Every year, “Forbes” puts out a list of the world’s highest paid comedians, and JERRY SEINFELD has been #1 in 12 of the past 13 years . . . with the exception of 2016 when KEVIN HART took it over.
Well, guess what . . . Kevin has done it again. He made $59 million over the past year, despite losing his gig as the host of the Oscars, which is not a high-paying gig anyway. Word has it the Academy only pays $15,000.
Kevin kept his sponsorships with Mountain Dew and Chase, and released a Netflix special. He also did a global stadium tour.
That drops Jerry to #2. He made $41 million, which is down a bit from last year, partially because he didn’t do a Netflix special in this period.
Here’s the Top 10:
1. Kevin Hart, $59 million
2. Jerry Seinfeld, $41 million
3. Jim Gaffigan, $30 million
4. Trevor Noah, $28 million . . . TV hosts don’t usually make this list, but “Forbes” made an exception because he earned the bulk of this money from stand-up.
5. Sebastian Maniscalco, $26 million
6. Gabriel Iglesias, $22 million
7. Amy Schumer, $21 million . . . Her tour made bank, despite her having to cut it short because of a pregnancy-related health issue. According to data from Pollstar, her shows grossed an average of nearly half a million dollars per city.
8. Ventriloquist Terry Fator, $17 million
9. Jeff Dunham, $15 million . . . Yes, there are TWO puppet guys in the Top 10. Where did we go wrong, America?
10. Aziz Ansari, $13 million
The comedians from last year’s Top 10 that dropped out this year are: Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, and Ricky Gervais.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielshapiro/2019/08/16/the-highest-earning-stand-up-comedians-of-2019/#22f36f0342fa
