Forbes lists top standup incomes

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on July 17th, 2009

Forbes published the list of the top ten earners among standup comics.

Jerry Seinfeld
Chris Rock
Jeff Dunham
Dane Cook
George Lopez
Howie Mandel
Larry The Cable Guy
Jeff Foxworthy
Terry Fator
Russell Peters

What’s Terry Fator doing on that list? And where’s Ellen DeGeneres? Drew Carey? Brian Regan? Bill Engvall?

We were kinda shocked that Dunham made the list. (But, he was the sole focus of a Forbes piece in June, so great is his earning power.)

The author of the Top Ten article, Lacey Rose, knew folks would be suprised– she said Dunham’s $30 million payday was “hardly a shock” when you consider his touring schedule. We like this quote:

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.

Emphasis ours. Those are Rose’s words, not ours, BTW.

And Russell Peters seems to have been flying under the radar. Our fault, we suppose– he sold out MSG. In fairness, a lot of his dough was made outside the USA– England and Canada. (Rose says he Peters “frequently focuses on race,” but wouldn’t that technically be ethnicity? A minor quibble.)

And readers will recall that we threatened to kick Howie Mandel’s ass for trying to spread that ridiculous notion that hosting a network game show would be career suicide. We quite accurately predicted that it would be a career booster and not a career ender.

One thing is for sure: The boys with the puppets– er, figures— are having the last laugh.

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