Best Comedians of All Time
by shopgirl95 | created - 12 Jan 2019 | updated - 12 Jan 2019 | Public
1. Ellen DeGeneres
Producer | Ellen: The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Emmy-winning talk show host Ellen Lee DeGeneres was born in Metairie, Louisiana, a New Orleans suburb. She is the daughter of Betty DeGeneres (née Elizabeth Jane Pfeffer), a speech therapist, and Elliott Everett DeGeneres, Jr., an insurance agent. Her brother is musician and producer Vance DeGeneres...
2. Margaret Cho
Producer | Margaret Cho: PsyCHO
Margaret Cho was born on December 5, 1968 in San Francisco. Her grandfather was a Methodist minister who ran an orphanage in Seoul during the Korean War. Ignoring the traditions of her patriarchal culture, her mother bravely resisted an arranged marriage in Korea & married Margaret's father, who ...
3. Tig Notaro
Actress | One Mississippi
Tig Notaro is an American stand-up comedian, writer, radio contributor, and actress. Her acclaimed album Live was nominated in 2014 for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. The special Tig Notaro: Boyish Girl Interrupted was nominated in 2016 at the 68th ...
4. Maria Bamford
Actress | Barnyard
Maria was born in Port Hueneme, California at the Naval Base. Her parents are Joel (dermatologist) and Marilyn (therapist) of Duluth, MN. She attended Chester Park Elementary and Marshall High School in Duluth MN and went on to attend Bates College (Lewiston, ME), University of Edinburgh (Scotland)...
5. Amy Schumer
Writer | Trainwreck
Amy Beth Schumer is an American comedian, writer and actress from Manhattan who is known for Trainwreck, Last Comic Standing, Snatched, Expecting Amy, Price Check, I Feel Pretty, The Humans and Inside Amy Schumer. She is married to chef Chris Fischer and had a son. Slated to appear as the iconic ...
6. Sarah Silverman
Actress | Wreck-It Ralph
Sarah Silverman was most recently the host of the two-time Emmy-nominated weekly topical series, I Love You America, which streamed on Hulu and also received a Writers Guild Awards nomination.
Silverman is currently working on a musical adaptation of her 2010 memoir and New York Times Bestseller ...
7. Wanda Sykes
Actress | Monster-in-Law
Wanda Sykes has been called one of the funniest stand-up comics by her peers and ranks among Entertainment Weekly's 25 Funniest People in America. Her smart-witted stand-up has sent her career in many different areas.
She was previously seen in Comedy Central's Wanda Does It (2004), where she tried ...
8. Tina Fey
Actress | Date Night
Elizabeth Stamatina Fey was born in 1970 in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia, to Xenobia "Jeanne" (Xenakes), a brokerage employee, and Donald Henry Fey, who wrote grant proposals for universities. Her mother is Greek, born in Piraeus, while her father had German, Northern Irish,...
9. Amy Poehler
Actress | Inside Out
Amy Meredith Poehler was born in Newton, Massachusetts, to high school teachers Eileen Frances (Milmore) and William Grinstead Poehler. Her brother is comedian Greg Poehler. She is of Irish (from her mother) and English, Irish, German, and Portuguese (from her father) descent. Amy was first ...
10. Chelsea Handler
Actress | This Means War
Chelsea Handler was born in Livingston, New Jersey, to a Mormon mother, Rita (Stoecker), who was born in Germany, and an American-born Jewish father, Seymour Handler. She was the youngest of six children. In 2002, Chelsea was one of the stars of Oxygen's Girls Behaving Badly (2002). Chelsea got her...
11. Aparna Nancherla
Actress | A Simple Favor
Aparna Nancherla was born on August 22, 1982 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for A Simple Favor (2018), Mythic Quest (2020) and Crashing (2017).
12. Kathy Griffin
Actress | The Cable Guy
Kathy Griffin was raised in the near-west Chicago suburbs, in an Irish-American family. She has three older brothers and an older sister. When her parents retired to California, Kathy moved west with them after graduating from Oak Park River Forest High School, and began trying to break into show ...
