She was born in Florissant, America in 1965 in an Irish family. She grew up with six of her siblings and went to the McCluer North High School . Her athletic talents were appreciated and she even won various competitions including the Mid-Missouri Hoops Shoot Championship and made a record for being the smallest person to have won it. At the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville , she earned a degree in Journalism in 1988 and aimed to pursue a career in Journalism. After completing the studies, she started to work for the Suburban Journals newspaper and at the Missouri Athletic Club’s publications department as a side job. Madigan had the germs of making others laugh and cracking hilarious jokes spontaneously since the beginning. Following her talent, Kathleen Madigan started to perform stand-up at the local comedy clubs during the ‘ open mic’ sessions.