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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."[1][2] Marc Maron called her a "funny, authentic, hard-working comic who had her own voice... That’s an honest comic. The best kind."[3]
Lashonda Lester | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1975 or 1976 Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | April 6, 2017 (age 41) Austin, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupation | Stand-up comedian |
| Years active | 2008–2017 |
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.[4] She worked various jobs, including as a wrestling promoter and a madam.[5][6]
Lester moved to Austin in 2004 to work in politics, and began performing stand-up in 2008.[7][4] 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.[8][9]
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.[10][11][12] She was one of the top 100 comics on season 9 of the NBC show Last Comic Standing in 2015.[13]
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.[14][9] Her win was captured in the 2016 documentary Funniest, directed by Katie Pengra and Dustin Svehlak.[15] In 2016, the Austin Chronicle gave Lester a special award in its Best of 2016 issue, "Best Unstoppable Comedy Dynamo".[16]
Lester was increasingly well known nationally when she died in 2017.[14] 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.[6][17][18] Several national publications, including Paste and Vulture, published lengthy obituaries after her death.[1][19]
Lester was diagnosed with a chronic kidney disease in 2015, and had been hospitalized prior to her death.[20] She underwent dialysis four times a week, often using the time to write new material.[9]
- Shondee Superstar (Stand Up! Records, 2019)
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."[1] 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."[2]
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