Roseanne

Few comedy performers of either gender have ever had a voice as powerful and distinct as the lady so gifted that she can just go by her first name and never be fooled for anybody else. While television had previously required women to be beautiful and demure to order to be funny, the larger-than-life Roseanne Connor threw that all out the window with her eponymous sitcom, in which she played the loud-mouthed and strong-willed Roseanne Connor, a woman who sounded and behaved more like someone you would know in real life, rather than a typical, polished TV facsimile, only if that real woman also happened to be unbelief.

Furthermore, as unusual, innovative, and honest as Roseanne was from past comedies attempting to depict genuine American family life, it was also hilarious. Even outside of her famous program, her stand-up routines on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show are as amusing and relevant now as they were the first time she delivered them.