Over the past few decades, female comedians are beginning to give their male counterparts a run for their monies. Interestingly, most black women are beginning to draw inspiration from their life stories, turn it into beautiful comic reliefs, and entertain audiences with the stories.
In this article, we would be sampling 15 of the most talented and funniest black female comedians. This list was derived from different decades and curated in no particular order.
The list was carefully put together to showcase how much work black female entertainers have put into making a mark in the comedy industry. From comedy, some of these talented black female comedians found their way into film, TV, and hosting. This just goes to show that there’s no stopping the black female comedians.
Here is a List of the Most Talented and Funniest Black Female Comedians
1. Whoopi Goldberg
The stand-up comedian, actor, author, and TV personality was born Caryn Elaine Johnson. Her date of birth is November 13, 1955, and she was born in New York City. Whoopi Goldberg started comedy when she was about 27 years old.
Her style of comedy is surreal humor, satire, character comedy, black comedy, insult comedy, and observational comedy. She is also fluent in everyday life, pop culture, African-American culture, American politics, race relations as well as everyday activities.
Amazingly, Whoopi is one of the 17 people who have ever won the EGOT awards. She is the first black person and woman to win the award and of course, the only black female comedian, so far, to have won the awards.
Goldberg has been in over 150 movies, written several books, and released a couple of songs. Ordinarily, she should take the top spot on this list of the talented and funniest black female comedians because of her impressive journey so far.
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show recipient has been married thrice. Her first husband is Alvin Martin whom she got married to in 1973 but divorced in 1979. David Claessen is the second husband of the comedian whom she was married from 1986 to 1988. Her third husband is Lyle Trachtenberg with whom she was also married for 1 year (1994 to 1995). There is a record of just one child for her known as Alexandrea Martin, from her first marriage.
2. Tiffany Haddish
Tiffany is an American stand-up comedian and actress whose career in the entertainment industry began in 1997. She was born in Los Angeles California on December 3, 1979. Haddish is the first on this list of the most talented and funniest black female comedians.
She is fluent in surreal humor, sketch comedy, black comedy, satire, and observational comedy.
As an actress, she has been featured in movies such as The Carmichael Show as Nekeisha Williams and 2017’s Girls Trip where she played the lead role.
Tiffany Haddish was married to William Stewart in 2008 but they got divorced in 2013.
Tiffany has won the Grammy’s Best Comedy Album of 2021 as well as the Primetime Emmy Award’s Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.
3. Aisha Tyler
Born in San Francisco on September 18, 1970, Aisha Tyler is one of the numerous talented and funny black female celebrities ever. She makes it to almost every similar list without a second thought.
Tyler began her comedy career in the 1990s but only became active in the industry in 1966 when she moved to Los Angeles. Soon after gaining a stance in the industry, Aisha went on to host TV shows as well as act.
In 2005, she published ‘Swerve: Reckless Observations of a post-modern girls’. It is a book whose topics border on dating and relationships as well as reality TV and a couple of other topics.
Aisha Tyler was married to Jeff Tietjens in the early 90s but they got separated in 2015. By 2016, her husband filed for divorce and it was finalized in May 2017.
Of about 19 nominations so far, the comedian has won 3. One of the awards she has won is Daytime Emmy in 2017 for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host for ‘The Talk’. She has also won Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking during the Newport Beach Film Festival. It was for the Feature Film ‘Axis’, in 2017. In the same 2017, Aisha also won Honors for the same movie at the same New Port Beach Film Festival.
4. Sheryl Underwood
Sheryl Patrice Underwood is an American comedian, actress, and TV show host. She was born on October 28, 1963, in Little Rock, Arkansas. Patrice has been active in the industry since 1988 and is proficient in stand-up comedy.
