With an increasing number of platforms to get their material out, more and more lady comics and humorists will get their shot in 2014, working on everything from TV shows to albums to books and more. If you don't know these funny women now, you will soon.
1. Cameron Esposito
It might be hard for this Chicago native to top 2013. Not only did she get engaged to fellow comedian Rhea Butcher this year, but during her late-night debut on Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, the petite side-mulleted standup was praised as "the future" by a guy named Jay Leno. Beloved for her friendly yet offbeat storytelling style, Esposito has big plans for '14: She will be releasing a comedy album with aspecialthing records in March, and she will be touring her standup show and podcast Put Your Hands Together.
2. Issa Rae
Proving that web series may be the future of comedy, writer and performer Issa Rae has received accolades — and millions of hits — for her popular show "The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl," which had plenty of girls, awkward, black, and otherwise, screaming "That's me!" at their computer screens. Rae has since leveraged "Awkward" and her other web shows into further projects. In 2014 she'll be releasing a book of personal essays, and she is working on a half-hour comedy for HBO with The Daily Show's Larry Wilmore.
3 and 4. Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome (Garfunkel and Oates)
This duo is known for their funny songs that explore the ups and downs of adulthood with catchy lyrics and melodies, sounding sweet while they bitch about smug pregnant women, getting older, the mysteries of hand jobs and the relationship fade-away. They have done some acting work separately, but in 2014 they're getting their own show on IFC, which, over the years, has been steadily building a stable of offbeat shows like Portlandia, The Birthday Boys and Comedy Bang! Bang! Garfunkel and Oates' show, which will focus on Lindhome and Micucci's friendship and satirical singing career, sounds a little like a lady-centric version of Flight of the Concords, which basically sounds like the TV version of dipping a potato chip in Nutella.
5 and 6. Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson (Broad City)
When Amy Poehler endorses you, you know you're on to something. Upright Citizens Brigade alumnae Glazer and Jacobson have been running this popular web series about friends navigating life in New York since 2010, which is a good lesson in sticking with things you believe in. The series has a Girls-meets-Stella vibe (think hipster New Yorkers who don't take themselves seriously and sometimes break into dance — or basketball games), and it has many high-profile fans, many of whom you can see for yourself when the series moves to the slightly bigger screen with a run on Comedy Central. Fred Armisen, Janeane Garofalo, and Amy Sedaris are among the guest stars.
7. Emily Heller
Heller, a standup comic and podcaster, had a good 2013 and is gearing up for an even better 2014. The aspiring "stay at home not-mom" made her late-night comedy debut on Conan, served as the warm-up comic for the dearly departed Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell and was touted as one of 10 comics to watch by Variety. This spring, you'll be able to see her work as a writer on Surviving Jack, a single-camera comedy series based on Justin Halpern's book I Suck at Girls. Want even more Heller? In 2014 she'll be putting out more episodes of her web series "The Future" (in which she gives tarot readings to funny people like Reggie Watts and Janeane Garofalo), and she will be releasing installments of the podcast Baby Geniuses that she co-hosts with comics artist Lisa Hanawalt.
8. Sasheer Zamata
Upright Citizen Brigader Sasheer Zamata got a publicity boost last year when her name was floated as one of the top contenders to join SNL as the show looked to add more African-American women to its cast, but with or without SNL, her star is on the rise. She's attracted attention thanks in part to her hilarious web shorts like "Pursuit of Sexiness" with Nicole Byer and "How to Process a Penis" (endorsed by Lena Dunham), in which she takes honest looks at the street interactions between men and women. Plus, she'll be appearing in the upcoming second season of Inside Amy Schumer.
9. Katie Rich
Anyone who's plugged into Chicago's formidable comedy scene is probably familiar with Rich's work. She's written and performed in several Second City mainstage revues and in shorts like "Zero Bark Thirty" (a dog version of "Zero Dark Thirty," obviously). Late in 2013, like so much of Second City's fruit, she was plucked by Lorne Michaels as a writer for SNL, which, thanks to rumors of women of color being added to the cast and the recent addition of writer Claire Mulaney, will ideally feature a stronger female-angled comedic voice than ever before.
10. Rachel Bloom
Pulling together musical talent, edgy humor, well-produced videos and a critical eye for the messed-up sexual and cultural norms in today's society, Rachel Bloom has received awards and attention for musical shorts like "Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury," "Historically Accurate Disney Princess Song," "I Steal Pets" and "You Can Touch My Boobies" (wherein a box of Tampax appears in a pile labeled "Sex stuff" in a preteen boy's sensual dream). In 2014, Bloom will help Showtime develop its comedy lineup when she executive-produces and co-writes Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, a musical show about a girl who upends her life to stalk her ex. In the meantime, she will be publishing new music videos online (including a full-length musical!) and writing for Adult Swim's Robot Chicken. She will be touring the East Coast with her live musical act in March.
11. Cristela Alonzo
Alonzo, a standup comic hailing from Texas, has made a lot of fans with her appearances on Conan, Last Comic Standing and The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, but is it weird to love her because on her website she Photoshopped her face in for Bea Arthur's in a Golden Girls tableau? (No, no, it's not.) The daughter of a Mexican-immigrant single mom, Alonzo is using her life as inspiration for the new forthcoming eponymous sitcom she's developing for ABC, where she plans to address race and class issues, but in a funny way. (Sample joke from her act about her problems with dressing a sexy maid for Halloween: "I can't do that; I just look like a maid.")
12. Sarah Haskins
Harvard-educated feminist and Second City alumna Sarah Haskins gained a dedicated following with her Current TV series Target: Women, with her hilarious comments on products, advertising, and media aimed at women ("Yogurt is the official food of women!"). This year Haskins got even more recognition when the show she created, wrote and produced, Trophy Wife, aired on ABC to positive reviews. Centered around a former party girl settling into a nontraditional family (including an older husband, his kids, and his two-ex wives, and starring other awesome funny women like Michaela Watkins and Malin Akerman), Trophy Wife is based on Haskins' life. ABC bought a whole season of the show, which means you can catch up on previous episodes online and then tune in for new ones.
13. Natasha Leggero
It just makes sense that if one acquires a hot tub, one must shoot a web series in said hot tub. That's just one of the many ways UCB-er Leggero, who hosts a web series called "Tubbin' With Tash," was funny in '13. In the hilariously non sequitur-filled series, Leggero conducts interviews with comedians, clothed and otherwise, who stop by her hot tub. (Her guests have included Sarah Silverman, Tig Notaro, and Chelsea Peretti.) She also appeared in The League, Burnin' Love, Key & Peele and Comedy Bang! Bang! Fans of the hilarious ABC series Suburgatory now have a little something extra to look forward to: When it returns in January, Leggero will have a recurring role.
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Photo Credit: Getty Images, Comedy Central
