Top Earning Comedians

Funny Money: The Top-Earning Comedians ( An Excerpt)
Forbes - July 15, 2009 9:48 AM PDT

The economy is ailing and the public is glum, but stand-up acts like Dane Cook, Russell Peters, and Larry the Cable Guy are still laughing all the way to the bank.

Comedy's 10 top earners -- a list that also includes George Lopez, Jeff Foxworthy, Howie Mandel, and Terry Fator -- collectively raked in $256 million between June 2008 and June 2009. While each of them has been padding his wallet with stand-up earnings, they're also finding ways to cash in on merchandise, DVDs, television, and Hollywood flicks.

Jerry Seinfeld tops the list. He earned $85 million during the 12-month period. Syndication deals for his eponymous sitcom, which he produced, wrote, and starred in, made up the bulk of his income. Off the air for more than a decade, the "show about nothing" continues to mint money. The funnyman was able to bolster his TV earnings with a pricey Microsoft campaign and lucrative stand-up gigs.

Seinfeld's next project is a reality show titled "The Marriage Ref," which he'll produce for his former network, NBC. The premise: Opinionated stars will comment, judge, and offer differing strategies to real-life couples in the midst of marital disputes. Despite heavy fan interest, the General Electric-owned network's onetime golden boy will reportedly remain behind the scenes.

Chris Rock lands at No. 2 on the list with $42 million. Over the course of the year, he added a slew of big-screen flicks to his resume ("Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa," the upcoming "Death at a Funeral," and "Grown Ups"), released a new top-rated HBO comedy special ("Kill the Messenger"), and snagged another book deal with Grand Central Publishing. Come fall, his TV show, "Everybody Hates Chris," which he created and narrates for the CW, will kick off its syndication run.

Even more lucrative, Rock hit the road for his first worldwide stand-up tour. In addition to typical stateside stops like Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, his "No Apologies" tour touched down in the U.K., Australia, and South Africa. "He was the first American comic to really break open international markets," says Steve Levine, executive vice president of the concert department at ICM, which counts Rock among its star clients. "The old saw was 'comedy doesn't translate,' but that's definitely not the case with Chris Rock. They loved him."

Rounding out the top three is ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, who banked an estimated $30 million over the course of the year. His placement on this list is hardly a shock when you consider the red-hot year the YouTube sensation and relentless touring act has had -- he performed some 145 shows during the 12-month time period. Among his resume highlights: the most-watched Comedy Central special in the Viacom-owned cable network's history and the best-rated Amazon DVD of all time. Still more impressive, Dunham was crowned North America's top-grossing touring comedy act of 2008 and has a Comedy Central sitcom slated to debut later this year.

"The one thing I'm proud of most is that my show has no social redeeming value whatsoever," jokes Dunham. "I'm not here to teach anybody anything. You come and leave your brain at the door." And that's just what today's audience is after.

Reporting by Lacey Rose, Forbes.com
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Quotable Quotes by Jerry Seinfeld

A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking.
Jerry Seinfeld

A two-year-old is kind of like having a blender, but you don't have a top for it.
Jerry Seinfeld

I am so busy doing nothing... that the idea of doing anything - which as you know, always leads to something - cuts into the nothing and then forces me to have to drop everything.
Jerry Seinfeld

I think it's funny to be delicate with subjects that are explosive.
Jerry Seinfeld

It's amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper.
Jerry Seinfeld

Make no mistake about why these babies are here - they are here to replace us.
Jerry Seinfeld

Men don't care what's on TV. They only care what else is on TV.
Jerry Seinfeld

My parents didn't want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty and that's the law.
Jerry Seinfeld

Now they show you how detergents take out bloodstains, a pretty violent image there. I think if you've got a T-shirt with a bloodstain all over it, maybe laundry isn't your biggest problem.Maybe you should get rid of the body before you do the wash.
Jerry Seinfeld

People who read the tabloids deserve to be lied to.
Jerry Seinfeld

Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.
Jerry Seinfeld

That's the true spirit of Christmas; people being helped by people other than me.
Jerry Seinfeld

The Four Levels of Comedy: Make your friends laugh, Make strangers laugh, Get paid to make strangers laugh, and Make people talk like you because it's so much fun.
Jerry Seinfeld

The IRS! They're like the Mafia, they can take anything they want!
Jerry Seinfeld

There is no such thing as fun for the whole family.
Jerry Seinfeld

There's very little advice in men's magazines, because men don't think there's a lot they don't know. Women do. Women want to learn. Men think, "I know what I'm doing, just show me somebody naked."
Jerry Seinfeld

To me, if life boils down to one thing, it's movement. To live is to keep moving.
Jerry Seinfeld

Where lipstick is concerned, the important thing is not color, but to accept God's final word on where your lips end.
Jerry Seinfeld

You know you're getting old when you get that one candle on the cake. It's like, "See if you can blow this out."
Jerry Seinfeld
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Biography for Jerry Seinfeld

Date of Birth
29 April 1954, Brooklyn, New York, USA

Birth Name
Jerome Allen Seinfeld

Nickname
Little Jerry

Height
5' 11" (1.80 m)

Mini Biography

Born in Brooklyn, New York, to parents Kalman and Betty. Moved with family, including sister Carolyn, to suburban Massepequa, Long Island at young age. Dad, who had terrific sense of humor, was a commercial sign maker.

