As much as we'd love to have a Martini with Dorothy Parker or a white wine with Amy Schumer, we're not in the Algonquin Round Table are we're not Jennifer Lawrence. The closest we can get to our favourite funny females are their memoirs and other writings, which – to be honest – often do the job.
So, whether you’re looking for a Christmas present idea or simply need something to dip into while you’re on the loo, these are our recommendations for some of the funniest female writers putting finger to key right now. We’re not going to include Lena Dunham and Caitlin Moran here because, frankly, if you haven’t heard of them, then we’re gonna need a bigger list.
Maeve Higgins
The comedian, Irish Times columnist and recent New York resident Maeve Higgins is writing some of the funniest, most heart-warming, and insightful essays in print today. Her book We Have A Good Time Don’t We? is a blueprint for what modern humorous writing should be – replete with cross-country tourist train journeys and a quite startling story about a cow with no arsehole. And, excellent news indeed, her new book Off You Go about leaving Ire l and for the Big Apple is out now.
Follow her on Twitter here.
Courtesy Maeve Higgins
Elna Baker
The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance was literally everything you would hope for from a coming-of-age story about a practicing Mormon living in New York City, with everything from dramatic body changes to sexual navigation. You can hear Elna on lots of brilliant podcasts or read her in paperback – whichever floats your boat.
Follow Elna on Twitter here.
Courtesy Elna Baker
Tina Fey
I know. Of course you love Tina Fey. We all do. But if you’ve watched 30 Rock, Saturday Night Live, and Mean Girls but haven’t read Bossypants then you need to sort that out quicksharp. The audiobook, narrated by Fey, once made me choke on a sesame snap on a very crowded train. It would have been a great way to go, to be honest. Although I’m glad I survived long enough to listen to the rest of it.
Photo: Rex
Roxane Gay
Bad Feminist is a funny book. Roxane Gay is a funny woman. If you don’t believe me, take this from her Bad Feminist manifesto: “When I drive to work, I listen to thuggish rap at a very loud volume, even though the lyrics are degrading to women and offend me to my core. The classic Ying Yang Twins song "Salt Shaker "? It's amazing. "Bitch you gotta shake it till your camel starts to hurt." Poetry.”
Follow her on Twitter here.
Courtesy Roxane Gay
Monica Heisey
Hearing the comedian, writer and all-round megababe Monica Heisey read out A Factual and Emotional History of the Burrito above a pub in Camden was, without doubt, one of the happiest moments of my year. And now you can have her at home, thanks to her brilliant new book I Can’t Believe It’s Not Better: A Woman’s Guide to Coping With Life. The story narrated by a maltreated and laundry entombed bra is probably one of my favourite short stories ever.
Follow her on Twitter here.
Courtesy Monica Heisey
Amy Sedaris
Like many of us, I became aware of Amy Sedaris way before her Radio 4 favourite brother David, thanks to her book I Like You: Hospitality Under The Influence. There then followed the equally brilliant Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People. If I could go on a wet weekend break to Maine with anybody, it would probably be Amy Sedaris.
Photo: Rex
Sara Pascoe
The first time I ever met Sara Pascoe I kissed her. I was unavoidably late for her Edinburgh show Sara Pascoe The Musical* and as the best punishment ever I had to walk on stage and give her a peck on the cheek. Pascoe is currently working on her first book of essays, Animal: How a Woman is Made, which is due out next year and has been widely described as a funny, feminist exploration of the female body. This is the woman who introduced me to the "plunger theory of the penis", so you just know it’s going to be great. Until then, you can read her essays and columns on the Guardian and in Standard Issue.
Follow her on Twitter here.
Courtesy Sara Pascoe
Bim Adewumni
Without doubt one of Buzzfeed’s funniest writers, Bim Adewumni has pretty much made a career out of her crush-heavy, heartfelt and positive attitude to the world and those of us in it. If you don’t follow #Bims10Things on a Friday then you’re doing Twitter wrong, I’m afraid.
Courtesy Bim Adewumni
Megan Amram
Like most people, I imagine, I became aware of Megan Amram as one of the funniest women on Twitter, with classics like ‘The reason football players wear helmets is to stop them from kissing’ and her constant regramming of this by-now brilliantly grainy picture. She has also written a brilliant book called Science… For Her! which you should all probably read as homework.
Follow Megan on Twitter here.
Photo: @meganamram
Mindy Kaling
You know Mindy Kaling - she played Kelly Kapoor in the American Office and created and starred in The Mindy Project. She also wrote a very funny book called Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me? (and other concerns) and her new book, just out this year, Why Not Me? is one of the funniest explorations of relationships and imposter syndrome I’ve ever dipped into while sitting in a doctor’s waiting room.
Margaret Atwood
The legendary author of A Handmaid’s Tale, Oryx and Crake, The Blind Assassin and most other great novels you’ll find on a contemporary literature class is so insightful, so disturbing and so unsettling that we sometimes forget that Atwood is also really, really funny. Her new book The Heart Goes Last about a dejected couple living in a housing experiment made me laugh into my porridge.
Photo: Larry D Moore
Bridget Christie
How could you not want to read a book by an award-winning stand up comedian who was once sacked from her job on a dairy farm and was a member of a biker gang? A Book For Her is inherently British and hilarious – two things that make for a great sit down. Catch her live stand up too.
Courtesy Bridget ChristieLike what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
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