PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: comedian
American actor and director
Woody Allen is an American motion-picture director, screenwriter, actor, comedian, playwright, and author who is best known for his bittersweet comic films containing elements of parody, slapstick, and...
British actor, director, writer, and composer
Charlie Chaplin was a British comedian, producer, writer, director, and composer who is widely regarded as the greatest comic artist of the screen and one of the most important figures in motion-picture...
American stand-up comedian
Bill Hicks was an American stand-up comedian who was considered a “comedian’s comedian” and who was a star in Britain, though he never experienced wide success in the United States during his career in...
American comedian
Robert Klein is an American comedian, actor, and singer who, along with Richard Pryor and George Carlin, transformed the art of stand-up comedy in the 1970s. The grandson of Hungarian Jewish immigrants...
American entertainer and producer
Bill Cosby is an American comedian, actor, and producer who played a major role in the development of a more-positive portrayal of Black people on television but whose sterling reputation was tarnished...
American comedian
Flip Wilson was one of the most popular comedians in America, and his comedy variety show, The Flip Wilson Show, was one of the first television shows hosted by an African American to be a ratings success....
American comedian and actor
Dennis Miller is an American comedian and actor known for his work on Saturday Night Live (SNL), his brief run as a commentator on Monday Night Football, and his conservative political views. He is also...
American comedian and actor
Bernie Mac was an American comedian and actor who parlayed a stand-up comedy act of edgy, autobiographical humor into the popular television sitcom The Bernie Mac Show (2001–06). He also acted in films...
American actor and entertainer
Bob Hope was a British-born American entertainer and comic actor known for his rapid-fire delivery of jokes and one-liners and for his success in virtually all entertainment media. He was also known for...
American comedian, writer, and actress
Ali Wong is a comedian, writer, and actress whose irreverent and incisive work explores themes of cultural identity, motherhood, and sexuality from a feminist perspective. In 2024 she won a Golden Globe...
American actor and writer
Steve Martin is an American comedian, writer, and producer who began his career as a stand-up comic and eventually achieved success in motion pictures, on television, on Broadway, and in literature. Martin...
British actor, stand-up comedian, screenwriter and dramatist
Ben Elton is a multifaceted comic actor, novelist, stand-up comedian, screenwriter and dramatist. A prominent figure in the 1980s British comedy scene, Elton is perhaps best known for cowriting the 1980s...
American actor and comedian
Billy Crystal is an American actor, writer, director, and comedian, known for a highly expressive manner that lent itself to a wide range of comedic characters. Crystal, whose father was a jazz promoter...
American comedian, musician, and actor
Jamie Foxx is an American comedian, musician, and actor who became known for his impersonations on the television sketch-comedy show In Living Color and later proved himself a versatile film actor, especially...
American comedian and musician
Fred Armisen is an American comedian and musician, best known for his many recurring characters and impersonations as a cast member (2002–13) on Saturday Night Live (SNL) and for cocreating and costarring...
American comedian and actor
Chris Rock is an American comedian whose popular stand-up routine, which often addressed racial matters, led to a successful film career. Rock grew up in the impoverished Bedford-Stuyvesant section of...
American comedian and actor
Dave Chappelle is an American comedian and actor who was best known for cocreating, writing, and starring in the groundbreaking television sketch comedy program Chappelle’s Show (2003–06). Chappelle’s...
American actress
Leslie Jones is an American comedian and actress known for stand-up comedy specials and screen roles that showcase her gifts for physical comedy and crowd work, the latter comprising spontaneous engagement...
American comedian, writer, director, and producer
Louis C.K. is an American comedian, writer, director, and producer known for his ribald confessional stand-up comedy and for his television show Louie. Szekely was raised in Mexico City until age seven,...
American actor
David Cross is an American writer, stand-up comedian, and actor who is best known for playing Tobias Fünke in the TV sitcom Arrested Development (2003–06, 2013, 2018–19) and for cocreating and costarring...
American comedian, actor, and podcaster
Joe Rogan is an American comedian, actor, television host, podcaster, and announcer for the competitive mixed martial arts organization Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He has become an extremely...
American comedian
Adam Sandler is an American comedian known for his portrayal of infantile but endearing characters. Sandler was raised in Manchester, New Hampshire, the youngest of four children. Academically disinclined,...
American comedian
Lenny Bruce was an American stand-up comic and social satirist during the 1950s and early ’60s. Although public authorities increasingly denounced his performances as dirty and sick and courts across the...
Italian comedian and social critic
Beppe Grillo is an Italian comedian and social critic who cofounded the Five Star Movement, a political party in Italy that espoused a broadly populist, antiestablishment platform. Grillo grew up in working-class...
British-American comedian
John Oliver is an English-American comedian, writer, and television host who has written and performed for various programs over a two-decade career but is perhaps best known as the host of Last Week Tonight...
