Rivers rightly regards herself as a pioneer, her brassy persona creating a brand of self-deprecating humour that opened the way for women after her to talk on stage about subjects once regarded as unsuitable for women or comedy. Born in 1933, from the mid-1950s she spent a decade braving Greenwich Village clubs in an entertainment world dominated by men, before her first television break on The Johnny Carson Show in 1965.

Whatever you think of Joan Rivers' comedy, you have to admire the durability of her career. In 2008, she won an Emmy for her song 'I'm Fucking Matt Damon', performed as a duet with Damon as a spoof confession to her then-boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel on his show Jimmy Kimmel Live! Her autobiography The Bedwetter (Faber) is out now. 'It's more important that you think I'm thin.' Silverman's satire is scalpel-sharp, often drawing on her Jewish heritage in her stage persona to ridicule bigotry.

'I don't care if you think I'm racist,' she once said, in response to a high-profile complaint about her comedy. Silverman, 39, has forged a career out of upending political correctness and challenging complacent Eeast coast liberalism. Her best-loved song is 'The Ballad of Barry and Freda', a hymn to middle-aged sexual frustration that features the unforgettable line: 'Beat me on the bottom with a Woman's Weekly.' Though she is best known for her television work and has won Baftas for writing and straight acting, Wood also won the best live stand-up category at the British Comedy Awards in 19.

The grande dame of British women stand-ups, Wood has featured character comedy, jokes, sketches and songs and draws heavily on her Lancashire roots and keen observations of ordinary women's experiences.

Comedian with tiny piano