Over Kathleen Madigan’s 25 year career she has performed on nearly every standup television show ever made. Leno, Letterman, Conan, Ferguson and most recently in 2015 on the new The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, and she recently filmed her fifth appearance on Ron White’s Salute To The Troops set to air in the spring of 2015 on CMT. In 2014, Madigan was nominated for an American Comedy Award for Best Concert Comic and her third hour-long special, Madigan Again, was named one of iTunes Best Comedy Albums. Madigan Again, premiered on September 11, 2013 exclusively on Netflix in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Latin America, and is also available on CD, DVD and audio or video download. Previously she’s released 5 CDs and 3 DVDs and starred in 2 HBO specials, 3 Comedy Central specials, 4 CMT Salute to the Troops specials with Ron White and her previous hour-long special, Gone Madigan, premiered on Showtime and is available on Netflix.
“How is it,” the Detroit Free Press asks, “that Madigan has yet to be cast as the wise-cracking a) best friend b) office worker or c) martini-swilling mother-in-law in any of countless sitcoms? We’re thinking it’s because she’s so irreplaceable on the stage. She’s described as the funniest woman doing stand-up right now, but no gender qualifier is necessary. Along with Lewis Black, Brian Regan and Jim Gaffigan, she’s one of the funniest stand-up comedians of her generation.”
“I just want to tell jokes,” says Madigan, “I didn’t start doing open mics to become an actor on a sitcom or in a TV commercial. Those things never even crossed my mind. I just like to tell jokes for an hour or so and laugh. For a few of us working today, this was our goal. We don’t have any more goals. Can’t you ever have a goal, reach it and then enjoy it? This society is being driven by type A lunatics that say ‘you have to set more goals.’ No you don’t. Have a seat and enjoy the fact that you’re here! Maybe that’s the Irish in me talking, though.”
It’s been a 25 year career of 300 nights a year on the road. “We don’t get time off like a band. Our tours never end. That’s why it makes me laugh when people say ‘how long is your tour?’ Well so far, 25 years.” She’s gone from one nighters, to club gigs, to theaters, to headlining the Mirage in Las Vegas.
She’s won the American Comedy Award for “Best Female Comedian” and the Phyllis Diller award for “Best Female Comedian.” Although she’s turned down many writing jobs because she enjoys performing more, she has written and produced for Lewis Black’s “Root of all Evil” on Comedy Central and for Gary Shandling’s Emmy monologues. She’s done two USO tours to Iraq and Afganistan with pals Lewis Black, Robin Williams, John Bowman and musicals acts Kid Rock, The Zac Brown Band, Kix Brooks and Kellie Pickler. “There’s no better show on earth than a show for the troops. Trust me, no crowd is as happy to see a show as 1000 soldiers in Kabul. I do USO shows at home here in the US too but the further people are away, the more they appreciate it. I don’t think they get paid enough for a hard job so I like to do something for free when I can.”
She remains the only comedian in the history of NBC’s Last Comic Standing to go unchallenged by any other comedian–meaning no comedian would say they were funnier than her. Madigan was a top three finalist in Season 2 and and a judge on Season 5.
She’s a favorite on nationally syndicated radio shows such as the The Bob and Tom Show and The Stephanie Miller Show. She’s also in constant rotation on SIRIUS-XM Radio and is repeated voted #1 audience favorite by listeners.
Madigan has performed internationally at festivals and theaters in Ireland, England, Australia and has filmed six Montreal Gala Shows at the Montreal Comedy Festival for Canadian television.
Originally from St. Louis, Missouri Kathleen splits her time between the road, Los Angeles and Missouri.
