Oh, thought of another: Gilda Radner.
Good one from the classic SNL days.
Here’s the updated list:
Maria Bamford
Elayne Boosler
Carol Burnett
Margaret Cho
Jane Curtin
Ellen DeGeneres
Tina Fey
Dawn French
Janeane Garofolo
Kathy Griffin
Laura Kightlinger
Natasha Leggero
Kathleen Madigan
Andrea Martin
Cheri Oteri
Paula Poundstone
Gilda Radner
Rita Rudner
Jennifer Saunders
Sarah Silverman
Pam Stone
Wanda Sykes
Judy Tenuta
Aisha Tyler
After 30, I’ll put up a poll with the idea that we can continue collecting names for at least one follow-up, with the top vote-getters in the first poll as seeded entrants in some Ultimate Poll or other.
Julia Louis Dreyfuss is a very funny comedic actress. I don’t know if she has ever done true stand up comedy but she would probably be good at it. She worked hard at finding way through show business over several decades even though she is incredibly wealthy by birthright and never needed the money.
Iliza Shlesinger
Here are some really funny comics who happen to be women (I say that as these are some of my favorite comics of either gender… aren’t I enlightend?):
Jen Kirkman, from the Drunk History videos and who’s newest comedy album, “Hail to the Freaks,” debuted on the Billboard charts last week - a first for AST Records (awesome comedy label). Here’s a great bit of her’s about female masturbation.
A few others:
Morgan Murphy
Tig Notaro
Garfunkel & Oates (Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci)
Natasha Leggero
I agree with Carol Burnett, but in the same breath, we mustn’t forget Vicki Lawrence. Her Mother Harper was genius, but the character was ruined by syndication. Still, absolutely great.
Bea Arthur could get in some good stuff too. And of course, Jean Stapleton.
This thread is for really funny women, not really old ones. Just kidding… Those are great submissions. All are (were) very very funny ladies.
Julia Sweeney is mostly known for her unfunny It’s Pat skits on SNL, but her bits on fighting cancer, teaching her daughter about sex and atheism are hilarious.
Keep 'em coming. I’m relaxing the by-30 cutoff until tomorrow since I can’t get the poll up in the short time I have now to deal with it. I may do two polls (or more) as preliminaries if there are enough listed by tomorrow morning.
Thanks for the input. This could be fun.
Lisa Lampainelli. She is crude, rude and funny.
zoe Lyons is an excellent live stand-up. She’s very good at including audience members in her act, which is to me much more impressive, and much funnier, than standing there on stage doing the same act you could do to a camera with no audience.
Jo Brand is the biggest name in British women’s comedy. I used to be a bit meh about her approach - too much about being fat and hating men - but she’s changed a bit over the years and she’s excellent on panel shows.
Shappi Khorsandi is just good.
Jo Caulfield is someone I tend to forget but she does actually make me laugh.
Sarah Millican does a really gentle humour that works pretty well.
Amy Schumer has some good material.
Amy Sedaris (but in smallish doses)
I really love Wendy Liebman
Check her out on YouTube
I love the way she stops and changes direction such as:
“This Thanksgiving I made a 28 pound turkey … pot pie,”
“I really like to shop…lift.”
She wasn’t a standup comedian, but if you asked me who was the funniest woman I’ve ever seen, I’d say it was Madeline Kahn. That’s primarily on her roles in Mel Brooks’ stuff, of course - Elizabeth in Young Frankenstein, Lilly von Shtupp in Blazing Saddles, and so on. And she’s a big reason Clue is surprisingly good.
Her career seems to be taking off. She’s also a part-timer on The Daily Show, a regular on Bob’s Burgers, and was on the second-to-last episode of The Simpsons this season.
Me, too. I haven’t thought of her for ages. I wish she had stayed with standup.
Okay, gang. As of Post #38 we have 46 names that I haven’t checked for spelling or other accuracy. I confess to not knowing quite a few of these women, and I hope I haven’t missed any in the above posts.
I’m suggesting two polls to start with, each with 23 names, and just going alphabetical from this list:
Bea Arthur
Maria Bamford
Elayne Boosler
Jo Brand
Carol Burnett
Jo Caulfield
Margaret Cho
Jane Curtin
Ellen DeGeneres
Tina Fey
Dawn French
Garfunkel & Oates (Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci)
Janeane Garofolo
Kathy Griffin
Stephanie Hodge
Madeline Kahn
Shappi Khorsandi
Laura Kightlinger
Jen Kirkman
Lisa Lampainelli
Vicki Lawrence
Natasha Leggero
Wendy Liebman
Julia Louis Dreyfuss
zoe Lyons
Kathleen Madigan
Andrea Martin
Sarah Millican
Morgan Murphy
Tig Notaro
Cheri Oteri
Paula Poundstone
Gilda Radner
Rita Rudner
Jennifer Saunders
Kristen Schaal
Amy Schumer
Amy Sedaris
Iliza Shlesinger
Sarah Silverman
Jean Stapleton
Pam Stone
Julia Sweeney
Wanda Sykes
Judy Tenuta
Aisha Tyler
However, before doing the actual polls, I wanted to give everybody a shot at corrections, as well as additional names that these may spark in your minds.
So I will delay again until some time tomorrow (later today, that is) before doing the actual polls.
I would hope that with an honor-system 5-votes-per-voter in each poll that that will provide the right combination of forcing some tough choices and for giving each voter a shot at ten women to select from the over-40 possibilities.
As more names crop up here (or in the poll threads) additional follow-up polls may be needed, and we can deal with that as we go.
I have at least considered how the artificial break at 23 (half) may push your true 10 favorites apart so that you would have to sacrifice one or more in one poll to be able to limit your choices to five. I’m open to suggestions for dealing with that problem. I just think 2 X 23 would be easier to cope with than 1 X 46. But I’m flexible and can modify to better ideas. At least you’ll have chances to change your vote(s) when the other voters help some of your would-have-beens make it to later polls. Besides, civilizations will not necessarily fail as a result of our playing with this idea! 
I never liked her because that change of direction … is all she does. She hammers that same rhythm … over and over. I wish she’d … mix it up a little.