I think many of the women on the list are funnier than Lucille Ball.
But I voted for her as a comedic actress. In the “I Love Lucy” TV series, before the move to Connecticut, Lucy Ricardo and Lucille Ball were two very different people.
She created a character and show will live on longer than anything every other woman on the list has done or ever will do - combinded. She is on TV 24 hours a day all over the world nearly 55 years after they stopped the show.
HM - Gilda R. and Carol B.
Just for trivia’s sake, at the time of this post 41 voters had voted in the A-L prelim poll and 42 have voted for those women in this poll. The L-T prelim had 35 voters and only 25 of those women have gotten votes in this poll.
This poll is 9 votes short of the combined voter counts of both prelim polls. My guess would be that quite a few individuals voted in both prelim polls, so it’s pretty reasonable that more individuals have voted here than in the prelims.
Discussion?
You may very well be right. I’ve seen her, but it’s been quite awhile since I’ve seen much of her work (and I was fairly young at the time), whereas Tina Fey has the advantage of being currently at the peak of her career, so I fully admit I may not be giving Carol Burnett her full due. (Even so, I had no hesitation about giving her one of my votes in the earlier A-L poll.)
I agree, so I guess I’m #3. Lucille Ball created, quite possibly, the most iconic comedic figure in the history of comedy. And she did it at a time that wasn’t terribly favorable to women. I think Tina Fey and Carol Burnett are very funny, but both are riding on the coat-tails of Lucy.
Mabel Normand, Silent film comedienne who more than held her own against Mack Sennett, Ben Turpin, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle and the Keystone Kops. She also discovered Charlie Chaplin.
Victoria Wood
Julie Walters
Both of them do stand up, both are good actresses, impressions, singing, scriptwriting, brilliant timing.
This is one of Victoria’s most famous sketches, hard to describe, sad and funny at once, almost heartbreaking.
And Catherine Tate. Yes, she of the Torchwood (Dr Who) episodes. A very funny lady but… am I bovered?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV1zK8zRCPo
I find it odd that the only UK comedian in the list is Josie Long, of all people. Not that she isn’t very amusing, but there ought to be more than just her.
As suggested, Julie Walters and Victoria Wood are good contenders for a start. Then there are more contemporary comedians like Catherine Tate, Miranda Hart, Shappi Khorsandi, and Sarah Millican (and Lucy Porter, but I don’t find her very funny).
May I propose that a UK Doper who is familiar with the comedy scene there post a new poll on British Standup or some other comedy-based criterion? There were several posts with at least a dozen names in the precursor “data collection” thread(s) that preceded this one, where Non-USA and Non-Canadian comics were mentioned. Some of those mentions even had YouTube or similar clips to judge them by.
The Gervais-Izzard thread had quite a few as well.
I, for one, would surely try to evaluate the entries in such a poll and might have enough familiarity with the people to hazard a vote.
Anybody?
Pretty much a no-brainer for me. It was between Tina Fey and Sarah Silverman (who both also happen to be smokin’ hot babes BTW). I went with Silverman because I think her vulgar edginess is more true to pure, unadulterated humor.
Someone who’s not on the list is Carol Leifer, who I think is probably the best female standup. In fact, along with Silverman, they’re the only funny female standups.
I am lucky enough to have seen reruns of the Carol Burnett show on TV land and it was hilarious. An easy pick for me.
tina fey???
lucille ball by far. i don’t know why but i find charo (70s oochee-koochee) and marilyn monroe to be good comedienes.
Just before we hit 100 Voters, here’s a sorted version of the poll results:
View Poll Results: Who's the Funniest Woman?
This poll will close on 06-28-2011 at 11:57 AM
Tina Fey 22 22.22%
Carol Burnett 18 18.18%
Madeline Kahn 7 7.07%
Gilda Radner 7 7.07%
Other (Post and say who) 7 7.07%
Amy Poehler 6 6.06%
Lucille Ball 5 5.05%
Ellen DeGeneres 5 5.05%
Amy Sedaris 4 4.04%
Julia Louis Dreyfuss 3 3.03%
Paula Poundstone 3 3.03%
Rita Rudner 3 3.03%
Sarah Silverman 3 3.03%
Janeane Garofolo 2 2.02%
Brett Butler 1 1.01%
Jane Curtin 1 1.01%
Joan Rivers 1 1.01%
Kristen Wiig 1 1.01%
Josie Long 0 0%
Roseanne Barr 0 0%
Voters: 99
And unless I missed a name, here are the “Others” mentioned whether they were voted for as “Other” or not:
Maria Bamford
Laura Kightlinger
Stephanie Hodge
“French & Saunders”
Dawn French
Betty White
Andrea Martin
Mabel Normand
Victoria Wood
Julie Walters
Catherine Tate
Miranda Hart
Shappi Khorsandi
Sarah Millican
Lucy Porter
Carol Leifer
charo (70s oochee-koochee)
marilyn monroe
=================
If somebody else would like to do a follow-up thread or poll on this issue, please be my guest. This has seemed to me like a fairly extensive process and I feel pretty sure the only real issue (at SDMB anyway) is “who is third funniest?” 