Comedy is a hard gig to stay in. It’s often more difficult for women. In the new book The League of Extraordinarily Funny Women: 50 Trailblazers of Comedy by Sheila Moeschen focuses on the women who built the way for modern comediennes. From slapstick queens like Mabel Normand and Lucille Ball, and all the way to Kate McKinnon and the women of Broad City, the book covers women of all different eras. The book divides brief individual biographies into categories such as “Dauntless, Defiant, Daringly Disruptive” and “Magnificent, Marvelous, Mighty Misfits.” As Moeschen has found so many women, she also includes lists in each section to help provide the names of other comediennes that are worthy of further research.
The League of Extraordinarily Funny Women is a great deal of fun to read, as well as inspirational. There are women of all different ethnicity and ages, so it is difficult not to find one to feel a kinship with.
The League of Extraordinarily Funny Women is available April 16, 2019 from Perseus Books.
