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Who is the funniest Hollywood actress?

The funniest Hollywood actress is Carol Burnett, according to Ranker's crowd-voted list of the funniest female comedians (2025), because she commits to a sight gag past the point of reason and fires back quick, unplanned answers to her own audience.

Updated · Based on Ranker (April 15, 2025), Voice of America (May 18, 2012) and PBS (January 16, 2013)

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Burnett also won a Prince George Citizen reader poll on the funniest lady of all with 57 percent of the vote, ahead of Lucille Ball at 29; on Ranker's list, Betty White is second and Ball third. Ball is the usual other answer: Voice of America profiled her as one of television's funniest women. Burnett's comedy came from committing to a sight gag past the point of reason; Ball's came from a body losing a fight with an ordinary task.

The pick: Carol Burnett

Actress and comedian, star of The Carol Burnett Show, 1967–1978

First in a Prince George Citizen reader poll on the funniest lady of all and first on Ranker's crowd-voted list of the funniest female comedians.

Also in the running

  • Lucille Ball (Actress and comedian, star of I Love Lucy, 1951–1957): Second in the Prince George Citizen poll, third on Ranker's list, and profiled by Voice of America as one of television's funniest women.
  • Betty White (Actress and comedian, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls): Second on Ranker's crowd-voted list of the funniest female comedians.
  • Madeline Kahn (Film and stage actress and comedian): On Ranker's top ten, and one of the film comediennes in Turner Classic Movies' Funny Ladies tribute, co-hosted by Burnett.

What made them funny

Burnett's comedy was ensemble comedy with her at the center. PBS's Pioneers of Television describes her as charming and quick, "frequently sending her co-stars into barely controlled fits of laughter." She built her variety show around playing someone new every week, and opened it by taking unplanned questions from the studio audience, which put her own quick answers on display before a single sketch began.

Ball's comedy was physical and rehearsed. Turner Classic Movies describes a perfectionist who rehearsed endlessly and became an expert in slapstick and pantomime, and quotes a critic who placed her in "a rare aristocracy: the glamorous clown." Ball herself said the talent was learned, not born. Her best scenes give a woman a simple job and let the job win, one escalation at a time.

Techniques to take into your videos and sets

  1. 1. Leave the hardware on

    What they did

    In a 1976 parody of Gone with the Wind, Burnett's heroine sweeps down a staircase in a dress made from the drapes, as in the film, except the brass curtain rod is still across her shoulders. The rod was costume designer Bob Mackie's idea, and the Smithsonian now holds the costume. MeTV reports the laugh ran so long it had to be cut down for broadcast.

    Why it works

    The audience already knows the original. One leftover piece of the process, the part that should have been removed, makes the whole thing visibly homemade, and the character's total commitment to wearing it is the second laugh.

    Example (original, written by Shutap)

    I made my own ghost costume out of a bedsheet, and I left the fitted corners on, so I'm a ghost who is permanently hugging a mattress.

    Try it

    Show the thing you made or fixed, then point to the one piece of how you made it that you forgot to take off, and wear it proudly.

  2. 2. Let the task win

    What they did

    In the 1952 I Love Lucy episode "Job Switching," Lucy and Ethel wrap chocolates on a factory conveyor belt that keeps speeding up. Rather than admit defeat, they hide the overflow anywhere they can: hats, shirts, mouths. The Takeout reports Ball asked to rehearse at a See's Candies factory in Los Angeles before filming.

    Why it works

    A simple job that slowly outpaces a person is something everyone has felt. The laughs come from each solution being worse than the last, and from the character choosing a ridiculous cover-up over just saying stop.

    Example (original, written by Shutap)

    The self-checkout said "unexpected item in the bagging area" four times, so I finished the transaction holding the bananas over my head where it couldn't see them.

    Try it

    Film the ordinary task that beat you, and show three fixes, each worse than the last. End on the one you'd never admit to.

  3. 3. Glamour first, then the fall

    What they did

    Ball started as a Hollywood film actress and could play glamorous, which made her willingness to look absurd hit harder. In TCM's tribute, Carrie Cooke Ketterman credits her with "the bravery to act a fool and be a clown" when most actresses wouldn't.

    Why it works

    The higher the setup, the longer the drop. Effort spent looking good is a promise to the audience, and breaking that promise with your own body is a laugh that reads as confidence.

    Example (original, written by Shutap)

    I wore the white linen suit to the barbecue, and by the second rib I looked like a crime scene that had gone to brunch.

    Try it

    Open on yourself at your most put-together. Cut to the same outfit, same angle, one hour later.

  4. 4. Let the room write the setup

    What they did

    Burnett opened The Carol Burnett Show by bringing up the lights and taking questions from the studio audience, and decades later built a touring show the same way, a conversation with the audience "the way I used to open my show," she told WTOP.

    Why it works

    A question from a stranger is a setup the audience didn't see coming either, so a quick answer looks like pure reflex. It also makes the crowd part of the bit before the bit starts.

    Example (original, written by Shutap)

    Someone asked how long I've been cooking. Long enough that the smoke detector recognizes my footsteps and starts clearing its throat.

    Try it

    Pin a real question from your comments to the screen and answer it in one line, with one specific object doing the work.

Before you quote them

Rankings of the funniest actress are mostly fan polls, not critics' lists. The Prince George Citizen poll is a reader vote with no published date, and Ranker's order shifts as people vote. Lines from the sketches and episodes above are described here, not quoted. The often-repeated claim that Burnett called the curtain rod the most brilliant sight gag ever appears in MeTV's paraphrase, not as a direct quote, so it isn't used here.

Questions people ask

Who is the funniest Hollywood actress?
Carol Burnett, according to Ranker's crowd-voted list of the funniest female comedians, last updated in 2025, where she sits first ahead of Betty White and Lucille Ball. She commits to a sight gag past the point of reason and answers her audience's questions on the spot.
Who won the Prince George Citizen poll for funniest lady?
Carol Burnett took 57 percent of 1,126 reader votes, ahead of Lucille Ball at 29 percent, Jean Stapleton at 9 and Roseanne Barr at 4. The poll page shows no publication date, so treat it as a fan vote rather than a dated survey.
Is Lucille Ball funnier than Carol Burnett?
Ball is the usual other answer. Voice of America profiled her in 2012 as one of television's funniest women, and Turner Classic Movies describes a perfectionist expert in slapstick and pantomime. In the fan votes cited here, Burnett still finishes ahead of her.
What is Carol Burnett's most famous sketch?
The 1976 Gone with the Wind parody, where her heroine wears a dress made from the drapes with the brass curtain rod still across her shoulders. The rod was Bob Mackie's idea, and the Smithsonian collected the costume in 2009.
How did Lucille Ball prepare for the chocolate factory scene?
The Takeout reports that Ball asked to rehearse at a See's Candies factory in Los Angeles before filming the 1952 I Love Lucy episode "Job Switching," where a speeding conveyor belt beats Lucy and Ethel.

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Sources

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