Karen Mills

Karen has made a career out of making people laugh. She got her start thirty years ago at The
Punchline in Atlanta, and she’s now on a 100 city tour with Leanne Morgan. Karen and Leanne met in
2004 doing the Southern Fried Chicks comedy tour. Their stint with the Southern Fried Chicks lasted
two years, but their friendship has lasted twenty. It was a full circle moment and a dream come
true for Karen when she opened for Leanne at Atlanta’s Fabulous Fox Theatre.

Karen also filmed a special produced by Nate Bargatze called “Nateland Presents: The Showcase” and clips from her Dry Bar Comedy Special “Baby Got Bad Back” have gotten over 30 million views. Karen appeared on season 12 of America’s Got Talent, she’s performed numerous times on the Grand Ole Opry, and she can be heard regularly on Sirius/XM comedy channels.

This self-proclaimed “crazy dog lady” has a straight-forward approach to the realities of life. Her
smart, funny, keen observations will keep you laughing at yourself as you relate to her
experiences. Even Ovarian cancer couldn’t stop her from turning her pain into punchlines. Diagnosed
in 2013 after a routine checkup, Karen was determined to take on the disease with hope and humor
and in 2016 she was chosen to present her talk, “Cancer is a Laughing Matter” at TEDxChattanooga.

Karen has faced every challenge with determination. She stands at 5’2″ and was told more than once
that she was too short to play basketball. Not only did she play, in 1981 she led the nation in
assists and became the first, Division 1 first team All-American in UT Chattanooga’s history. Karen
was the first UTC athlete to earn that distinction in any sport, male or female. Her #12 uniform
was retired and in 1981 she was inducted into Chattanooga’s Basketball Hall of Fame.