Jerry Seinfeld once said there are four stages of comedy: "Make your friends laugh, make strangers laugh, get paid to make strangers laugh, and make people talk like you because it's so much fun."
He could have stopped at number three and have been okay, at least financially. The Seinfeld co-creator and standup comic ranks as the top-earning comedian, having raked in $36 million between June 1, 2014 and June 1, 2015, with the little show about nothing still responsible for a good deal of his earnings.
The minimum for the 11 comedians who made our list was $7.5 million. The list measures earnings before subtracting management fees and taxes between June 1. 2014 and June 1, 2015. Figures are based on data from Nielson, IMDB and other sources, as well as on interviews with agents, managers, lawyers, industry insiders and the stars themselves.
To make the cut, their primary source of income had to come from concert ticket sales, and the live comedy business is booming. Acts like Kevin Hart and Jeff Dunham have managed to move beyond both the club and theater scene and to larger arenas. This allows some, like Hart, to pull crowds averaging 8,000 people.
“Comedy in general can be very lucrative as a touring property in part because it is so inexpensive to produce the show,” said Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of Pollstar. “Some comedians just carry their own microphone and that’s it.”
In second place on our list is Hart, up from fifth the last time we ranked comedians in 2013. With his What Now? Tour, Hart has made the rare jump from theaters and clubs to selling out arenas. With a packed schedule–48 shows during our scoring period –he’s breaking comedy tour gross records.
His earnings are bolstered by his film and TV appearances. Now a hot commodity in Hollywood, Hart starred in Think Like a Man Too, Get Hard and The Wedding Ringer during the 12-month period we evaluated and has more red carpets to look forward to in 2016: He’s starring in and producing Ride Along 2.
Among the few other top touring comics to make a splash on the silver screen of late is Gabriel Iglesias, also known as Fluffy, who lands in eighth place with $8.5 million thanks not only to his tour, but also The Fluffy Movie and his role in Magic Mike XXL.
While movies are the less travelled road for the current crop of top-earning comedians, many are familiar faces on television. Russell Peters banked $19 million over the 12-month period, tying for fourth place, adding the title of judge on NBC’s Last Comic Standing to his resume. English comedian John Bishop also used non-scripted TV to his advantage. He earned $8 million, in part thanks to his annual BBC Christmas special and a BBC docuseries, John Bishop’s Australia.
And then there is Louis C.K., who made $9 million and is one of a few comics on the list to make as much off of his television show as his touring. His FX series Louie has continued to pull in awards, if not high ratings, snagging an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series in 2014.
Aziz Ansari has also ridden his television fame to big bucks.The Parks and Recreation star debuts on the list with $9.5 million in earnings thanks to his fan-favorite role as Tom Haverford on the NBC hit. Ansari also penned Modern Romance—a sociological investigation into the dating and love lives of millennials—which earned him a hefty advance, as well as name recognition among Tinder-swipers and Hinge-matchers.
Women are noticeably absent from the list, and in the standup and television comedy business in general—a problem that goes back decades. Since 1959, only three comediennes have won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album (Kathy Griffin, Whoopi Goldberg and Lily Tomlin).
One of the most interesting developments in comedy in recent years is the growing action on the smallest screen. The Internet has given comedians new platforms on which to make money from their jokes. Seinfeld scored a big payday when Hulu purchased the rights to his '90s TV classic in a $160 million deal. And for his new material, the comedic master is turning to online distributor Crackle, which airs his interview series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.
And just as in many areas of the entertainment industry,
But even as technology breeds LOLs and ROFLs, touring remains the main route to success for a comic. Terry Fator and Jeff Dunham, in particular, have refined their stage presence to make top dollar. Both Fator—who got started as a ventriloquist on America’s Got Talent—and Dunham—another puppeteer—have profited from lucrative residencies at Vegas hotels, helping them to make $21.5 million and $19 million, respectively over the 12-month period we scored.
Touring is also behind Dave Chappelle’s return to the list. He earned $7.5 million, almost all of which came from his first major tour in years. His decision to reenter the industry is, almost definitely, giving him the last laugh.
