Kathleen Madigan Essentials

Born in a St. Louis suburb, Kathleen Madigan mines her blue collar, Irish Catholic roots for comic gold. She's appeared on just about every late night television program there is, and has staged some memorable comic battles with her friend Lewis Black. Along with her own standup material, she's written for other comics, including Garry Shandling when he hosted the Emmy Awards in 2004-05. Once a print journalist, she tackles politics along with jokes about booze, space aliens and celebs. Though she's been known to get off-color, she pulls it off with sarcastic Midwest charm.