Make 'Em Laugh: The Funniest Black Females in Comedy

"SNL" thinks there are no funny Black women. We disagree.

Mo'Nique - As Kenan Thompson, Jay Pharoah and the SNL brass debate whether or not there are enough talented Black comediennes who would fit in with the high-caliber cast (Thompson implies that Black women are simply "not ready" while Pharoah tells his bosses it's "time to pay attention" to overlooked talent), we thought we'd give them a hand and point out a whole host of funny Black females in comedy.  In over 38 years, SNL has only had four Black women in the cast — here are many more the comedy sketch show could have choosen from over the years. Mo'Nique always lets it all hang out on stage. The Queen of Comedy kept us entertained on the sitcom The Parkers and with her own BET talk show. Oh, and did we mention she won an Oscar for her role in the 2009 film Precious?   (Photo: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)
Aisha Tyler - Tyler was the black sheep ("I stood out in high school because I was tall, weird and Black," she said) that blossomed into a swan. The former Talk Soup host and Friends series regular is the total package: gorgeous, brainy and funny as hell. What's more, Tyler  — whose humor can be so dirty it would make Chris Rock blush — has no problem being one of the boys.  (Photo: Mark Davis/Getty Images for CCTA)
Wanda Sykes on the George Zimmerman trial:  - "If Trayvon Martin had wrestled that gun away from Zimmerman and killed him, would he be free and protected under ‘self-defense'?” (Photo: FayesVision/WENN.com)Sherri Shepherd - Before she became America's talk show sweetheart as one of the co-hosts of The View, Shepherd was a standup comedian in Chicago. Shepherd got her first big break co-starring on the series Cleghorne!, headlined by former SNL castmember Ellen Cleghorne. In the years leading up to The View, Shepherd stacked her resume with roles on nearly two dozen TV shows and nearly as many movies.  (Photo: Jason Merritt/BET/Getty Images for BET)

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Mo'Nique - As Kenan Thompson, Jay Pharoah and the SNL brass debate whether or not there are enough talented Black comediennes who would fit in with the high-caliber cast (Thompson implies that Black women are simply "not ready" while Pharoah tells his bosses it's "time to pay attention" to overlooked talent), we thought we'd give them a hand and point out a whole host of funny Black females in comedy.  In over 38 years, SNL has only had four Black women in the cast — here are many more the comedy sketch show could have choosen from over the years. Mo'Nique always lets it all hang out on stage. The Queen of Comedy kept us entertained on the sitcom The Parkers and with her own BET talk show. Oh, and did we mention she won an Oscar for her role in the 2009 film Precious?   (Photo: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)

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