Top Comedians

Top comedians can get a laugh no matter how sober or stubborn the crowd. In fact, the greatest comedians can take the stage and often get an audience howling without even saying a word. But what makes a comedian great? It's very hard to put a finger on.

The obvious first necessity for great comedy is great jokes. But where one stand-up will fall on his face with a tired-sounding line, top comedians can make that same line sing. Many of the great comics have also been great comic writers, but that isn't always the case.

Think of Bob Hope, considered by some to be the greatest comic ever. Hope hired rafts of writers, but wasn't considered much of a joke writer himself. He was, first and foremost, a joke teller. Many of his writers went on to huge careers in television, but, funny as they were, very few ever had success as stand-up comics. They just didn't have that ineffable balance of confidence, vulnerability, and skill that win over audiences.

Who Are the Top Comedians?

Comedy is the most subjective of art forms. What is funny to one may offend another and bore yet another. However, certain comics are revered almost universally. Think of Bill Cosby, Steve Martin, and Monty Python. Think of TV greats Jerry Seinfeld, David Letterman, and Jay Leno. The top comedians are beloved like no other performers, because what they do and how they do it is ultimately an unsolved mystery.