She came into the limelight as a comedian after finishing as the first female finalist in the Miler Lite Comedy Search in 1989. In 1994, she won the BET Funniest Female Comedian on Comic View award. Underwood also won BET Comedy Awards’ Platinum Mic Viewer’s Choice Award in 2005. This success in the comedy industry propelled her into acting and by 2005, she starred in Beauty Shop as Catfish Rita.
Underwood is fluent in the following comedic genres: Human sexuality, race relations, African-American culture, and politics.
5. Wanda Skyes
60-year-old Wanda Yvette Skyes is a Portsmouth, Virginia-born stand-up comedian. She is also an actress and writer who began her entertainment career in stand-up before delving into TV hosting and movies.
Her career started in 1987 when she performed for the first time at a Coors Light Super Talent Showcase. It was here that she performed before a live audience for the first time before moving on to New York City in 1992.
Some of the topics Wanda Skyes is known for are American politics, African-American culture, racism, and race relations. She also talks about Sexism, traditions, and interpersonal relationships.
Wanda has been married twice with her first husband being American record producer, Dave Hall. The marriage which took place in 1991 ended 7 years later, in 1998. She then remarried Alex Niedbalski whom she got married to in 2008. Wanda has two children.
Of 14 Primetime Emmys, she won one for Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music or Program in 1999. In 2001, she won the American Comedy Award for Funniest Female Stand-Up Comic’. In 2003, she also won a Comedy Central Commie Award for Funniest TV Actress.
Also, in 2010, Wanda won the GLAAD Stephen F. Kolzak Award. 5 years later, she won the Activism in the Arts honor at the Triumph Awards.
6. Nicole Byer
Host of ‘Nailed It’ began her entertainment career in 2009 and has been very active in the scene ever since. She was born in Middletown Township, New Jersey on August 29, 1986. She is known as a comedian, actress, podcaster, and TV host.
Byer occasionally performs improv-comedy with Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles as well as touring the United States doing Stand-up comedy.
With how versatile and good Nicole proved to be in her comedy career, she scored herself roles as a host for several TV shows and podcasts.
She has been nominated for several awards including Primetime Emmy, The Ambies, MTV Movie + TV Awards, and iHeartRadio Podcast Awards. Nicole however only won two of all her nominations in the iHeartRadio Podcast Awards in 2021 and 2022.
Byer doesn’t identify herself as a straight woman but doesn’t conform to being called ‘queer’ or ‘bisexual’. She has admitted that she can and would date people of any gender and has no problem with that.
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7. Sommore
Her real name is Lori Ann Rambough but for the sake of her career in the entertainment industry, she chose the moniker ‘Sommore’. The American comedian was born on May 15 1966 in Trenton, New Jersey. She became a professional entertainer in 1992 and has been referred to as the ‘Diva of Contemporary Comedy’.
Sommore attributes her stellar comedic prowess to her writing abilities which were greatly influenced by her father. She spent a lot of time researching the art of comedy.
In 1995, Sommore won the Richard Pryor Award for Comic of the Year. This is to name one of her wins amongst numerous award nominations. For her impressive career so far, she makes it to this list of one of the most talented and funniest black female comedians.
8. Jasmine Luv
New generation comedian, Jasmine Luv is an actress and social media influencer. She is widely known for her female-driven sketch comedy. She was born in Columbia, South Carolina, and has two degrees in Accounting.
Working with VHJ1, Jasmine lives in Los Angeles and is named one of the most recent top influencers in the comedy industry.
Jasmine got married on June 12, 2021, to Corey Barret.
9. Sherri Shepherd
Shepherd was born in Chicago, Illinois on April 22, 1967. She is a comedian, actress, author, and TV personality whose professional entertainment career started in 1995. She is also a co-host of ‘The View’, a daytime talk show.
Sherri Shepherd has been nominated for awards such as Gracie Award, Braveheart Award, Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, Screen Actors Awards, and Daytime Emmy Award.