13. Whoopi Goldberg
Actress | Ghost
Whoopi Goldberg was born Caryn Elaine Johnson in the Chelsea section of Manhattan on November 13, 1955. Her mother, Emma (Harris), was a teacher and a nurse, and her father, Robert James Johnson, Jr., was a clergyman. Whoopi's recent ancestors were from Georgia, Florida, and Virginia. She worked in...
14. Carol Burnett
Soundtrack | The Carol Burnett Show
The entertainment world has enjoyed a six-decade love affair with comedienne/singer Carol Burnett. A peerless sketch performer and delightful, self-effacing personality who rightfully succeeded Lucille Ball as the carrot-topped "Queen of Television Comedy," it was Burnett's traumatic childhood that...
15. Kristen Wiig
Actress | Bridesmaids
Kristen Carroll Wiig was born on August 22, 1973 in Canandaigua, New York, to Laurie J. (Johnston), an artist, and Jon J. Wiig, a lake marina manager. She is of Norwegian (from her paternal grandfather), Irish, English, and Scottish descent. The family moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, before ...
16. Ali Wong
Producer | Ali Wong: Baby Cobra
Ali Wong was born on April 19, 1982 in San Francisco, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Ali Wong: Baby Cobra (2016), Always Be My Maybe (2019) and Beef (2023). She has been married to Justin Hakuta since November 27, 2014. They have two children.
17. Janeane Garofalo
Actress | Mystery Men
Janeane, the petite woman with the acerbic wit, was born in Newton, New Jersey, in 1964, to Joan, a secretary, and Carmine Garofalo, an Exxon executive. She is of Italian and Irish descent. Janeane had many jobs before breaking into show biz. She worked as a bike messenger, a shoe saleswoman, ...
18. Whitney Cummings
Writer | Whitney
Whitney Ann Cummings is an American stand-up comedian, actress, writer, director, producer and pod-caster. A native of Washington, D.C., Cummings pursued a comedy career in Los Angeles after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, where she had studied with the intention of becoming a ...
19. Mindy Kaling
Actress | The Office
Vera Mindy Chokalingam is an Indian-American actress, comedienne, producer, writer and director from Cambridge, Massachusetts known for playing Kelly Kapoor from The Office, Disgust from Inside Out and creating The Mindy Project. She also acted in Wreck-It Ralph, Despicable Me, The 40-Year-Old ...
20. Jen Kirkman
Writer | The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Jen Kirkman is a podcaster, television writer, comedian, author, and actor. Her comedy specials are streaming now on Netflix; "I'm Gonna Die Alone (And I Feel Fine)" was hailed by the Atlantic as the best of 2015. "And perhaps best of all....Jen Kirkman's I'm Gonna Die Alone (And I Feel Fine), a ...
21. Samantha Bee
Producer | Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
Studied at George Brown Theatre School in Toronto. She waited tables for five years, did some theatre work and the odd commercial. Even kept her comedic bent alive in the Toronto sketch comedy group, the Atomic Fireballs, she formed with three other women.
22. Jessica Williams
Actress | Shrinking
Jessica Renee Williams, born July 31, 1989 in Los Angeles County, California, is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her work as a senior correspondent on The Daily Show, where she was the youngest correspondent ever at the age of twenty-two, and as co-host of the podcast 2 Dope...
23. Chelsea Peretti
Actress | Parks and Recreation
Chelsea Vanessa Peretti is a stand-up comedian, actress and writer who appeared in FOX's Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013). The show won two Golden Globe Awards in 2014 including one for Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy.
Peretti starred alongside Andy Samberg, Terry Crews and Joe Lo Truglio as '...
24. Tiffany Haddish
Actress | Girls Trip
Tiffany Sara Cornilia Haddish is an American stand-up comedian and actress. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2018, and The Hollywood Reporter listed her among the 100 most powerful people in entertainment in both 2018 and 2019.
After ...
25. Emily Heller
Producer | Barry
Emily Heller was born on October 5, 1985 in Alameda, California, USA. She is a producer and writer, known for Barry (2018), The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015) and Ground Floor (2013).
26. Nicole Byer
Actress | Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
Born August 29, in Middletown Township, New Jersey, US, Nicole Byer is an American comedian, actress, and television host, best known for hosting the bake-off competition show Nailed It! (2018). She moved to New York City in the early 2000s and worked as a waitress to support herself. She found she...
