# Best Current Comedic Actress

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-current-comedic-actress/549858>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 10, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-current-comedic-actress/549858 "2010-08-10T18:50:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-current-comedic-actress/549858/21 "2010-08-11T14:56:46Z")

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For TV comedy, Fey and Poehler. Fay was good in _Date Night_ also. Oh and Jane Lynch.

Movie comedy – I can’t think of a standout. Oh, wait, Amy Adams for sure. Kudrow was great in _The Opposite of Sex_ but I can’t think of any other great comedic movie roles for her.

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**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-current-comedic-actress/549858/22 "2010-08-11T15:23:35Z")

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Betty White.

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-current-comedic-actress/549858/23 "2010-08-11T16:19:47Z")

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The best comedic actress in movies is Candace Bergen, but of course, she doesn’t get leading roles anymore.

The problem is that actresses who are genuinely good at comedy – women like Bullock and Reese Witherspoon – want to be taken seriously. Which, in Hollywood, means getting the hell out of comedy and playing “serious” parts.

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**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-current-comedic-actress/549858/24 "2010-08-11T18:23:57Z")

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Mindy Kaling is great on The Office, and she’s bene funny in the few small movie roles I’ve seen her in but she seems to be avoiding the “movie star” path.

For someone who’s actually been a main part of movies, I think it might be Anna Faris currently. As The Onion said “She’s been the best part of a lot of bad movies”. She’s even watchable in the Scary Movie series.

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**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-current-comedic-actress/549858/25 "2010-08-11T18:44:28Z")

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Jennifer Coolidge.

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