit, but it’s beautiful when she has someone like Barrowman next to her willingness to dive in with her.”
8. Alison Brie
“She’s hilarious in shows, and she can get her co-stars to laugh quite if the Community outtakes are anything to go by, one admitted. “She’s hilarious in interviews and podcasts as well, great improviser.”
“This was my first thought as well,” agreed another. “Alison Brie is one of the best physical comedians working right now. Her facial expression game is truly next-level. But, again, it comes down to commitment. She puts everything into getting a joke.”
“Four classic TV shows (even Trudy in Mad Men has hilarious moments), notable voice roles, and some underrated rom-coms under her belt in just a decade of career. And she aces expressions, physical comedy, and voice acting. She deserves to be top of the list!” a third user confessed.
9. Melissa McCarthy
“For me, it’s Melissa McCarthy. Spy is an underrated movie and very funny. I can’t believe this is so far down. In Bridesmaids, a hilarious movie with some of the world’s funniest people (male or female), she steals every scene she’s in,” one explained.
“I will die on the hill Melissa McCarthy is one of the best comedic actors of her generation. Her sitcom was very cheesy, and her movies are hit and miss, but she has disintegrated me repeatedly between Bridesmaids and Saturday Night Live. And as a plus, Can You Ever Ever Forgive Me was a great dramatic role,” a second user suggested.
“She would be my vote. I’ve loved her movies (even though some of the stories are not great) because she commits 100% and goes full force. She’s an actress who keeps me engaged. She cracks me up with her physical comedy, delivery, and facial expressions,” a third added.
10. Debra Jo Rupp
Someone volunteered, “It would be best if you considered Debra Jo Rupp, Kitty from That ’70s Show. She was always hilarious or doing perfect setups to help others be funny. She kills me in that role. The funniest person in the cast for me. And it’s a strong cast.”
“Kitty Forman is and always will be the funniest character on That ’70s Show. Hands down, no ifs and’s, or buts. She can set up a joke for just about any other character on the show and hold her own on the screen with the best of them. Not to mention, she was a hottie!” another exclaimed.
“Let us remember the few episodes where they were stoned. Knowingly and unknowingly. It’s marvelous how Debra Jo Rupp can carry a scene, even when she isn’t the focal point. She has such a presence when she’s on screen,” a third expressed.
11. Betty Gilpin
“Whenever this movie comes up, I see people talking trash about it because they thought the satire was too direct or didn’t like the over-the-top violence. However, The Hunt is easily one of my favorite movies of the past decade, and Betty Gilpin’s facial expressions are a huge part of why I love it so much,” stated one.
“I’d never seen Betty Gilpin in anything before The Hunt. But her facial expressions in that movie made me want more of her. That scene where she pulls herself up and slowly turns in her seat to kick that dude out of the car had me in stitches,” another added.
Finally, a third replied, “She’s unbelievably funny in every interview, too. I want her to be in everything, both so she can be great in it and then so she can be just as funny promoting it. She’s so good on Nurse Jackie and Glow too. I live for her facial expressions.”
12. Amy Sedaris
“No one put Amy Sedaris yet? Guess it’s going to be me. Amy is a very underrated character actor. She can transform. Strangers with Candy was way ahead of its time,” shared one.
“She’s my personal number one. Strangers with Candy ruined me in the best possible way. But she can be ANYONE, and it’s still so funny that I’ll cackle just thinking about her roles. Thinking about this scene in Strangers with Candy will always crack me up.”
“She’s been in many things, but my favorite scene is the no shoes on the rug scene in The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Just pure unexpected gold. I rewound like ten times to watch that over and over,” another admitted.
13. D’Arcy Carden
“I’d argue she did much more of the heavy lifting on The Good Place than people realize. A few members of the cast could have been better. She was the glue that held the whole thing together,” one suggested.
“Her portrayal of Janet is an all-time great performance. Her pleading not to be killed on the beach is maybe the hardest I’ve laughed at any show. Hopefully, she gets some more screen time in Barry season four. I like her character in that show.”
“The Good Place got me aware of her,” another confessed. “She is a jaw-dropping performer and effortlessly funny. It’s hard to fully explain why certain moments make me laugh—which is the mark of outstanding comedy.”
