Comedy
Comedians and comic performers.
People in Comedy
51 profiles
ComedianConan O’Brien
Hosting late-night television with absurd sketches and self-deprecating humour.
ComedianLee Camp
Hosting Redacted Tonight and using comedy to criticise war, corporate power and Israeli policy.
ComedianJimmy Dore
Hosting The Jimmy Dore Show and combining stand-up comedy with political commentary.
ComedianRicky Gervais
Co-creating The Office and playing David Brent, the boss desperate to be liked.
ComedianTrevor Noah
Hosting The Daily Show and writing Born a Crime.
ComedianDave Chappelle
Creating Chappelle’s Show and building a career in observational stand-up comedy.
ComedianLenny Henry
Building a career in British comedy and co-founding Comic Relief.
ComedianEddie Murphy
Transforming Saturday Night Live and starring in Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America.
ComedianRichard Pryor
Changing stand-up through candid storytelling about race, fear and his own life.
ComedianKevin Hart
Turning autobiographical stand-up into arena tours and major comedy films.
ComedianChris Rock
Delivering sharply argued stand-up about race, class and relationships.
ComedianJim Carrey
Combining elastic physical comedy with acclaimed dramatic performances.
ComedianWanda Sykes
Sharp observational stand-up and roles in The New Adventures of Old Christine and The Upshaws.
ComedianRomesh Ranganathan
Deadpan stand-up, The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan and The Weakest Link.
ComedianKumail Nanjiani
Silicon Valley and The Big Sick, which he co-wrote from his own relationship.
ComedianBassem Youssef
Creating Al Bernameg, the Egyptian political satire programme that grew from an online show.
ComedianTiffany Haddish
Her breakout performance in Girls Trip and the Grammy-winning comedy special Black Mitzvah.
ComedianGuz Khan
Creating and starring in Man Like Mobeen, a comedy set in Birmingham.
ComedianAdel Karam
The Lebanese comedian and presenter who also starred in the Oscar-nominated drama The Insult.
ComedianTina Fey
The creator and star of 30 Rock, and the writer of Mean Girls.
ComedianMeera Syal
The writer and performer behind Goodness Gracious Me, Anita and Me and the grandmother in The Kumars at No. 42.
ComedianGad Elmaleh
Creating French-language stand-up shows and films including Chouchou and Priceless.
ComedianAmy Poehler
Playing Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation and performing on Saturday Night Live.
ComedianSanjeev Bhaskar
Creating memorable British-Asian comedy in Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars at No. 42.
ComedianDawn French
The comedian behind French and Saunders and the title role in The Vicar of Dibley.
ComedianSarah Silverman
Provocative stand-up comedy and The Sarah Silverman Program.
ComedianJennifer Saunders
Creating Absolutely Fabulous and the sketch comedy of French and Saunders.
ComedianAli Wong
Turning frank stand-up storytelling into major comedy specials and starring in Beef.
ComedianBilly Connolly
Turning rambling Glasgow stories into a distinctive and influential style of stand-up comedy.
ComedianJoan Rivers
Breaking into late-night television with sharp, self-deprecating stand-up.
ComedianDylan Moran
Creating and playing the irritable bookseller Bernard Black in Black Books.
ActorLucille Ball
Creating the comic character Lucy Ricardo in I Love Lucy.
ComedianDara Ó Briain
Combining fast crowd work with hosting Mock the Week and science programmes.
ComedianCarol Burnett
Leading The Carol Burnett Show, a landmark of American television sketch comedy.
ComedianAisling Bea
Creating and starring in This Way Up, alongside her stand-up and panel-show comedy.
ActorBetty White
Playing Rose in The Golden Girls and Sue Ann in The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
ComedianSarah Millican
Turning everyday embarrassment into warmly candid stand-up comedy.
ComedianBob Newhart
Turning deadpan monologues into hit comedy albums and enduring television sitcoms.
ComedianJo Brand
Deadpan stand-up comedy and co-creating the hospital sitcom Getting On.
ComedianGeorge Carlin
Turning language, social conventions and political criticism into influential stand-up comedy.
FilmmakerLorne Michaels
Creating Saturday Night Live.
ComedianBilly Crystal
Starring in When Harry Met Sally and hosting the Academy Awards.
ComedianLaureano Márquez
Using political satire in Venezuelan media.
ComedianEllen DeGeneres
Hosting The Ellen DeGeneres Show and voicing Dory.
ComedianJay Leno
Hosting NBC’s The Tonight Show for two extended runs.
ComedianSteve Martin
Combining absurdist comedy, film acting, writing and banjo music.
ComedianLily Tomlin
Creating comic characters from Ernestine to The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe.
ComedianJonathan Winters
Creating improvisational characters and comic voices.
ComedianJon Stewart
Turning The Daily Show into an influential political satire programme.
ComedianCarl Reiner
Creating The Dick Van Dyke Show.
ComedianDavid Letterman
Hosting Late Night and Late Show for more than three decades.