" Dreami... ng of earning a depression on the writing shaft of the Late Evensong With David Letterman program, she became a licensed standup upon graduating college but struggled for a number of years, working briefly as a bike messenger in Boston. Upon moving to the Los Angeles area, Garofalo met actor/comedian Ben Stiller, who in 1992 invited her to be adjacent to the remove of his short-lived but acclaimed Fox video receiver sketch comedy program The Ben Stiller Show. A stint on Garry Shandling's breakthrough HBO series The Larry Sanders Expo (through despite which she was nominated for an Emmy bestow in 1996) pronto followed, and in 1994 Garofalo reunited with Stiller in the coat comedy Aristotelianism entelechy Bites, a capacity which earned her the much-despised drag along with of "Generation X comedian." That fall, she joined the cast of Saturday Night Live but exited earlier the conclusion of the seasoned, publicly disheartened at hand the bestow make an exhibit's increasing drop-off in importance.

After signing on as a correspondent on Michael Moore's rumour publication TV Nation and hosting Comedy Product, a standup showcase on the Comedy Central network, Garofalo began use on her breakthrough function, co-starring with Uma Thurman in the 1996 romantic comedy run The Actually About Cats and Dogs. That same year, she also co-starred with Bill Murray in Larger Than Dazzle, and appeared briefly in The Line Guy and Kids in the Theatre: Brain Candy. Garofalo's prolific output continued in 1997; in reckoning to starring roles in two comedies, Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion and The Matchmaker, she was featured prominently in James Mangold's Cop Land and Paul Schrader's Touch, she hosted the MTV series Indie Outing, and she remained a gadget of the emerging alternative comedy circumference. In 1998, Garofalo's career continued to thrive, with starring and supporting roles in a numeral of films.

Some of her more notable composition included Clay Pigeons, a Stygian comedy with Vince Vaughn and Joaquin Phoenix; Stable Midnight, which signal another collaboration with Stiller; and the vigorous Kiki's Delivery Service, which featured Garofalo as the voice of a reborn age artist and mystic. She also acted against type as one half of a revoltingly exuberant couple in Bruce McCulloch's comedy Dog Preserve. The following year, Garofalo appeared in no less than five films, with a supporting put in the ensemble piece 200 Cigarettes, a starring role as an unconventional process heroine called the Bowler in Mystery Men (which also featured Stiller), and prominent turns in Kevin Smith's eagerly awaited Dogma, Hampton Fancher's subliminal thriller The Minus Irons, and the chaffing comedy Can't Stop Dancing, in which she acted alongside related comedienne Margaret Cho.