14. Jennifer Coolidge
“Jennifer Coolidge is always great comedically in whatever she appears. She always manages to steal the show whenever she is involved. You can’t take your eyes off her, no matter how much you may not like the character she’s portraying,” expressed one.
“I was always on the fence with her until I watched The White Lotus and realized that she’s hilarious. And this solidified her as one of the funniest for me. I remember thinking she was funny in Best In Show,” a second added.
“Even though Jennifer Coolidge plays a similar character in everything, she never fails to make me laugh, and I love her. She’s somehow made that insane character real and often endearing (or at least empathetic). She is a great actress and makes everything she says funny.”
15. Anna Faris
“Anna Faris is a hill I will kill on. She was ahead of her time. If Faris came out now, she would be far huger than she was. Incredible how ahead of her time she seems in that first Scary Movie, and she was just 22/23! And she was so funny,” one shared.
“She was trying to play that movie straight, and she didn’t even understand why everyone thought she was hilarious,” a second added. “She’s explained it on her podcast a couple of times. When I was a youth, I read an interview with her where she said the key to comedy was to play it like a drama. It was part of a Scary Movie promotion.”
“I remember that clearly because it was mind-blowing and has stuck with me ever since. I haven’t used it on the stage much, but it was foundational, even in my personal life,” a third admitted.
16. Jenny Slate
One user suggested, “You’d think we need a female version of Jean Ralphio would be impossible, but she nailed it. It’s scripted or improv, but they have great chemistry that shows during moments when one will do an action, and the other follows up and adds to it.”
“Jenny Slate (My Blind Brother) always gets me good. The bit from Parks and Recreation with Ben Schwartz always kills me. It was hilarious watching them work together,” expressed another.
A third replied, “It’s crazy because Jean Ralphio was a character that shouldn’t work, but he manages to be funny because Ben Schwartz makes it work somehow. That’s a wild thing to make work twice. But Jenny Slate nailed it. And their chemistry together is so great.”
17. Phoebe Waller-Bridge
“I have become a big fan of Phoebe Waller-Bridge. But we need more of her! More Crashing/Fleabag, please! She is brilliant. Fleabag is the best show I’ve ever seen,” confessed one.
“I watched all of Fleabag in one day and was just there like … more please afterward. But it wrapped up nicely, and I’d rather have two solid seasons than it drags on and gets worse,” a second argued.
“Yeah, the best way I’ve found to describe Fleabag is this: Watching Fleabag is like having your best friend ever in town for the weekend. First, you have an amazing time, they must fly back home, and you feel depressed when all the fun is done,” a third confirmed.
18. Aubrey Plaza
“Aubrey Plaza’s career is super interesting – her recent turn towards more serious stuff has been killer. She’s great in this season of The White Lotus, but Ingrid Goes West is probably my favorite thing of hers in the last few years – she plays such a convincing maniac,” suggested one.
“Plaza is the winner for me because she can do dark and weird material, which the world needs right now. And her persona is very distinct. Plaza is typecast in people’s minds because of her Parks and Rec role, but if they saw Ingrid Goes West or Black Bear, they’d know she has a lot more range than they think,” a second explained.
19. Jessica Walters
“Jessica Walters as Malory Archer. Seriously great voice acting. It may be more on the animators to show what her face is like while she says what she’s saying or how she’s just delivering. But I felt like Mallory was a real person,” someone confessed.
“Archer’s sendoff for Malory (and Ron Cadillac) was a touching and satisfying goodbye to both the characters and Jessica Walter and her husband Ron Leibman, who passed a year before her. I was not ashamed to shed a few tears,” another admitted. Jessica Walter as Lucille Bluth in Arrested Development was the best,” third added.
20. Kristen Schaal
“She’s hilarious as Louise Belcher on Bob’s Burgers! She kills the line reads for this show. She nails saying the most bizarre things with that voice. People told her it was a detriment, but she ignored them and pushed through,” informed one.
“I love that despite being limited in what she can do, she’s seemingly limitless in what she can successfully pull off like Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory). Of course, she’s always going to be just a little funny looking with a slightly odd voice that never changes. But what she does with it is ALWAYS different,” a second added.
21. Olivia Coleman
“She’s great as a comedic antagonist in Fleabag. But, oh man, I hate her character! In the scene where she’s having her “Sexposition,” Fleabag makes a scene and pretends she’s so hurt and about to cry while Fleabag’s dad is there, and the second he walks away, she changes so fast and completely back to her true self. She’s amazing,” one noted.