Attended Oswego College in upstate New York but transferred to Queens College back in New York City. Developed interest in stand-up comedy after brief stints in college productions. Went straight from college graduation to amateur night tryout at New York's Catch a Rising Star, 1976.

Continued to perform in local clubs and Catskill Mountain resorts until his career was boosted by an appearance on a Rodney Dangerfield HBO special, 1976. Career took off after first successful spot on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1962), May 1981, at age 27. Appearances on "Late Night with David Letterman" (1982) and "The Merv Griffin Show" (1962) followed. Also appeared four times as Frankie on "Benson" (1979) sitcom. After he was abruptly fired from the show, he swore never to do another sitcom unless he had greater control. This opportunity emerged when he was invited to create a sitcom for NBC in 1989 and teamed with one-time stand-up colleague Larry David.

Progression of "The Seinfeld Chronicles" into the long-running "Seinfeld" (1990) series phenomenon was ended by its co-creator and co-executive producer, Larry David. Still unmarried, he moved back to New York City into a new multimillion-dollar, multilevel apartment on Central Park West just down the street from his original, small bachelor studio on West 81st.

Spouse
Jessica Seinfeld (25 December 1999 - present) 3 children

Trade Mark

Impeccable neatness, unflappable confidence.

Observational humour

Trivia

Raised in Massapequa (Long Island), New York.

Graduated from Queens College (New York).

George Wallace was the best man at his wedding.

His first child with wife Jessica, a daughter named Sascha, was born in New York City on November 7, 2000.

Announced signing of deal with Miramax in April 2002 to distribute documentary about his recent travels back on the comedy circuit doing stand-up. For more than a year, Seinfeld has been followed on cross-country gigs with production crew headed by Christian Charles and Gary Streiner, who worked on his American Express commercials.

Bought Billy Joel's house in Amagansett village in the Hamptons (Long Island, NY) for then record-setting price of $32 million in March, 2000.

Had a compulsive habit of throwing out the clothes he had traveled with after each road trip.

His sister, Carolyn Liebling, is his manager.

Announced his engagement to Jessica Sklar (born Nina Sklar on September 12, 1971 in Oyster Bay, New York). They began dating after they met at the Reebok Sport Club in 1998, even though she had just married Eric Nederlander, a scion of the Broadway theater-owning family. At one point, it was reported that Nederlander planned to sue Seinfeld for "alienation of affection" for contributing to the demise of his marriage. No legal action materialized. (10 November 1999)

He and his wife Jessica Sklar had a son, born March 1, 2003, named Julian Kal Seinfeld. Birth of their son was announced on "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee" (1989).

Has a collection of more than 500 sneakers. They are all white.

Is a Porsche collector. Paparazzi have seen him in at least 20 different ones.

Dated the much younger Shoshanna Lonstein for several years [1993-1997].

Dated comedian Carol Leifer, who is said to be the model for the character of Elaine on "Seinfeld" (1990).

Is a New York Mets fan.

Is a fan of the comic book character Superman, as was shown in many episodes of the "Seinfeld" (1990) TV series.

Bought the first Porsche 911 ever built. It was light blue and bought at Manhattan Motors.

Wife Jessica gave birth to son, Shepherd Kellen Seinfeld, on August 22, 2005.

A lover of breakfast cereal.

Is good friends with Chris Rock, Mario Joyner, and Colin Quinn.

Was a guest at Sarah Jessica Parker's 40th birthday.

Fellow actor/comedian Larry Miller is probably his best friend.

Used to appear frequently on "The Howard Stern Show" (1990), but had a falling out when Howard and his crew made fun of his relationship with Shoshanna Lonstein.

Headlining Colonials Weekend 2006 at the George Washington University in Washington, DC, where his former girlfriend Shoshanna Lonstein attended before transferring to UCLA in 1994.

In 2007, Forbes Magazine reported his earnings to be approximately $60 million.

Was the first recipient of the American Express Black Card.

Personal Quotes

A recent survey stated that the average person's greatest fear is having to give a speech in public. Somehow this ranked even higher than death which was third on the list. So, you're telling me that at a funeral, most people would rather be the guy in the coffin than have to stand up and give a eulogy.

[about pregnancy and babies] It's like getting ready for your own birth. Nothing prepares you . . . When those eyes meet your eyes -- I was feeling things I never had feelings like before. I never loved anyone so much at first meeting. I love her so much! But! - Let's make no mistake why these babies come here: to replace us. Their first words are "Mama", "Dada" and "Bye-bye". We'll see who's wearing the diapers when this is all over.

[on whether family life produces better comedy than bachelorhood ]The truth is, the family is much more creatively nourishing because you're playing on a full keyboard. Whereas when you're single, you're just playing the upbeat jazzy tunes.

You can be passionate about anything. Pay attention, don't let life go by you. Fall in love with the back of your cereal box.

Salary
"Seinfeld" (1990) $225,000,000 (from sale of syndication rights to the show)

Where Are They Now

(June 2004) Doing American Express commercials with his all time favorite comic book hero - Superman, on www.dccomics.com

(1993) Release of the book, "SeinLanguage".

(2002) Release of the book, "Seinfeld: The Making of An American Icon" by Jerry Oppenheimer.

(1998) Release of the book, "Jerry Seinfeld: The Entire Domain" by Kathleen Tracy.

(1993) Release of his CD: "I'm Telling You For the Last Time".

(September 1998) Release of his CD: "I'm Telling You For the Last Time".