Welcome to ALUX.com!
The place where future billionaires come to get inspired.
If you're not subscribed yet, you're missing out.
Hello Aluxers and welcome back to another exciting new video made by our team here at alux.com!
Today we’ll be taking a brief look at the top 15 richest comedians in the world and how they made their staggering fortunes.
Making people laugh might seem like the greatest gig in the world to some but many in the business can confirm that it’s a road filled with twists,
turns and bumps every step of the way.
It’s no picnic, and many give up because the shows don’t pay that much leaving the comedians having to support themselves in other ways.
So, they get “real jobs” and give up on their dreams.
However, today we’ll be looking at those people who did make it in the business, who made their dreams come true, and, also made good money doing so.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the richest comedians in the world.
Here’s a man like no other, with an incredible gift of making others laugh and forget their worries for a brief moment.
A gift that has accumulated him a massive net worth of $155 million.
By maximizing his talents as a stand-up comedian, actor, writer and artist, Jim managed to score many deals and projects, throughout the years
which in turn added to his massive fortune.
He started by doing stand-up gigs right after finishing school but had a rough road ahead as his family was having financial troubles.
Jim was noticed while doing a stand-up show and soon after he gained massive recognition in America in the 1990s
with a recurring role in the sketch comedy TV series “in living color.”
A few years after that, Jim Carrey’s name was synonymous with Hollywood success,
as he began starring in very successful moves and as they say; the rest is history.
Unlike the others on this list, Terry Fator developed a remarkable skill as a comedic ventriloquist which netted him a net worth of $160 million.
Along with his unique talents as a comedian and ventriloquist, Terry is also a singer and impressionist,
which led him to capitalize on all of these and build a successful career as a comedian.
He got his shot at stardom in 2007 when he managed to sway everyone on America’s Got Talent and win the show.
Afterward, high-income gigs started rolling in and he couldn’t have been happier about it.
Surely this individual needs no introduction.
He's graced us with his talents for decades and who also brought to life so many memorable characters throughout the years
Sitting at number 13 with a staggering net worth of $160 million Eddie Murphy is one of the richest comedians ever.
After a lengthy and prosperous career as a stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, and more recently a producer
we can say that Eddie has done very well for himself.
He started doing comedy gigs at the very ripe age of 15, being inspired by icons such as Robin Williams,
and became part of the Saturday Night Live cast in the early 80s, which proved to be a great stepping stone on his way to success.
After becoming a household name on SNL his stand-up shows we’re selling out almost immediately.
In no time he was making movie after movie, one more successful than the last which turned him into a Hollywood superstar.
More recently, Eddie’s been making deals with Netflix for a number of stand-up comedy specials for which he supposedly will be receiving an impressive $70 million.
Being a long-time veteran in the entertainment business for over 30 years,
it’s no wonder that Drew Carrey claims the number 12 spot with a solid net worth of $165 million.
He boasts an impressive resume as a stand-up comedian, game show host, writer, actor, author, endorsement deals and sports executive,
all of which contributed to his massive wealth.
He began his career in the mid-1980s by writing for a radio show in Cleveland, which led to him starring in various in tv shows in the mid-1990s,
smoothly transitioning into game shows a decade later which proved to be immensely profitable for him.
Soon after he started branching out and creating numerous sources of income rapidly accumulating for him millions and millions of dollars.
At number 11 on our list comfortably sits a remarkable comedian and TV host, Steve Harvey.
Steve can be best described as a jack of all trades, as he is very good and successful at everything he gets into.
He managed to build a fortune of around 180 million dollars, with the majority of his wealth coming from his comedy shows,
TV shows, businesses, consultancy to name a few
In the beginning in the mid-1980s, Steve was not really so successful when it comes to comedy, even though he had a great passion for it.
He struggled quite a lot before he got his first show “It’s Showtime at the Apollo.” which was his launching pad into fame and fortune.
And here we are, number 10 on our list taken by none other than the funny and energetic Kevin Hart.
He is one of the most successful celebrities of this generation and also the highest-paid comedian of 2019 with a salary of $59 million.
Aside from his highly lucrative career as a comedian, Kevin is also a very successful actor, writer, producer, and best selling author.
And to top it all off, he makes millions of dollars from his numerous endorsement deals.
He started his adventure in comedy in the year 2000, however, it wasn’t until 2006 when his comedic personality caught on to success
and he released his first stand-up title “I'm a little grown man,” which brought Kevin into the spotlight as a talented comedian.
After doing stand-up for years he smoothly transitioned onto the silver screen and it’s all history from there.
If you guys want to find out more about him go watch our video the 15 things you didn’t know about Kevin Hart.
Unlike the others on this list, Seth MacFarlane found success in a slightly different way.
He began his career by writing and animating TV shows for kids which included Dexter’s laboratory, Johnny Bravo.
Seth MacFarlane later created Family Guy which would become the crown jewel of his career,
along with American Dad and The Cleveland Show amassing him a net worth of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Other sources of income for Seth, besides writing, animating and producing, included directing, acting, music and, of course, stand-up comedy.
And, as of late, he’s branched into non-animated roles such as being an executive producer of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey,
a writer-director of Ted and Ted 2, multiple roles in A Million Ways to Die in the West, and even a musical career.
All of these have brought in for Seth MacFarlane a rather substantial net worth of $250 million, which is expected to go up in the coming years.
At only 46 years of age, it’s pretty impressive what he’s accomplished and there are no signs of slowing down any time soon.
Coming down to number 8 where we have the ex-host of the tonight show for over 20 years, the bright and enthusiastic, Jay Leno.