27. River Butcher
Actor | Take My Wife
River "RB" Butcher is a Los Angeles-based standup comic, actor and writer. Originally from the Midwest, River grew up skateboarding the mean streets of Akron, Ohio. Their blue collar brand of cool has endeared audiences nationwide, as they have performed standup and appeared on shows such as ...
28. Sandra Bernhard
Actress | The King of Comedy
Performer, actress, singer and author Sandra Bernhard appeared as a series regular in season three of the immensely popular FX Television/Ryan Murphy show "POSE" reprising her role as brassy but caring Nurse Judy Kubrack, who works with H.I.V. / AIDS patients, following a memorable season one guest...
29. Kristen Schaal
Actress | Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
Kristen Schaal is an American actress, voice artist, writer, and comedian. She is best known for her roles as Mel on the HBO series Flight of the Conchords, Louise Belcher on FOX animated comedy Bob's Burgers, and Mabel Pines on Gravity Falls. Other notable roles include her appearances as a ...
30. Natasha Leggero
Actress | He's Just Not That Into You
Natasha Leggero is an American comedian, actress and writer. She rose to fame after appearing as the host of the MTV reality television series The 70s House in 2005, and as a regular round-table panelist on Chelsea Handler's late-night talk show Chelsea Lately from 2008 to 2014. Leggero created the...
31. Cameron Esposito
Actress | Take My Wife
Cameron Esposito is a nationally touring stand-up comedian, actor and writer based in Los Angeles known for her appearances on CBS, NBC, Comedy Central, E!, TBS, IFC and the Cartoon Network.
Cameron is the host/creator of Buzzfeed's Ask A Lesbian series and the host of the popular Put Your Hands ...
32. Kate Berlant
Actress | Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood
Kate Berlant is an actress, stand-up comedian, and writer who was recently profiled by The New York Times as a "magnetic improvisational comic" at the forefront of experimental comedy. Kate was named a New Face at the 2014 Montreal Comedy Festival and was one of Comedy Central's Top Ten Comics to ...
33. Alexandra Wentworth
Actress | It's Complicated
Alexandra Wentworth was born on January 12, 1965 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for It's Complicated (2009), Jerry Maguire (1996) and Office Space (1999). She has been married to George Stephanopoulos since November 20, 2001. They have two children.
34. Susie Essman
Actress | Curb Your Enthusiasm
Susie Essman was born on May 31, 1955 in Mount Vernon, New York, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000), Bolt (2008) and Cop Out (2010). She has been married to Jim Harder since September 13, 2008.
35. Whitney Cummings
Writer | Whitney
Whitney Ann Cummings is an American stand-up comedian, actress, writer, director, producer and pod-caster. A native of Washington, D.C., Cummings pursued a comedy career in Los Angeles after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, where she had studied with the intention of becoming a ...
36. Sara Schaefer
Writer | The Fake News with Ted Nelms
Sara Schaefer is a critically acclaimed stand up comedian, writer, and producer based in Los Angeles. She was recently the co-host of MTV's late night show Nikki & Sara Live. Sara has appeared on @Midnight, John Oliver's New York Stand Up Show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Best Week Ever, and ...
37. Anjelah Johnson-Reyes
Actress | Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
Anjelah Johnson-Reyes was born and raised in San Jose, California where she grew up with four siblings in a large extended family to which she remains close. She embarked upon her career as a professional cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders at the age of 20 and performed at Super Bowl XXXVII where ...
38. Cristela Alonzo
Writer | Cristela Alonzo: Middle Classy
Cristela Alonzo was born on January 6, 1979 in San Juan, Texas, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Cristela Alonzo: Middle Classy (2022), Cristela Alonzo: Lower Classy (2017) and Cars 3 (2017).
39. Leslie Jones
Actress | Ghostbusters
Leslie Jones is an American actress and comedienne from Memphis, Tennessee who is known for playing in Saturday Night Live, Trainwreck, Sing, Top Five, Lottery Ticket, Coming 2 America, Masterminds and The Angry Birds Movie 2. She played Patty Tolan in the 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters, directed by ...
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