Women are funny. Period. (Pun intended, but no qualifier necessary.) Kristen Wiig is smokin’ hot in this year’s female-centric rom-com Bridesmaids. Her skirts rival Ally McBeal and Bridget Jones in their shortness and her legs, well, I’ll be so bold as to say that they challenge those of recently initiated Victoria’s Secret model Karly Kloss (slightly shorter, but just as gazelle-like). They don’t have to be ‘funny for a girl’ or play dumb or de-sex-ify themselves to earn the title.

Unfortunately when it comes to the general public it is still a common misconception that women are born without a funny bone. Bring up Lucille Ball, Reese Witherspoon or Emma Stone and you may get the rebuttal that those women were and are comedic actresses, but is it possible to be one without being the other?

The bottom line: women are no strangers to comedy and they don’t want to be singled out for their gender any more now than they have in the past. Tina Fey proved that point when she accepted the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. The third woman to ever receive the award, she said, “I’m honored to be up here with Whoopi Goldberg and Lily Tomlin, but I do hope that women are achieving at a rate these days that we can stop counting what number we are at things.”

Despite all that, it’s hard to ignore that 2011 was a stellar year for women in comedy. So we’re here to highlight 3 comediennes who are making us laugh right now by casting them in a hypothetical film starring a fictional family of sisters (hey, just because they won’t acknowledge a sisterhood within the profession, doesn’t mean we can’t make one up).

The Overachieving Oldest Sister

Tina Fey. She’s won the most awards, she’s forged the way for you with your parents and she knows all of the older cool kids at school. Even before 2011 began we knew Tina Fey as an actress, screenwriter, producer sketch comedy expert.

This year we were introduced to Tina Fey: Author. Her autobiography, Bossypants, has sold over 1 million copies since its publication on April 5, 2011 and spent 5 weeks at the top of the New York Times Best Seller List. The audio book has also sold over 150,000 copies and garnered Fey a Grammy nomination. In April she graced the cover of In Style and this past September Fey tied Eva Longoria for first place on Forbes’ list of highest-paid TV actresses. If we had to guess what her storyline would be, we’d say that big sis is home for a High School Reunion—to brag about how awesome she’s doing.

The Consummate Middle Child

Kristen Wiig. Always looking for attention (but not realizing she’s already getting it) the middle child is looking for a laugh at all times. As co-writer and star, Wiig is largely responsible for this year’s runaway hit Bridesmaids. The film was the 16th top grossing movie of 2011, bringing in $288.4 million, making it the top R-rated female comedy of all time. Bridesmaids took in more money than the Sex & the City movie, most likely because it’s not just funny to women—it’s straight up funny. Any man who has ever been involved in a wedding can appreciate the humor here.

Comparisons to The Hangover have been made, but Wiig and co-writer Anne Mumolo avoided the biggest comparison by (SPOILER ALERT) making it so that the maids never make it to Vegas. The alternate plot twist received just as many laughs. In our fictional film Wiig would surely be sitting on the sidelines spewing commentary, as Big and Little sis battle it out for biggest fish in their little hometown pond.

The Slightly Self-involved, But Still Lovable Youngest Sister

Mindy Kaling. This year Kaling went from ‘the annoying Indian chick on The Office to one of my favorite writers. To be honest, I had no idea that she also wrote for the show and even directed 2 episodes until I heard that she was writing a book and decided to research her a bit. Her memoir, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (and Other Concerns), was published by Brown Archetype, a division of Random House, this past November and was met with extremely positive reviews (The Times even said that Kaling could be the next Nora Ephron).

The most tech savvy of the bunch (Fey and Wiig are “not on Twitter, Facebook, Myspace or any other social networking sites,” as Wiig’s website boasts), Kaling blogs and tweets regularly—and hysterically. She’s slated to host what will surely be an excellent episode of SNL on February 11th. Her storyline? Little sis parlays Internet presence into reality show; gets lots and lots of free swag.

The Girls’ Zany Older Aunt

Betty White. White (who is turning 90 tomorrow—happy birthday Rose!) came back to the small screen with the TV Land comedy Hot in Cleveland and is getting her own Punked-style prank show featuring seniors called Off Their Rockers. She wouldn’t need many scenes, but in our film she’d be the wise and wisecracking Aunt who secretly mediates the sisters’ disputes. Maybe the final scene would even involve her eating cheesecake with them, or a trip to St. Olaf (call it poetic license).

So maybe the larger plotline needs some work, but these women are talented team players with a variety of strengths; and based on last year’s stats, they’re poised to do great things in 2012. If they wind up working on a project together—all the better!

Who were your favorite comediennes this year? Would you choose one of the women above or is there someone we missed? Weigh in below. 

Article written by Kim Coughlin for Moxy Magazine, January 2012. Image courtesy of flickr.com user -Tripp-.