Tammy Pescatelli (born Tammy Gillespie) is an American

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...

Life and career

Pescatelli was born in

Perry, Ohio Perry is a village in Lake County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,663 at the 2010 census. History It is named in honor of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry to commemorate his victory over the British fleet at the Battle of Lake Erie in ...

, and spent her childhood summers in her mother's hometown of

Meadville, Pennsylvania Meadville is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. The city is within of Erie and within of Pittsburgh. It was the first permanent settlement in Northwestern Pennsylvania. The population was 13,388 at the 2010 censu ...

. Pescatelli worked as a morning radio show co-host, performer, TV spokeswoman and basketball cheerleader from 1990 to 1995 in the

Quad Cities The Quad Cities is a region of cities (originally four, see History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport and Bettendorf in southeastern Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in northwestern Illinois. These cities are t ...

area of southeastern

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

and northwestern

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. Pescatelli's comedic career took off after appearing on NBC's ''

Last Comic Standing ''Last Comic Standing'' was an American reality television talent competition show on NBC that aired from June 1, 2003, to August 9, 2010, then again in 2014 and 2015. The goal of the program was to select a comedian from an initially large group ...

'' in 2004. Pescatelli married Luca Palanca on February 11, 2008. Palanca and Pescatelli moved to Meadville in 2009 after their son was born. Both Pescatelli and Palanca are of Italian descent, and her extended family lives in Meadville. She is often on the road as a stand-up comedian, so in Meadville her extended family helps look after their son. Part of her show's humor originates from the interactions with her and her husband's families. In 2010, Pescatelli won

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

's Standup Showdown. In 2004, she was a finalist on the second and third seasons of ''

''. She was one of the Final Five on NBC‘s ''

''. Pescatelli co-created, executive produced, wrote and starred in a

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

show on

WE tv We TV (stylized as WE tv) is an American pay television channel. Owned by AMC Networks since its September 1997 launch, it is oriented mainly towards lifestyle and entertainment programming. As of February 2015, approximately 85.2 million Ameri ...

called ''A Standup Mother'' (2011), related to Pescatelli's life as a mother, wife, and comedian. Her

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

special ''Finding the Funny'' was released with

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

in 2013. It was selected "New and Noteworthy" by

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

editors and hit number 3 on the charts. She was chosen four years in a row to be included in ''

The New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' greatest jokes from the past year."The greatest gags, tweets, jests and jokes from the past year"
''New York Post'' In 2011, Pescatelli was diagnosed with stage 2 ovarian cancer. She underwent surgery, was told she was "free and clear" of cancer and did not have to go through chemotherapy.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pescatelli, Tammy American people of Italian descent People from Perry, Ohio Last Comic Standing contestants Living people American television actresses American film actresses 21st-century American comedians 1969 births 21st-century American actresses