Seeking comedians who are 84 inches plus

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on July 7th, 2006

We got a letter from J.J. Leslie, whose bio starts this way:

Currently, the Guinness Book of World Records is considering the claim of J.J. Leslie as the World’s Tallest Standup Comedian. The 7-foot tall, 410-pound comic strikes an imposing figure in comedy clubs around Boston and New York City.

Initially, Leslie got a rejection letter saying his claim was not “adequately quantifiable,” so Leslie, with Guinness’ blessing, is on a quest to adequately quantify the claim that he is the world’s tallest standup comedian. (We’d run a pic, but the pictures on his site only show him from the waist up.)

Since we’re a magazine that is read by comedians and comedy fans all over the world, and since part of the quantifying process involves scouring the planet for examples that might disprove his claim, we figured we could help out. A Boston Herald reporter, Sean L. McCarthy, has blogged on it.

A quick Google search shows that Ryan Stiles and Penn Jillette both have gotten mentions as “tallest comedian,” though they both hit only 6-foot-6 on the measuring stick. The late Eddie Carmel did vow at one point to become the world’s tallest comedian, and at well over 7-foot-6 (if not 8-foot-9 as he was sometimes billed!) the Jewish Giant was that. But Carmel died in 1972.

Any comedians out there taller than Leslie? Go to his myspace if you think you have a lead on a towering comic.

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