Kathleen Madigan

For 28 years, comedian Kathleen Madigan has been touring 250 nights on the road and squeezing in hour-long filmed specials and performances on every late night show ever made. From 25 appearances on the Tonight Show and multiple appearances on Letterman and Conan to recently riding around with Jerry Seinfeld in his internet series "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee," Madigan is still having a blast and selling out theaters across the country.

Her most recent special "Bothering Jesus" is her fifth hour long standup special and will be her third special to be available on Netflix. "I love working with them. They're the young people. Network TV will need to adapt quickly to even have a chance to stay in the game. Netflix gets it and makes it so easy for us. Instead of it being a battle of content and rules, it's just fun. What it's supposed to be," she says.

So 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. I didn't start doing open mic to become an actor on a sitcom or in a TV commercial. Those things never ever crossed my mind," Madigan says. "For a few of us working, telling jokes was our main goal. I don't have any more goals. Can't you ever have a goal, reach it and enjoy it? Oour society is being driven by type-A lunatics who say you have to set more goals. Well maybe they do but we all don't. Have a seat, grab a drink and enjoy the fact you made it to the goal. Maybe that's the Irish in me talking though."