Top 10 Greatest Stand-Up Comedians of All Time

George Carlin's 1972 arrest and the subsequent Supreme Court case FCC v. Pacifica Foundation (1978) over his Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television routine established a landmark First Amendment ruling that still governs broadcast media. Carlin released 23 stand-up specials over a 50-year career, won 5 Grammy Awards, performed at the first-ever HBO comedy special in 1977, and was posthumously awarded the Mark Twain Prize in 2008.

Bill Hicks, who died of pancreatic cancer in 1994 aged just 32, produced a body of work that grew more influential after his death than during his lifetime. His 1991 special Relentless and 1993's Revelations redefined observational comedy through dark philosophical provocation. Hicks's material on advertising, politics, and consumerism inspired a generation including Russell Brand and Joe Rogan, who described him as the greatest comedian of all time.

Eddie Murphy's 1983 HBO special Delirious and 1987's Raw are two of the best-selling stand-up comedy recordings ever made, with Raw earning $50 million at the box office and remaining the highest-grossing stand-up concert film of all time. Murphy won the Grammy for Best Comedy Album in 1984 and was named the greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Rolling Stone magazine in 2017.

Robin Williams's kinetic improvisational genius, demonstrated across albums like Reality... What a Concept (1979) and specials including Live on Broadway (2002), earned him 6 Grammy nominations and a Grammy Award. Williams was the first stand-up to fill an 80,000-seat arena at the 2002 Montreal Comedy Festival. His ability to shift between characters at lightning speed combined with extraordinary depth of empathy made him unique in the history of performance.

Dave Chappelle's 2017 Netflix specials The Age of Spin and Deep in the Heart of Texas marked his return after a 12-year hiatus and earned him 3 consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album (2018, 2019, 2020). Chappelle's Show (2003-2006) became Comedy Central's highest-rated show ever and the best-selling television DVD of the year in 2004. He received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2019.

Chris Rock's 1996 special Bring the Pain, which aired on HBO, is widely considered the watershed moment in modern stand-up comedy and won Rock 2 Emmy Awards. His 1999 follow-up Bigger and Blacker earned a Grammy for Best Spoken Comedy Album. Rock's pointed observations on race, relationships, and American culture have made him one of the most quoted comedians alive, with his material studied in university courses on rhetoric.

Joan Rivers broke barriers as the first woman to host a late-night network talk show (The Late Show with Joan Rivers, 1986) and spent 50 years as one of the most prolific stand-ups in history. Rivers released 10 stand-up albums and 8 specials, won a Grammy Award in 2014 for Best Spoken Comedy Album at age 81, and her 2010 documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work revealed the relentless work ethic behind her fearless comedy style.

Jerry Seinfeld co-created and starred in Seinfeld (1989-1998), which consistently ranks as the greatest television comedy ever made, while performing 60+ stand-up shows per year throughout its run. His 2002 Comedian documentary followed his return to clubs from scratch. In 2017, Forbes ranked him the highest-paid comedian in the world at $69 million and his Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee web series has logged over 75 million views.

Lenny Bruce pioneered stand-up comedy as social commentary and paid for it with 4 arrests for obscenity in 1961-1962, professional banning from virtually every major US venue by 1964, and his death at 40 in 1966. New York granted him a posthumous pardon in 2003, the first posthumous pardon in state history. Bruce's raw confessional style incorporating jazz, Yiddish, and political satire directly inspired every boundary-pushing comedian from Carlin to Hicks to Rock.

George Carlin's 1972 arrest and the subsequent Supreme Court case FCC v. Pacifica Foundation (1978) over his Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television routine established a landmark First Amendment ruling that still governs broadcast media. Carlin released 23 stand-up specials over a 50-year career, won 5 Grammy Awards, performed at the first-ever HBO comedy special in 1977, and was posthumously awarded the Mark Twain Prize in 2008.

Bill Hicks, who died of pancreatic cancer in 1994 aged just 32, produced a body of work that grew more influential after his death than during his lifetime. His 1991 special Relentless and 1993's Revelations redefined observational comedy through dark philosophical provocation. Hicks's material on advertising, politics, and consumerism inspired a generation including Russell Brand and Joe Rogan, who described him as the greatest comedian of all time.

Eddie Murphy's 1983 HBO special Delirious and 1987's Raw are two of the best-selling stand-up comedy recordings ever made, with Raw earning $50 million at the box office and remaining the highest-grossing stand-up concert film of all time. Murphy won the Grammy for Best Comedy Album in 1984 and was named the greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Rolling Stone magazine in 2017.

Robin Williams's kinetic improvisational genius, demonstrated across albums like Reality... What a Concept (1979) and specials including Live on Broadway (2002), earned him 6 Grammy nominations and a Grammy Award. Williams was the first stand-up to fill an 80,000-seat arena at the 2002 Montreal Comedy Festival. His ability to shift between characters at lightning speed combined with extraordinary depth of empathy made him unique in the history of performance.

Dave Chappelle's 2017 Netflix specials The Age of Spin and Deep in the Heart of Texas marked his return after a 12-year hiatus and earned him 3 consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album (2018, 2019, 2020). Chappelle's Show (2003-2006) became Comedy Central's highest-rated show ever and the best-selling television DVD of the year in 2004. He received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2019.

Chris Rock's 1996 special Bring the Pain, which aired on HBO, is widely considered the watershed moment in modern stand-up comedy and won Rock 2 Emmy Awards. His 1999 follow-up Bigger and Blacker earned a Grammy for Best Spoken Comedy Album. Rock's pointed observations on race, relationships, and American culture have made him one of the most quoted comedians alive, with his material studied in university courses on rhetoric.

Joan Rivers broke barriers as the first woman to host a late-night network talk show (The Late Show with Joan Rivers, 1986) and spent 50 years as one of the most prolific stand-ups in history. Rivers released 10 stand-up albums and 8 specials, won a Grammy Award in 2014 for Best Spoken Comedy Album at age 81, and her 2010 documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work revealed the relentless work ethic behind her fearless comedy style.

Jerry Seinfeld co-created and starred in Seinfeld (1989-1998), which consistently ranks as the greatest television comedy ever made, while performing 60+ stand-up shows per year throughout its run. His 2002 Comedian documentary followed his return to clubs from scratch. In 2017, Forbes ranked him the highest-paid comedian in the world at $69 million and his Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee web series has logged over 75 million views.

Lenny Bruce pioneered stand-up comedy as social commentary and paid for it with 4 arrests for obscenity in 1961-1962, professional banning from virtually every major US venue by 1964, and his death at 40 in 1966. New York granted him a posthumous pardon in 2003, the first posthumous pardon in state history. Bruce's raw confessional style incorporating jazz, Yiddish, and political satire directly inspired every boundary-pushing comedian from Carlin to Hicks to Rock.