Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Tina Fey

Whether she’s acting in hilarious silver screen flicks like Baby Mama, doing her best Sarah Palin on SNL, or partaking in witty red-carpet banter, this mom of 4-year-old Alice makes us all laugh,
all the time.

Amy Poehler

We can only imagine what bedtime stories are like in the Poehler household. Little Archie Arnett (her son with funnyman Will Arnett) will never have to turn on the TV to get an entertaining show.

Sherri Shepherd

This comedienne-turned-TV host is always our comic relief on the civilized female catfight that is The View.

Lisa Kudrow

Friends may have ended six years ago, but Kudrow will always have a place in our hearts as the hilarious, off-beat Phoebe Buffay.

Isla Fisher

The wife of Borat’s alter ego, Sacha Baron Cohen (and mother of Olive) has no problem stealing the spotlight in her own comedic roles, from Wedding Crashers to Confessions of a Shopaholic.

Bette Midler

The Divine Miss M raised daughter Sophie Von Haselberg while starring as over-the-top characters in movies like The First Housewives Club and Gypsy. Wonder if the lullabies she sang little Sophie were as outgoing as her rendition of “You Don’t Own Me”?

Kirstie Alley

Even with her ever-so-public weight struggles, Alley — mother of two adopted teenagers — puts a comedic spin on everything she does, from her big bikini reveal on The Oprah Winfrey Show to, ahem, raising pet lemurs on her reality show.

Whoopi Goldberg

Backed by predecessor Rosie O’Donnell to be the new The View co-host, Goldberg — mom of 37-year-old Alexandra — immediately appeased audiences with her jovial, laidback attitude.

Rosie O'Donnell

She may rub some people the wrong way, but there’s no denying this mother of four can get us giggling in no time flat, from her classic performance in A League of Their Own to her recent appearances as a courtroom judge in Drop Dead Diva.

Maya Rudolph

Another comedienne of the SNL brood, Rudolph does mom by day and impressionist by night. Her Condoleezza Rice impression is killer!

Debra Messing

This fiery red head and mother of 6-year-old Roman has us doubling over in laughter with every quirky Grace Adler moment on Will & Grace — especially her operatic singing attempts (Sound of Music sing-a-long episode, anyone?)

Goldie Hawn

Her eldest two kids, Oliver and Kate Hudson, are full-grown and making comedic marks of their own, but Hawn hooked us on her comedy long before that as a bubbly blonde on Laugh-In.

Alyson Hannigan

It started with the infamous “band camp” line in American Pie and continued with her hilarious role as Lily in How I Met Your Mother. We’ve been hooked on this mom ever since.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus

From Elaine on Seinfeld to Christine on The New Adventures of Old Christine to, well, herself on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Louis-Dreyfus, mother of sons Henry and Charles, pulls off any role with a clever twist.

Jenny McCarthy

This model/mom first showed she can be funny as host of MTV’s classic dating show, Singled Out, and continued to prove her comedic nature in a slew of movies and TV shows, like Scary Movie 3 (It takes a special kind of comedienne to star in a parody of a movie she was already in.)

Sharon Osbourne

She won our hearts with her nontraditional parenting style on the reality show The Osbournes and still has us laughing at her off-the-cuff comments as a competitor on Celebrity Apprentice.

Debi Mazar

This mom of two daughters, Evelyn and Guilia, showed us she can master laughable dead-pan delivery as Shauna on Entourage, and reminded us her comedy isn’t just an act when she stepped out as herself on Dancing with the Stars.

Molly Shannon

This mom of two, daughter Stella and son Nolan, had us in stitches as Mary Catherine Gallagher, SNL’s resident awkward Catholic school girl.

Joan Rivers

Love her or hate her, we can’t help but laugh at this red carpet veteran’s unabashed commentary on all things celebrity. And her daughter, Melissa, is following in her footsteps!

Angela Kinsey

We fell in love with Kinsey, mom to a daughter, Isabel, the first episode she played her cat-loving, overly conservative namesake in The Office.

Niecy Nash

Even those who don’t watch her funny cop show, Reno 911, can appreciate her raw humor on Dancing with the Stars.

Julie Bowen

Mom to three sons, Bowen’s portrayal of overprotective and overzealous mom Claire Dunphy on the hit show Modern Family wins us over every week.

Courtney Cox

Okay, it’s no Friends, but we’re super happy Cox made a comeback with Cougar Town. Wonder if daughter, Coco, got the funny genes, too?

Catherine O'Hara

Our love for this mom’s hilarity dates back to her 1988 role in Beetle Juice, and it only grew stronger with her 2000 role as an overzealous dog owner in Best in Show.

Carol Burnett

A timeless comedienne and mother of three (Jody and Erin Hamilton and the late Carrie Hamilton), Carol Burnett mastered song, dance, and slapstick, setting the bar high for modern women in comedy.

Leslie Mann

Any mom who can hold her own among a cast of ultimate funny-guys like Seth Rogan and Adam Sandler, and of course, director/husband Judd Apatow, deserves recognition.

Roseanne

She was a real-life mom of three long before she became known as an iconic TV mom that we depended on for a dose of biting humor.

Naomi Watts

Though she’s well-known for her dramatic roles, we’ll always remember Watts, mother to Alexander and Samuel, for her laugh-inducing King Kong performance back in 2005.

Patricia Heaton

Heaton cracked us up as a perpetually-frustrated mom and wife on Everybody Loves Raymond and now on The Middle. Think she draws any inspiration from raising four sons?

Tracey Ulman

The English mom of two and woman responsible for The Tracey Ullman Show mastered accents, played comedic characters named Frenchie (in a London production of Grease and the Woody Allen film Small Time Crooks) and ended shows gracefully—by telling the audience to, “go home.”

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