Canadian comedian and actor
Jim Carrey is a Canadian American comedian who established himself as a leading comedic actor with a series of over-the-top performances and who won plaudits for his more-serious portrayals as his career...
American comedian and actor
Kevin James is an American comedian and actor best known for playing affable working-class characters, most notably Doug Heffernan in the CBS sitcom The King of Queens (1998–2007) and the title character...
Canadian actor and stand-up comedian
Norm Macdonald was a Canadian stand-up comedian and actor known for his acerbic wit and deadpan delivery. He was best known as a writer and cast member for the sketch comedy television series Saturday...
American comedian and actress
Kathy Griffin is an American comedian and actress known for her lacerating observations about celebrity culture. Griffin was the youngest of five children born to a stereo store manager and a hospital...
American comedian, actress, and writer
Sarah Silverman is an American comedian, actress, and writer known for her subversive pointed commentaries on the social construction of race, gender, and religion. Silverman’s father was a clothing store...
American comedian and actor
Robin Williams was an American comedian and actor known for his manic stand-up routines and his diverse film performances. He won an Academy Award for his role in Good Will Hunting (1997). Williams’s father,...
American comedian and television host
Taylor Tomlinson is an American comedian and television host known for stand-up that combines commentary on contemporary sexuality and dating with frank personal reflections on mental health, therapy,...
American entertainer
Arsenio Hall is an American actor, comedian, and producer who has appeared in several television shows and movies but is best known for being a popular late-night talk-show host. He was the first African...
American comedian
Rodney Dangerfield was a popular American comedian known for his wide-eyed, fidgety delivery style and his hapless, self-deprecating demeanor, expressed by his famous lamentation, “I don’t get no respect.”...
American talk-show host
David Letterman is an American late-night talk-show personality, producer, and comedian, best known as the host of the long-running Late Show with David Letterman. After graduating from Ball State University...
American stand-up comedian and actor
Ramy Youssef is an American writer, comedian, and actor best known for exploring his experience as the son of Egyptian immigrants and as an observant Muslim in stand-up comedy specials and the award-winning,...
American comedian, writer and actress
Amy Schumer is an American comedian and actress whose pointed self-deprecating humor brought her success on stage and screen. Perhaps the most frequent topics of her often raunchy comedy are relationship...
American comedian, writer, and director
Jon Stewart is an American comedian, writer, and director who is best known for hosting (1999–2015, 2024) the satiric television news program The Daily Show. Stewart graduated from the College of William...
American entertainer
Rosie O’Donnell is an American actress of film, television, and stage who was perhaps best known for her hosting duties on the talk shows The Rosie O’Donnell Show (1996–2002) and The View (2006–07; 2014–15)....
American actor and comedian
J.B. Smoove is an American actor and comedian best known for portraying the quick-witted and profane character Leon Black in the improvisation-based comedy television series Curb Your Enthusiasm (2007–...
Japanese actor, director, writer, and television personality
Kitano Takeshi is a Japanese actor, director, writer, and television personality who is known for his dexterity with both comedic and dramatic material. Kitano was born into a working-class family in Tokyo....
British comedian
Ricky Gervais is an English comedian best known for his work on the BBC comedy series The Office (2001–03). After completing his studies in philosophy at the University of London, Gervais fronted the little-known...
American comedian
Tiffany Haddish is an American comedian known for her unflinching candour and disarming authenticity. She shot to stardom with her no-holds-barred performance as Dina in the raunchy comedy Girls Trip (2017)....
American comedian and author
Chelsea Handler is an American comedian and author known for her earthy, bawdy style and her late-night talk show, Chelsea Lately (2007–14). Handler grew up in New Jersey, the youngest of six siblings....
American actor and comedian
Bob Newhart was an American comedian and actor who achieved fame as a stand-up performer and later starred in television sitcoms. He is known for his genial mild-mannered persona and for his skillfully...
American comedian and writer
Jay Leno is an American comedian and writer who became host of The Tonight Show (1992–2009, 2010–14). Leno was raised in Andover, Massachusetts. While attending Emerson College in Boston, where he graduated...
American comedian
Jonathan Winters was an American comedian who used sound effects, facial contortions, a gift for mimicry, and breakneck improvisational skills to entertain nightclub, radio, television, and film audiences....
American comedian
Marc Maron is an American stand-up comedian and actor who was perhaps best known for the podcast WTF with Marc Maron, which often featured candid interviews with celebrities and newsmakers. Maron’s father,...
American comedian, actor, and talk show host
Steve Harvey is an American comedian, actor, author, and television and radio personality who first gained fame for his observational humour and later became known for his self-help advice, especially...
American actress and comedian
Mo’Nique is an American actress, stand-up comedian, and talk-show host known for her bawdy humor and dramatic gravitas. She won an Academy Award for her supporting role in the drama Precious: Based on...