Three other women who changed modern comedy

Kathy Griffin Quentin Crisp once said of Kathy Griffin’s heroine, Joan Rivers, “we laugh at what she does, we weep for what she is”. Anyone who beheld Griffin’s enormous Bel Air mansion (Kim and Kanye are neighbours) during the long-running reality show My Life On The

D-List won’t have wept too hard for her, but still the sight of this comedy legend constantly presenting herself as a victim — of the tabloid media, the patriarchy, or Donald Trump — may have caused us to wince slightly. Perhaps they can cast their minds back to a time when Griffin was a genuine comedy innovator and one of the biggest stand-up acts of the Noughties. Amy Schumer With her cute, “cabbage patch doll” face and sweet manner, people never really saw Amy Schumer coming, as far as black humour was concerned. But those who heard her stonecold takedowns during the Roast of Mike Tyson knew this was a comedy legend in the

making. A comedy central show, worldwide fame and friendship with Madonna followed, and now she makes more money per comedy special than any comedienne in history.

Margaret Cho

Like Kathy Griffin, Margaret Cho made her mother a longrunning joke in her act, to hilarious effect. This sardonic San Franciscan also became the first Asian-American with a prime time sitcom (AllAmerican Girl) and, again, like Griffin, unashamedly embraced her ‘fag hag’ status. She is a true comedy icon.