This entry provides an overview of the dominant debates surrounding women and comedy. Two main arguments characterize academic, comedy industry, and popular media debates on women and comedy—one that contends that women cannot be funny and the other that maintains that women can be funny. A number of interconnected features, and myths, circulate to construct a masculine discourse surrounding the production, content, and reception of comedy. Yet there is a large body of evidence suggesting that across history—from Greek mythology through to contemporary stand‐up comedy—women have been, and continue to be, funny. Research on the forms and functions of comedy performed by the increasing number of women comedians suggests that comedy performed by women allows women to move from the object, to the subject, of comedy, and that it can have subversive qualities, content, and functions. Despite the increasing number of women comedians performing, evidence suggests that the number, and types, of performance opportunities for women comedians are sometimes restricted and censored.