“She’s a master at saying horrible things with a pleasant tone in that show. She had a pleasant tone and that snarky yet ladylike smile while staring at Fleabag like she wished she’d drop dead. Or staring at her and telling her with eyes that she knows what she did!”
22. Natasia Demetriou
“One I have not seen mentioned is Natasia Demetriou from What We Do in the Shadows. Natasia Demetriou often plays alongside huge characters and never gets overshadowed. It never ceases to amaze me how she holds her ground standing next to Matt Berry and does it easily,” someone confessed.
“She is just so outstanding. She has to stand (or sit) next to Matt Berry and be funny. And she is! Massively so. The whole show is great. She also did a British show with her brother, Stath Lets Flats. He needs to show up in What We Do in the Shadows; they are hilarious together,” a second user replied.
23. Kaitlin Olson
“She’s so good at gagging it has made me sympathy gag before. Also, anytime she falls, it’s hilarious. Her physical comedy is fantastic. When she’s trying to steal the shoes in the episode where she’s trying to do a Sex and the City day, and she stumbles then falls, slamming her head into the car, I get hysterical,” stated one.
“Kaitlin Olson is a comedic genius. She’s a little one-note as a crass jerk, but still, she knows how to do physical comedy. The scene where she tries to run off while wearing the ill-fitting shoes and trips and slams her head into the side of the car will NOT be hilarious. And they said on the It’s Always Sunny podcast that she slammed her head into the car and dented it, and she did it in one take!”
24. Julia Louis-Dreyfus
One person voted, “Julia Louis Dreyfuss is on the Mt. Rushmore of the funniest women and easily in the top ten for all-time funny people. She is an absolute goddess all the way around. Anyone who says otherwise is insane. I will die on this hill!”
A second agreed, “100%, and I’ll add that a big differentiator in Veep was her mannerisms. Like it wasn’t just about the line – it was about her face, body language, everything added that extra punch to every delivery.”
“I’m watching Seinfeld for the first time, and that’s exactly what’s so great about her in that show too! Her face especially can take it to the next level,” a third replied. “I will always praise Julia for not being afraid to get ugly funny and pulling it off 100 percent of the time. The rabies scene on Seinfeld always comes to mind when I think of how well she sells her freakouts,” a fourth user admitted.
25. Kathryn Hahn
“Where’s my Kathryn Hahn love? Step Brothers, Parks and Rec, and she was the only good part of those atrocious Bad Moms movies. She was one of the only characters in WandaVision that I liked,” claimed one.
“I remember watching the Step Brothers DVD extras, and they said when they cast her, she hadn’t done much improv, so they did like a weeklong boot camp for improv comedy with her and a few others in the cast,” a second shared.
Finally, someone admitted, “I’d compare her more to Stanley Tucci in that she brings gravitas to every role … good movie or bad. They both appear funny, smart, and sexy every time.”
Source: Reddit.
We’ve all been there – sitting through a movie that we can’t help but cringe at, but somehow it still manages to hold a special place in our hearts.
These 10 Terrible Movies Are Still People’s Favorites
10 Crazy Good Movies Where Women Are the Bad Guys
Are you looking for a movie night with a twist? Look no further than these Reddit-voted top ten films where women take on the destructive bad guy role.
10 Crazy Good Movies Where Women Are the Bad Guys
10 of the Worst TV Series Ever According to the Internet
There’s Seinfeld, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, The Office, and other legendary shows. But have you considered that for each show that garners universal critical acclaim, there is an inverse show lurking on the other end of the IMDb rating scale?
10 of the Worst TV Series Ever According to the Internet
10 Celebrities Who Are Universally Disliked
People will always have preferences and something to say about celebrities. What you might love may not be the same for others. Whether it’s about their past behaviors, legal issues, or feuds with other celebrities, here is a list of celebrities people just cannot stand.
10 Celebrities Who Are Universally Disliked
25 Extraordinary Sequels and Remakes That Outshine the Originals
Every once in a while, a movie sequel or remake surpasses the original film. After polling the internet, “Name a single movie where the sequel or remake was better than the original?” Here are the top-voted responses.
25 Extraordinary Sequels and Remakes That Outshine the Originals
