The League of Extraordinarily Funny Women: 50 Ladies Who Used Comedy to Change the World by Sheila Moeschen is a fantastic foray into the world of funny and strong women. For so long women were not seen in the role of comedian and this book is a great way to show all the women who dared to do just that. Sheila Moeschen did an excellent job picking women from different areas of comedy and different times as well. I really enjoyed the “Extra Extraordinaries” lists because it served almost as a reference point for other women I knew in that category. My one criticism would be that some of the summaries were a bit wordy and I tended to lose interest. However, the author did a good job inserting her sassy tone within the summaries and had me chuckling at times.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this book for an honest review.

I received a review copy from Netgally


This is an illustrated short bio of some of the funniest ladies in the comedic world. It features a wide variety of the new faces and seasoned veterans.

This was interesting for the women I didn't know about but this wasn't what I thought it would be. I was hoping for more interactive content. A more Q&A style with some of these ladies.

This is worth perusing but not something that will be read more than once.

I watched a special on CNN about comedians while at the gym a couple of years ago, so I was intrigued by this title (and the cover, if I'm honest). Some of the comedians were well-known, of course, but I enjoyed reading and learning about new-to-me entertainers. The writing was engaging and interesting. This was a great light read.

Whey say do not judge the book by its cover. Well, that is exactly what I did when I first encountered "The League of Extraordinarily Funny Women" on NetGalley. Indeed, the cover of this mini humor encyclopedia is fun, a little whimsical and definitely eye catching! Female portraits appear simple, yet the illustrator managed to capture something recognizable in each and every portrait, except for Kristen Wiig's.
As an outside to American stand up culture I found myself attending to Google time after time looking up performances or show clips which was quite entertaining! Needless to say, I spend hours “self-educating” on YouTube.
Reading “The League” was truly inspiring. It is crazy to imagine how far has female comedy has come in the last 100 years. And to select only 50 women was a challenge of its own. My only critique comment is that in spite of being thoughtful and flattering, sometimes the articles felt a bit flat. Also, the chronology in several occasions was confusing.
If I were to take one thing out of this book it would be the idea that regardless of the obstacles a true talent and dedication always prevail.

Loved the illustrations! I really liked the content and learned alot about some funny, powerful, snarky women. It blew my expectations out of the water.

My husband and I are HUGE comedy fans. When I was pregnant with our first baby before we knew the gender, we picked out a boy name immediately but struggled hard to agree on a girl name. After about each contributing 30 names each that we both couldn't agree on we came to Madelyn and both immediately knew that had to be our daughter's name. You see, we were big fans of a movie called Young Frankenstein starring an extraordinarily gifte comedienne named Madeline Kahn. We love comedy so much that it took a comedian to influence our baby name decision (and of course that baby turned out to be a girl and she is a funny female in her own right. The last two years at her school's talent show, she has done a comedy act!). Madeline Kahn does not get a mention in this book (a travesty really) but there are 50 worthy women from all backgrounds, both personally and comedically, and different time periods who deserve their stories told in this book. I love that there are several different categories with a handful of comedians listed and their stories told. Some of my favorite people profiled in the book are Lucille Ball, Mindy Kaling, Tina Fey, Ellen DeGeneres, and Gilda Radnor. There were even a couple I have never heard of that now I will have to look up! I recommend this book to anyone who loves comedy.

This is a good, solid, entertaining reference book, but more than that it's a reminder that women have been in comedy forever. Sit down, Jerry Lewis, women are funny and here's a whole book of them, in case you somehow forgot. So many favorites mentioned here, just seeing the illustrations made me smile with memories. Each entry is short and concise, with a hint of each woman's style of comedy and what they brought to the genre.

This one took me a while to read because it really wasn't something that held my interest for long bouts of reading. Few reference books do. What it was fantastic for was short bursts, or for looking someone up. I now have more than a few new comedians to check out.

It's also not, for the most part, a laugh-out-loud book, which seems odd when you're talking about comedians. Many entries made me smile, mostly from memories, but it's not a joke book. It's a book about some very funny women, their struggles and their achievements. Recommended.

A wonderful read engaging interesting loved learning about these women comedians and the illustrations were perfect. #netgalley #pegasusbooks

This is a collection of 50 top female comedians! From the Courageous, creative trailblazers to the super smarties of today, to the downright defiant this book has something for every comedy lover! These are women who joked about real life issues, they brought attention to the important matters that most people overlooked. This is feminism at the brink!

This is a wonderful book that chronicles women of comedy. I thought the writing was well done and the illustrations that accompanied the brief bios was absolutely delightful. This would be an awesome gift, and an excellent resource to use to get to know the women that have created and added so much comedy to entertainment.