From 2001 to 2009, Shepherd was married to Jeff Tarpley and they had a son together named Jeffrey who was born in April 2005. In 2010, she got engaged to Lamar Sally and they got married a year after. In 2014, she and Lamar welcomed a son via surrogacy in August.
10. Mo’Nique
Monique Angela Imes was born on December 11, 1967, in Woodlawn, Baltimore County, Maryland. She is also known as Myelle Kaye, a comedian, actress, talk show host, and author.
Mo’Nique has been active for over 3 decades as she started her journey in professional entertainment in 1990. Through this period, Mo’Nique has won 58 of her 88 award nominations.
She has been married twice – the first time to Mark Jackson from 1997 to 2001. Her second marriage was to Sidney Hicks in 2006. Mo’Nique has 4 children so far.
One of her nominations related to comedy is a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album in 2001. Imes has won other awards for her performances in movie roles, TV, and in series.
11. Leslie Jones
Annette Jones popularly known as Leslie Jones is one of the American black talented comedians whose journey in comedy propelled her into other aspects of entertainment. She began in 1987 and since then, has sealed her stand as a comedian and actress.
Her comedic style is drawn from everyday activities, pop culture, and African-American culture. She does a lot of physical comedy as well as black, observational comedy.
Even in her film roles, she has acted more comedic roles as she was featured in Coming 2 America, Ghostbusters, and Saturday Night Live.
In 2018, Leslie Jones was nominated for the Legionnaires of Laughter Legacy Awards for ‘Best Comedy Artist Female’. In 2022, she was also nominated for the Gold Derby Awards for ‘Comedy Guest Actress’.
12. Naomi Ekperigin
Naomi Ekperigin is an American comedian, writer, and actress who was born in Harlem, New York. As a writer, she has worked with Great News and Broad City TV shows.
Ekperigin’s comedy career started in 2007 when she began to do stand-up in New York. At the time, she also worked a day job at an art magazine.
As a comedic writer, the comedian was nominated for the Writers Guild of American Award for Television: Comedy Series. She was also named as one of Essence’s 8 Black Comediennes Who are ‘Ready’ for SNL’.
Naomi has a partner named Andy Beckerman.
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13. Sasheer Zamata
On the list of the talented and funniest black female comedians, Sasheer Zamata is sure to be there. She was born on May 6, 1986, in Okinawa, Japan, and is widely known as part of the cast of Saturday Night Live.
Sasheer played the leading role in the 2020-2022 TV series Woke. She is also a podcaster who co-hosts a podcast with fellow talented black female comedian, Nicole Byer.
Zamata has been nominated twice – once for the Improvisation News New York Awards for Best Comedy Video (2007). The second nomination was Outstanding Actress Comedy Series in the 2011 film Home Economic. The award was during the Women’s Image Network Awards in 2021.
14. Ellen Cleghorne
Ellen Leslye Cleghorne was born on November 29, 1965, in New York City. She is also best known for featuring in Saturday Night Live but has been a professional entertainer since 1984.
Rolling Stone magazine ranked her the 69th greatest Saturday Night Live cast member. She succeeded Danitra Vance as the second African American female repertory cast member.
Cleghorne has an Oscar Awards nomination amongst quite a number of nominations and wins.
15. Debra Wilson
If you know her as Debra Wilson or Debra Skelton, then you surely know one of the most talented black female comedians of all time. Born in Queens, New York, Debra began to entertain people professionally in 1992.
She is also an actress, puppeteer, and TV presenter whose acting debut was in sketch comedies. She was part of The Apollo Comedy Hour and The Uptown Comedy Club.
From April 2006 to 2010, Wilson-Skelton was married to Cliff Skelton. He is a writer and director whose marriage with the comedian ended due to irreconcilable differences.
Wilson has been nominated in several categories in Awards such as the Behind the Voice Actors Awards and Action on Film International Film Festival USA. Other award ceremonies are NAVGTR Awards and San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. In the latter, Debra won the Audience Award for the documentary ‘Butch Mystique’.
