Lisa Lampanelli is Comedy’s Lovable Queen of Mean. Heralded as “more than a standup — a standout,” by comedy legend Jim Carrey, Lampanelli is a cross between Don Rickles, Archie Bunker, and a vial of estrogen. She has won accolades from The King of All Media Howard Stern, who called her “a true original and a brilliant comedy mind who’ll steal the show every time.” Known for saying things that most people are afraid to think, Lisa Lampanelli’s raunchy, gut-busting performances are wildly popular at theaters across the U.S. and Canada. Lisa recently appeared in her latest one-hour special “Tough Love” which premiered on Comedy Central and is now available on CD/DVD. Cementing her rise, Lisa recently joined 17 other celebrities on the newest season of NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice.” The fifth installment of the show, with the largest-ever lineup of famous faces competing for charities of their choice, was a ratings bonanza for NBC. As a final four contestant, Lisa raised well over $100,000 for the Gay Men’s Health Crisis.
This equal opportunity offender is a regular on late night television, and a frequent guest and guest host on Howard Stern’s Sirius satellite radio shows. She has also parlayed her love of Broadway into her own one-woman show, which is scheduled to premiere in early 2013.
Lampanelli joined the ranks of comedy greats with her 2009 HBO comedy special, “Long Live the Queen,” and that same year, released her first autobiography, Chocolate, Please: My Adventures in Food, Fat and Freaks. As a writer, Lisa also pens the monthly Women column in Playboy Magazine. Her first Greatest Hits album was released earlier this year.
Lisa’s rise to the top of the comedy food chain began in 2002 when she was the only female comedian invited to skewer Chevy Chase on the NY Friars Club Roast on Comedy Central. She soon became known as the “Queen of the Roast”, going on to skewer such names as Pamela Anderson, Jeff Foxworthy, William Shatner, Flava Flav and most recently, David Hasselhoff. Because of her success as a roaster, in 2009 Lisa was asked to be Roastmaster for the highly rated Comedy Central roast of friend and fellow comic, Larry the Cable Guy.
One of the few white comedians to perform on BET’s “Comic View,” and the “Wendy William Show,” Lisa has clearly cemented her huge crossover appeal. Lisa went on to appear on Comedy Central’s “Last Laugh 2005” and her one-hour special that year, “Take It Like a Man,” was a hit with the comedy network yet again. The CD and the DVD of the same name hit #6 on the comedy charts. Then, in January 2007, Lisa’s second one-hour special, “Dirty Girl,” debuted on Comedy Central and Warner Bros. Records, and reached #4 on the charts. Soon thereafter, “Dirty Girl” was nominated for a Grammy Award for 2007’s Best Comedy Album of the Year.
On the feature film side, Lisa appeared in “Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector” and had a featured role in “Delta Farce,” opposite Bill Engvall, Larry the Cable Guy, and D.J. Quall. She also starred in the feature film, “The Aristocrats” and, most recently, played a more maternal version of herself in the Owen Wilson vehicle, “Drillbit Taylor.”
On a continuous ride to comedic stardom, Lisa has also taped several specials for VH1, MTV, and CMT, and was recently a presenter on the Bravo’s “A List Awards” and the “NewNowNext Awards” on Logo.
She currently resides in New York.
