Stand-up comedy is a comic style in which a comedian performs in front of a live audience, usually speaking directly to them. The performer is commonly known as a comic, stand-up comic, comedian, comedienne, stand-up comedian, or simply a stand-up. Comedians give the illusion that they are dialoguing, but in actuality, they are monologuing a grouping of humorous stories, jokes and one-liners, typically called a shtick, routine, act, or set. Some stand-up comedians use props, music or magic tricks to enhance their acts. Stand-up comedy is stated to be the "freest form of comedy writing" that is regarded as a fictionalized "extension of" the person performing.
David Khari Webber Chappelle is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. Chappelle is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Emmy Awards and three Grammy Awards as well as a Mark Twain Prize. He is known his satirical comedy sketch series Chappelle's Show (2003–2006). The series, co-written with Neal Brennan, ran until Chappelle's retirement from the show two years later. After leaving the show, Chappelle returned to performing stand-up comedy across the U.S. By 2006, Chappelle was called the "comic genius of America" by Esquire and, in 2013, "the best" by a Billboard writer. In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked him No. 9 in their "50 Best Stand Up Comics of All Time."
Thomas Edmund Gleisner is an Australian comedian, television presenter, producer, director, writer, occasional actor and author. Gleisner currently hosts Network 10's Have You Been Paying Attention?.
David Attell is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. He is best known as the host of Comedy Central's Insomniac with Dave Attell, which earned him a cult following. Fellow comics Patton Oswalt and Bill Burr have hailed him as the greatest off-color comedian alive.
John Michael Hardwick is an American comedian, and voice actor. He is best known as the voice of Dale Gribble in the animated American television show King of the Hill. He served as staff writer, story editor, and producer for the show as well. He has four Prime Time Emmy nominations and in 1999 he won an Emmy Award for his work as a producer on King of the Hill.
Zachary Knight Galifianakis is an American actor, comedian, and writer who came to prominence with his Comedy Central Presents special in 2001 and presented his own show called Late World with Zach on VH1 the following year. He has also starred in films, such as The Hangover trilogy (2009–2013), Due Date (2010), The Campaign (2012), Birdman or (2014), Masterminds (2016), and The Lego Batman Movie (2017).
Alan Whitney Brown is an American writer and comedian best known for work on Saturday Night Live in the 1980s. In addition to writing for the program, he appeared opposite Dennis Miller in a biting satirical Weekend Update commentary segment called "The Big Picture." He won a 1988 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program, along with Al Franken, Tom Davis, Phil Hartman, Mike Myers, Lorne Michaels and Conan O'Brien. He was also one of the original correspondents on Comedy Central's The Daily Show from 1996 to 1998.
Timothy Richard Heidecker is an American comedian, writer, director, actor, and musician. He is best known as one half of the comedy duo Tim & Eric, along with Eric Wareheim. They are noted for creating the television shows Tom Goes to the Mayor, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, and Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories.
David Cross is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer, known primarily for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show (1995–1999), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the sitcom Arrested Development (2003–present). Cross created, wrote, executive produced, and starred in The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret (2010–2016), developed and had a prominent role in Freak Show (2006), appeared on Modern Family (2011–2012) and portrayed Ian Hawke in the first three live action/CGI films starring Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007–2011). Cross has also done voice work for the sitcom Oliver Beene (2003–2004), and has had lead voice-over roles in the Kung Fu Panda film franchise (2008–2016), Megamind (2010) and Next Gen (2018).
Jordan Nicola Bridget Raskopoulos is an Australian comedian, actor and singer best known for her role as a writer and performer on the Network Ten sketch comedy show The Ronnie Johns Half Hour, and as lead singer for comedy rock group The Axis of Awesome. Her father is former footballer Peter Raskopoulos, and her brother is Steen Raskopoulos, a fellow comedian.
Tim & Eric—Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim—are an American comedy duo and creators of the Adult Swim television series Tom Goes to the Mayor; Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!; Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule; and Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories.
The Key of Awesome was a YouTube channel that produced comedy videos starring writer/performer Mark Douglas. "The Key of Awesome" was created by Mark Douglas and Ben Relles and is the channel's most popular series, mainly producing viral music videos and parodies. Barely Political was created in June 2007 by Ben Relles and subsequently debuted its first music video, "Crush on Obama", starring Amber Lee "Obama Girl" Ettinger, created by Ben Relles and Jake Chudnow. Videos on the channel have been seen over 3.2 billion times online. "The Key of Awesome" has become the central identity of the channel.
Robert Pickering "Bo" Burnham is an American comedian, musician, actor, filmmaker and poet. He began his performance career as a YouTuber in March 2006, and his videos have been viewed over 278 million times as of December 2018.
Dan Ilic is an Australian presenter, comedian and filmmaker. Ilic has been known for his parody work, including videos and Beaconsfield: The Musical, which he authored, and more recently for his work on the show Hungry Beast. Dan's mother is half Lebanese and half Italian. Dan's father was born in Germany to Serbian parents. He was previously the head of satirical content for digital content provider AJ+.
Channel Awesome, Inc. is an American online media production company based in Lombard, Illinois. The company was created in 2008 by Mike Michaud, Mike Ellis, and Bhargav Dronamraju. Channel Awesome operated the That Guy with the Glasses website until late 2014, when it was phased into the Channel Awesome website. The site is best known for the comedic film review series Nostalgia Critic, starring Doug Walker.
Fahad Albutairi is a Saudi stand-up comedian, actor, screenwriter and political prisoner. Albutairi became the first comedian to perform on stage professionally in Saudi Arabia and in the GCC, following the relaxation of stringent laws against criticism of certain aspects of Saudi society. He is also one of the most notable YouTube personalities from the country.
Alex Goyette is an American film director, writer, producer, actor, and YouTube personality. He is the writer/director of Expelled, a teen comedy which ranked #1 worldwide on iTunes during its December 2014 release. Goyette studied film at Cal State Northridge, and created his sketch comedy YouTube channel on April 17, 2011. The channel's videos have been viewed 9.5 million times.
Noël Kristi Wells is an American actress, comedian, director, musician, and writer. She is known for her television roles on Master of None and Saturday Night Live, as well as writing, directing, and starring in the film Mr. Roosevelt. Her debut album It's So Nice! was released in 2019.
Smosh: The Movie is a 2015 American comedy film directed by Alex Winter starring the YouTube comedy duo Smosh with appearances from other YouTube stars, such as Jenna Marbles, Grace Helbig, Markiplier, and Harley Morenstein. This is Smosh's first full-length film and revolves around the duo going inside YouTube virtually to alter a clip that will ruin Anthony's chances of winning over his crush, Anna Reed.
Michael David Stevens is an American educator, public speaker, comedian, entertainer, editor, and Internet celebrity, best known for creating and hosting the popular education YouTube channel Vsauce. His channel initially released video game-related content until the popularity of his educational series DOT saw discussions of general interest become the focus of Vsauce, encompassing explanations of science, philosophy, culture, and illusion.
