There were very few women comics when I started out doing stand-up. But I always saw that as a great advantage.

With Mitchell Hurwitz Carol Leifer is the creator of the short-lived The Ellen Show (2001). She has written for the Academy Awards for most of the 21st century. Her stand-up experience includes opening for Jerry Seinfeld and Frank Sinatra.

Leifer's "inner monologue" observational style is often autobiographical encompassing subjects about her Jewish ancestry and upbringing coming out same-sex marriage relationships (having been married previously to a man and now partnered with a woman) and parenting. David Letterman discovered her performing in a comedy club in the 1980s and Carol Leifer has since been a guest on Late Night with David Letterman over twenty-five times as well as numerous other shows and venues. Carol Leifer (/ˈliːfər/ LEE-fər; born July 27 1956) is an American comedian writer producer and actor whose career as a stand-up comedian started in the 1970s when Carol Leifer was in college.