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I recently had the opportunity to chat with some of the funniest women in stand up for my iTunes podcast Whine At 9 and Parade Magazine online column Showbiz Analysis. Wendy Liebman, Heather McDonald, Loni Love and Iliza Shlesinger shared plenty of hilarious stories as well as some valuable advice for anyone pursuing a comedy career - including those in the EBWW community (Let's face it, EBWW stand up night is one of the most unique and fun features of the workshop!) Below are five stand up strategies that seem to have helped these talented women land on the biggest stages in show business and prove that women can rock the room as well as, or better than, the guys on the block.

1. Find your own unique voice.

In an industry where some might consider mimicking the style of other success stories, these comedians have made their mark and their money by being themselves and emphasizing their differences. Last Comic Standing winner Iliza Shlesinger believes that connecting with audiences requires you to "give them something authentic." Comic and Chelsea Lately's Heather McDonald says, "I just never saw anyone that was like me up there." Focusing on bringing her own personality to the stage, McDonald admits, "That is an exaggerated persona of myself, but it is really me." Regarding her comedy image as a party-lover, McDonald laughs, "Sure I've gotten drunk at company functions - because my company's Chelsea Lately, so it's hard not to."

2. It's all about teamwork and being a team player.

From the home front to the stage and screen, all of these comedians have found the power in building a strong social support network and being team players. Their careers may appear to be solo acts, but there were plenty of people in the background who helped them make this happen. For most, women comedy mentors helped provide them with opportunities that have opened professional doors. Talk show favorite and author of Love Him or Leave Him, But Don't Get Stuck With the Tab Loni Love credits women like Wendy Williams, Bethany Frankel, Chelsea Handler and Ellen Degeneres with giving her the opportunity to cut her comedy chops. Says Love, "They allowed me to get the training. And they've been very encouraging to me."

When Heather McDonald's not doing stand up, she's busy collaborating with other comedy professionals. Notes E!'s After Lately actress, "When you're able to collaborate with other people, it helps your ego be put to the side sometimes, because you just want to have fun and you want the funniest show. And so I do feel that it is great that I can do both and that I enjoy doing both."

Of course behind every great and happy comedian, there's usually an understanding partner or family member. "I have a great husband who doesn't mind that I talk a lot about him in my act," says McDonald about her spouse who has never discouraged her from tackling a gig. Because life on the comedy highway often takes you far from home, McDonald recognizes that her career involves a lot of external support. Says the comic whose first one-hour comedy special I Don't Mean To Brag... will air on Showtime in August, "I am fortunate enough to have a great support system and that's why I'm able to do what I do."

3. Do your homework and put in your hours.

Stand up might look like fun, but success in the business comes to those who've honed their craft and clocked endless comedy hours on stage and off. Working different venues, analyzing audience reactions and testing out material are only some of the critical pieces of the puzzle. Creating new content is the other. Using the same joke sets over and over again might help you polish your work, but if you can't create new material quickly, the game is over before it even begins. Perhaps no situation showcases this as well as NBC's "Last Comic Standing." With respect to stand up on TV, "Last Comic Standing" winner and the woman behind the comedy special War Paint, Iliza Shlesinger says the tough part is "the ability to take a scalpel to your set, get your point across and be likable in 90 seconds or 30 seconds or a minute 20, however long your set is. There's a lot of math that goes into it - a lot of math and a lot of skill. So it's a lot of lightning in a bottle."

Loni Love is proof that a comedy career doesn't happen overnight. She'd done stand up in college, but her initial career took her in a different direction. Says Love, who, by day worked as an engineer and developed her comedy act at night before taking the leap into full time show business, "It's been a long haul. It may seem to some people that have never heard of me, 'Oh she just popped up on the scene,' but I've been working on this for some time." Adds the host of Fox's The Real, "It's taken a while, but you know it's been that type of ride. I didn't know anybody in the industry. I've learned. I've networked. I've worked hard. I've written material. I've traveled all across the United States."

4. Get over the need to be liked.

Iliza Shlesinger may be the youngest comic to nab the title of "Last Comic Standing," but she's got the wisdom part down. What advice would she give those who hope to follow in her funny footsteps? Shlesinger says, "My only advice is to just put on blinders. And you can't worry about when other comics aren't nice to you, when other comics don't like you, when bookers don't like you. No one's ever going to like you 100 percent because it's comedy and it's subjective."

5. Be flexible and be ready for your opportunity.

Wendy Liebman has been rolling with her comedy career for nearly three decades and she's always open to new opportunities. The busy wife, stepmom and star of the TV special Taller on TV notes, "I think personally I have been very safe - like holding onto something. Just figuring it out for 30 years - almost 30 years." This summer she is a finalist headed for the stage at Radio City Music Hall for NBC's America's Got Talent live auditions. "I think I'm ready now to expand, to grow," says Liebman, who would love to do a sitcom in the future.

Loni Love thinks the key to comedy success is being ready. "You know, eventually you get breaks and you try to be ready. And I just tell everybody, especially women, 'Just be ready for your break.'"

How flexible should you be when you feel like you're over 30 and time might not be on your side? Says Liebman, "I think it's never too late to start anything except maybe being a ballerina."

Listen to all of the comedy conversations on iTunes, WhineAt9.com and Stitcher Radio.

- Dr. Nancy Berk

Dr. Nancy Berk is a clinical psychologist who's been on a creative roll since leaving full-time academia. An online columnist for Parade Magazine's "Showbiz Analysis" and host of the celebrity podcast "Whine At 9," she also blogs for The Huffington Post and USA Today College. Nancy's humor has landed her on stage at places like TEDx and her book, College Bound and Gagged, in the feature film Admission starring Tina Fey. She's served on the faculty at the 2012 and 2014 Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop.