Topic: Lisa Lampanelli

Lisa Lampanelli (born Lisa Lampugnale; July 19, 1961), often referred to as Comedy's Lovable Queen of Mean, is an American stand-up comedian and insult comic. She is noted for her racy and raunchy style of comedy, which frequently includes taboo subjects such as race and homosexuality.

Lampanelli, one of three siblings, was born in Trumbull, Connecticut to a middle class family of Italian descent. Her father worked for Sikorsky Aircraft and later became a painter; her mother worked for the local police department where "she typed in all the arrests made." Lampanelli attended Catholic schools, studied journalism at Boston College and Syracuse University, and went through a graduate program at Harvard. She worked as a copy editor at Popular Mechanics and an assistant at Rolling Stone. She was also a fact checker and the first chief of research for Spy magazine; a book about Spy describes her then as "your average decked-out-heavy-metal-head-next-door." Speaking later to Maxim Magazine Online, Lampanelli remarked, "I was a real journalist for Rolling Stone, Spy, Hit Parader. I interviewed those fuckin' hair bands: Cinderella, Slaughter."

Lampanelli began her stand-up career in New York in the early 1990s. She made her break at the 2002 New York Friars' Club roast of Chevy Chase, and went on to participate in the roasts of Denis Leary, Pamela Anderson, Jeff Foxworthy, Flavor Flav, William Shatner, Joan Rivers, and David Hasselhoff and to serve as Roastmaster for Larry the Cable Guy. Lampanelli is frequently on the dais for The Howard Stern Show roasts, including appearances at the roasts for Gary Dell'Abate, Artie Lange, Andy Dick, and KKK member Daniel Carver as well as A&E's "Gene Simmons Roast" in April 2008.