| Lashonda Lester | |
| Birth Place: | Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Death Date: | (age 41) |
| Death Place: | Austin, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Stand-up comedian |
| Years Active: | 2008–2017 |
Lashonda Lester (died April 6, 2017) was an American stand-up comedian from Austin, Texas. Her posthumous debut album, Shondee Superstar, was released by Dan Schlissel's Stand Up! Records in 2019, and was critically praised. John-Michael Bond of Paste magazine called her "a rare talent with a preternatural gift for razor-sharp storytelling." Marc Maron called her a "funny, authentic, hard-working comic who had her own voice... That’s an honest comic. The best kind."[1]
Lester was born in Detroit, Michigan. As a child, she was a voiceover actress in local commercials. She developed an early interest in comedy, memorizing routines by Redd Foxx, Slappy White, George Carlin, and Richard Pryor.[2] She worked various jobs, including as a wrestling promoter and a madam.[3] [4]
Lester moved to Austin in 2004 to work in politics, and began performing stand-up in 2008.[5] [2] She became known for creating and starring in the darkly comic biography series Weird! True Hollywood Tales, which ran for five seasons at Austin's Salvage Vanguard Theater.[6]
She performed frequently on television, including NickMom Night Out in 2013, the PBS series Stand Up Empire in 2016, and Fox's Laughs in 2017.[7] [8] She was one of the top 100 comics on season 9 of the NBC show Last Comic Standing in 2015.[9]
In 2016, Lester won the prestigious annual "Funniest Person in Austin" competition at Austin's Cap City Comedy Club, becoming the first black comedian to win the award.[10] [11] Her win was captured in the 2016 documentary Funniest, directed by Katie Pengra and Dustin Svehlak.[12] In 2016, the Austin Chronicle gave Lester a special award in its Best of 2016 issue, "Best Unstoppable Comedy Dynamo".[13]
Lester was increasingly well known nationally when she died in 2017.[10] She had recently received critical praise for a high-profile performance with Marc Maron and was due to record her first special for the TV series Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents later that year.[4] [14] [15] Several national publications, including Paste and Vulture, published lengthy obituaries after her death.[16]
Lester and her husband, Dana, had a son.[14] [11]
Lester was diagnosed with a chronic kidney disease in 2015, and had been hospitalized prior to her death.[17] She underwent dialysis four times a week, often using the time to write new material.[11]
Shondee Superstar was well received by critics. Writing in Paste, Bond called the album "a lovely introduction to a voice that’s both purely unique and universally relatable." Valerie Lopez and Lara Smith of Comedy Wham called the album "superb" and praised Lester's "knack for storytelling" and ability to "turn a simple phrase with perfect timing and absolutely slay an audience."[18]