He started his career as a standup comedian all the way back in school and did it for years before he made his first appearance on the tonight show in 1977,
followed by regular successful appearances on other shows.
However, it was in 1992, when Johnny Carson passed his baton to him as a host of the tonight show, when big money started rolling in.
Throughout the years, Jay made his millions by capitalizing on his great talents as a fantastic comedian, author, TV host, producer, and actor.
In the past few years, he hasn’t done any major projects, just occasional writing about automotive topics in Popular Mechanics
as well as sports car reviews for the Sunday Times, sporadic appearances on late-night shows across networks and periodic stand-up comedy gigs.
Well Aluxers, we’ve reached the dark horse on our list.
We say the dark horse because despite his brilliant comedic talents he’s been convicted of sexually assaulting a woman in 2004
and currently serving 3 to 10 years in prison for other sexual assaults.
Cosby started his career as a comedian in the early 1960s, in a time when it was pretty difficult to make it as a black comedian.
However, in spite of the setbacks he built a pretty solid career for himself which opened the door for his TV debut,
which lead to him starring in a bunch of TV shows including his own “The Bill Cosby Show” in the late ‘80s.
The show was later renewed as “the Cosby Show” and that’s when big money started rolling his way making him a tremendous fortune of $390 million.
Now, before his legal troubles began he was earning between $7 and $10 million for his “Far from finished” tour between 2013 and 2014,
after that things started going downhill.
It’s a safe bet to say that pretty soon his financial situation will also go downhill.
The number 6 spot is claimed by businessman and former comedian Byron Allen.
Byron has created a name for himself not as much as a comedian but as a TV producer and businessman.
Even though he started as a stand-up comedian he quickly refocused his attention behind the scenes on production work.
Over the decades he’s managed to build an empire that rivals Oprah’s, rolling impressive numbers and amassing a tremendous net worth of $400 million.
As of 2018, he has 30 shows running on tv, which is pretty darn impressive.
It might be hard to believe but it’s true, and a lot of people in Hollywood shrug their shoulders when they hear the name, Byron Allen
Go figure! It’s hard to be this successful and stay so low key.
Sitting at number five we have celebrity TV host David Letterman.
He is one of the wealthiest tv hosts out there with a massive fortune of $425 million,
which he gained from writing, producing, acting, real estate investing and prominent role as the host of the Late Show with David Letterman
which lasted for 33 years. Crazy, right?!
Dave began making an income on tv after he became a regular on Johnny Carson’s “the tonight show,”
but real money started coming in when he was given his own show called “David Letterman Show” with $1 million per episode.
Later on his show was renamed “The David Letterman Show” and he was netting millions of dollars per year just from that alone, every year for over 3 decades.
Also, recently in 2017, he made a deal with Netflix for a show earning a cool $12 million per season, which is currently on its 3rd season as of 2019.
He is the co-creator of the incredibly popular TV sitcom Seinfeld, as well as a screenwriter, actor, producer, and comedian, obviously.
But, he actually used to be a bit richer.
The reason he’s not a few hundreds of millions of dollars wealthier is because back in 2007 he had a crashing divorce where he had to split his fortune with his ex-wife.
Guess you can’t argue with the law.
He started his career in the mid-1970s as a comedian and slowly built up a reputation as a terrific writer.
After being a comedy writer for a few comedy shows in the 80s he joined up with fellow comedian Jerry Seinfeld to created the epic sitcom, Seinfeld.
These days, it’s not so clear how much David is making but if he continues to share his talents we’re sure that his net worth will go higher and higher.
Well, taking the bronze medal on our list is Happy Gilmore, I mean Adam Sandler.
He began appearing on TV in the late 1980s and slowly getting bigger and bigger roles with paychecks scoring more and more zeroes.
Adam made his massive net worth by starring in dozens of movies, writing, producing, being a guest host, and to add to that,
recently he made a deal with Netflix for 4 original movies in the coming years for an estimated check of $250 million.
So you can expect him to increase his wealth substantially over the next few years.
She boasts an outstanding net worth of $490 million from her career in television and various ventures she got into.
She started touring the US as a comedian in the early 1980s and got her big break when she was invited to perform on “The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson,”
and that’s where things really started to kick off.
Throughout the years she added to her net worth from various projects as a comedian, actor, even a judge on American Idol,
and more recently from her Netflix comedy special for which she was paid $20 million.
With a salary of $80 million for her show Ellen, alone, she is crushing it financially and banking pretty much every opportunity that comes her way.
With a net worth of $950 million, Jerry is on a fast track of becoming the first billionaire comedian.
In fact, we figure by 2021 he will be in the billionaire boys club.
He started building his wealth in the early ‘80s while touring as a stand up comic, but it wasn’t until the Seinfeld era when he started making serious money.
After the show ended he continued making his fortune from selling syndication rights of the hit series, high paying gigs, acting, writing, endorsement deals,
More recently though, he made a deal with Netflix which included 24 new episodes of Comedians in Cars getting coffee” and 2 stand-up specials,
for which he’ll be receiving $100 million.
Not to mention the fact that starting from 2021 Netflix will own the rights to the iconic sitcom
and Jerry together with the show’s co-owner Larry David will each receive between $100 and $125 million.
And Aluxers, that's a wrap on the 15 richest comedians in the world, so far.
Before you go we're curious though:
Let us know in the comments.
Thank you for spending some time with us Aluxer.
Make sure to subscribe so you never miss a video.
If you want more we handpicked these videos you might enjoy.
Or head over to ALUX.com for the best in fine living content on the planet.
Be a part of the largest community of luxury enthusiasts in the world and tell your story.