Wanda Sykes

Before her turns in Pootie Tang (as the hero’s mouthy, unlikely friend Biggie Shorty) and Curb Your Enthusiasm (as a mouthy, unlikely friend of Larry David), Wanda Sykes eked out a living as a bureaucrat by day and a stand-up comedian by night. Those nights served her well. In her exasperated nasal twang, Sykes expertly aims barbs at anyone in her path: Larry David, a jovial Chris Rock, an angry Bill Cosby waiting for his lifetime-achievement award at the Emmys, and—at Obama’s first White House Correspondents’ Dinner—Rush Limbaugh’s kidneys. Odds are the D.C. native has plenty of barbs for Fox, as the network canceled her late-night chat-fest, The Wanda Sykes Show, after just one season.

Updated 10/04/2011