This book is amazing! It is a quick read and a great read about comedy greats. I love the diversity of the women too, and it is interesting to know how they became the greats. It is a very inspirational and supportive book, it builds you up as a reader to see how famous people are normal people, they have struggles and set backs just like everyone, and as a reader you get to see how they got past the set backs and got to where they wanted to be.

I wish more women could have been included, but there is a limit and only so many could make the cut. Maybe someday there will be another book to shine the light on those that couldn't be featured in this book.

I love that this book includes women of the past and present. It is fun to see the history of how these women in comedy got to where they are today. I love the illustrations as well, it makes the book stand out and gives it more of an edge.

This was a great little read. Not a lot of content but enough to bring the women to life and give the reader a little nugget. Good choice of women to highlight.

I enjoyed reading about the lives of famous comedians. It was interesting to read about their early lives and how they got started in their careers. If you are expecting this book to be funny, I didn't really find it so. But that didn't make it less interesting to read. The fun part about our current era is that I could look at Online videos of them to refresh my memory of their routines or explore the comedy acts of those with whom I was unfamiliar.

I requested this book via NetGalley in hopes of learning about the challenges and triumphs of the women that shaped modern comedy. As a total newbie on the subject, I not only learned about the lives of the comics I knew of, but also about the very existence of many others.

Although the collection focuses primarily on female comedians, it also mentions the men that the female comedians engaged with. In doing so, this collection goes beyond just recounting the lives of each woman. More than merely introducing key female players, it provided a solid introduction to the history of comedy. For anyone looking to learn more, this could do the trick!

Thanks to NetGalley, Running Press, and Sheila Moeschen for the ARC!

So much information about absolutely astonishing women. Amazing artwork of each woman presented. A book we deserve, an amazing read.

As someone who loves women in comedy and has spent my life engrossing myself in all things related to funny women, this book didn't offer much insight or new information, but I still found it delightful.

I was happy to see that some of my favourite classic women comedians like Phyllis Diller, Lily Tomlin and Joan Rivers were included. And obviously, Queen Gilda gets a great write up.

The most delightful part of this book was seeing younger, possibly lesser known to some, comedians being featured like Aparna Nancherla, Abbi and Ilana, and Cameron Esposito (aka Caramel! Sorry, that's a comedy bang bang reference and I couldnt help myself).

Of course, we also get highlights on our favourite SNL women like Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Molly Shannon, Kate McKinnon...

But really, as much as I love these women, and the beautiful illustrations of them included in this book, I really didn't learn anything that I didn't already know.

I think this book would be phenomenal for women who are just starting to explore the impact and accomplishments of these trailblazing comedians. If you can only name ~5 female comedians off the top of your head, this book might be for you.

The issue may be my happily self-proclaimed status as a comedy nerd and snob. I've already read the memoirs of a quite a few of the women featured in this book, and I've followed their careers as they grow in their fame and influence.

I wish there was a little more I could sink my teeth into as a deeply devoted comedy fan.

I will say, this book is a great introduction, though if you gave me the option, I would have suggested that this book feature 200 women instead of 50. There are so many other great female comedians that are completely snubbed! Specifically: where's my girl, Jane Curtin?! What about Anne Beatts? Cheri Oteri? Fortune Feimster? Jen Kirkman? Mo Collins? Alex Borstein? Katie Dippold? Chelsea Peretti? Jessica St Clair and Lennon Parham? Lauren Lapkus? Betsy Sodaro? Nicole Byer? Katherine Ryan? Iliza Schlesinger? Leslie Mann? Patricia Clarkson? Rhea Perlman? Anne Meara Stiller?

...I could go all day

This was such a beautiful, well designed book.  Aesthetically, it's wonderful.  Content-wise, it's amazing!  This is the first one of these books where I've recognized more than half of those highlighted, and I was so delighted to learn more about some of my favorite ladies!

One of the best things about this anthology is that Moeschen focuses on all sorts of ladies, all sorts of comedies, and all sorts of identities.  There are lesbians, people of color, older ladies, younger ladies, stand up comedians, show writers, actors, and so on and so forth.  It's a wonderful collection that celebrates and educates at the same time, which is exactly what I'm all about!

The short biographies are paired with an illustration of the lady in question as well as a quotation.  This makes it perfect for both sitting down and reading as well as browsing.  Overall, this is a really great book and would make a perfect gift for your funny lady friend.

It's a very detailed look at the careers of women working in comedy. I liked the artwork, but the content was a bit dry and boring. Still, I support the idea behind the book. These talented women deserve this recognition.

I requested this ARC hoping to learn about some new-to-me comedians, and that’s exactly what I got.