Lisa Kudrow won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series in 2000. She is known for playing Phoebe Buffay on the hit TV show Friends from 1994-2004. Since then Lisa Kudrow has appeared in many comedic films and has done voiceover work for shows like The Simpsons and American Dad.
Gracie Hart, played by Sandra Bullock, is an undercover FBI agent posing as a beauty pageant contestant. Miss Congeniality brings awareness to gender stereotype, both normalizing and mocking them. She drinks beer, eats pizza, and goes against the typical stereotype of what a “real woman” looks like.” Yet she proves that she can hold a highly dominated job by men. Because such an unfeminine woman is chosen to go undercover as a Miss United States contestant, comedy is produced when watching her transformation.
An entirely new perspective from the female’s point of view, this stand-up performance from these comediennes justify that women can be just funny or funnier than their male counterparts from “The Kings of Comedy”. Released in 2001, Each comedienne brings their experiences and opinion to the stage: Miss Laura Hayes opens the show and serves as emcee. She tells family stories about her grandkids, her mom, and her sisters. Adele Givens urges her audience to celebrate its flaws; she comments on this crazy world, her 92-year-old grandmother, and the need to take care when naming a baby. Sommore, recently released from jail, talks about kids, men, marriage, and why moms give their 8-year-old daughters a hula hoop. Last, Mo'Nique celebrates big women, contrasts Blacks and whites, and gives advice about sex.
Elle Woods, played by Reese Witherspoon earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress-Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and the 2002 MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance. The film was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Picture- Musical or Comedy. It epitomizes how a woman from any background can become if not one of the best in any profession dominated by men, such as in this case law. Appealing more to the young female audience, this film essentially gives an entirely new meaning to the term Girl Power.
The hit television show friends captivated television comedy in 1994 and lasted for 10 seasons. In 2002, Friends won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. Throughout the duration of the show, all 3 female lead actresses including Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, and Courtney Cox won some sort of award for their role. Including, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Aniston), Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series (Kudrow), and Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (Aniston, Kudrow, and Cox).
Reno 911 has the 2003 spot in our women in comedy time line. Reno 911 first episode was released in 2003. The comedy actresses for Reno 911 are Niecy Nash, Kerri Kenney, Wendi McLendon-Covey, and Mary Birdsong. Niecy Nash is a Gracie Allen Award winner for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series. Wendi McLendon-Covey is an award winner for LA Femme International Film Festival Comedic Actress Award winner. Wendi also is also a US Comedy Arts Festival best comedy performance award winner.
Ellen DeGeneres won the Glamour Woman of the Year Award in 2003. Along with the Glamour Woman of the Year Award Ellen has received 35 Daytime Emmy Awards, 11 People’s Choice Awards, 3 Teen Choice Award for “Choice Comedian”, and a Genesis Award and GLAAD Media Award for “Outstanding Talk Show Episode.” Ellen has been recognized as one of Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women. Ellen has become a beacon of women in comedy through her talk show, her television show “The Ellen Show”, her abundant amount of charity work, and multiple appearances as host of award shows. Ellen can be considered a rare gem in comedy due to her lack of vulgarness and inappropriate language, yet still being able to captivate an audience.
Known for the acts of Rachel McAdams, Lindsay Lohan, Lacey Chabert, and Amanda Seyfried, Mean Girls was an instant hit when it released. With the screenplay written by Tina Fey, this was also the first film that Fey and Amy Poehler have been in together. Through the crazy and petty antics of “The Plastics” this film showcased the saying “catty women” and took it to a whole new level.With a budget of $17m this timeless comedy ended up making $129m worldwide. This film essentially was a milestone in the female-centric sub genre in film. Carrying on to be one of the popular and quoted films I've ever seen.
The 2005 film Bewitched gets its spot on the women in comedy timeline with its hilarious female comedian cast. The key actresses to the film bewitched are Nicole Kidman, Shirley MacLaine, Kristin Chenoweth. Nicole Kidman awards and achievements consist of a Academy award, Golden Globe, American comedy award, Elle women of the year award, Hollywood film award, Razzie award. Shirley MacLaine has received awards for winning the Academy Awards, Golden globes, Emmy awards, American comedy award, Elle women in Hollywood, and has a star on the Hollywood walk of fame. Lastly Kristin Chenoweth awards consists of a Emmy, First Americans in the Arts Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress Performance in a Film, and a star on Hollywood’s walk of fame.
At the 57th Emmy awards that were presented in 2005 3 out of 5 nominations in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series were taken by the "Desperate Housewives". Felicity Huffman won the awards for her character Lynette Scavo in the pilot episode of the show. Not only did this long lasting show win numerous awards, but it also created a path for many shows like it circling around the theme of these misbehaving women.
