Top 25 Comedians-Movies/Stand-Up Past-Present
by rob-coughlin27 | created - 16 May 2011 | updated - 16 May 2011 | PublicOk, I know some people can sit all day long debating this list of funny guys. Most are Comedians in Stand up, some do physical slap stick humor(The Three Stooges & the Jacka$$ mentions) and just funny actors. But in my mind, I could watch what these greats have created over and over again. Thanks for Laughs guys-Bobby
1. Sam Kinison
Actor | Back to School
Sam Kinison was a popular stand-up comedian from Yakima, Washington, mainly active in the 1980s and the early 1990s. He also had a few acting roles in film and television. His only recurring role was that of Hugh, the main character's alter ego in the short-lived sitcom "Charlie Hoover" (1991). The...
Stand up Legend, best Movie role-Back to school/Professor Terguson
2. Richard Pryor
Actor | Superman III
Highly influential, and always controversial, African-American actor/comedian who was equally well known for his colorful language during his live comedy shows, as for his fast paced life, multiple marriages and battles with drug addiction. He has been acknowledged by many modern comic artist's as ...
Best role(s) The Toy, Brewster's Millions, Stir Crazy, Here and now stand up special 1983
3. Rodney Dangerfield
Actor | Back to School
Rodney Dangerfield was born Jacob Cohen on November 22, 1921 in Deer Park, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. He was the son of Dorothy "Dotty" (Teitelbaum) and Phillip Cohen, who performed in vaudeville under the name Phil Roy. His father was born in New York, to Russian Jewish parents, and ...
Best Role(s)Back to school, Caddy Shack
4. Redd Foxx
Actor | Sanford and Son
Redd Foxx began doing stand-up comedy on the infamous "Chitlin' Circuit" in the 1940s and 1950s. Foxx was one of the premier "blue humor" comedians. Blue humor was very dirty, too dirty for white audiences. For years his party albums were not available in white record stores. In the 1960s his ...
Best Role-Sandford and Son.
5. Denis Leary
Writer | Rescue Me
Denis Leary was born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, the son of Nora (Sullivan) and John Leary, Irish immigrants who had grown up together. His mother was a maid and his father was an auto mechanic. After a childhood in the 1960s, Leary went to Emerson College in Boston, where he tried his ...
6. Bernie Mac
Actor | The Bernie Mac Show
Bernard Jeffrey McCollough was born in 1957 in Chicago, the son of Mary McCullough and Jeffery Harrison. He grew up in the city, in a rougher neighborhood than most others, with a large family living under one roof. This situation provided him with a great insight into his comedy, as his family, ...
Best role(s)-Life, Friday, Booty Call
7. Chris Rock
Actor | Top Five
Christopher Julius Rock was born in Andrews, South Carolina and raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. He is the son of Rosalie (Tingman), a teacher and social worker for the mentally handicapped, and Julius Rock, a truck driver and newspaper deliveryman, whose own father was a preacher.
...
Best Role(s) Stand up-Bigger and Blacker, Bring on the pain,
8. Bill Murray
Actor | Lost in Translation
Bill Murray is an American actor, comedian, and writer. The fifth of nine children, he was born William James Murray in Wilmette, Illinois, to Lucille (Collins), a mailroom clerk, and Edward Joseph Murray II, who sold lumber. He is of Irish descent. Among his siblings are actors Brian Doyle-Murray, ...
Best Role(s) Caddy Shack, Ghost Busters, Scrooged
9. Dane Cook
Actor | Good Luck Chuck
Dane Cook was born on March 18, 1972 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Good Luck Chuck (2007), My Best Friend's Girl (2008) and Mr. Brooks (2007). He has been married to Kelsi Taylor since September 23, 2023.
Best role(s)Good luck chuck,Waiting.
10. Ben Stiller
Producer | Tropic Thunder
Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller was born on November 30, 1965, in New York City, New York, to legendary comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. His father was of Austrian Jewish and Polish Jewish descent, and his mother was of Irish Catholic descent (she converted to Judaism).
His parents made no real...
Best Role(s) Meet the Parents, Meet the fockers, Something about Mary
11. Jim Carrey
Actor | Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Jim Carrey, Canadian-born and a U.S. citizen since 2004, is an actor and producer famous for his rubbery body movements and flexible facial expressions. The two-time Golden Globe-winner rose to fame as a cast member of the Fox sketch comedy In Living Color (1990) but leading roles in Ace Ventura: ...
Best Role(s) Dumb and Dumber, The Cable Guy, Ace Ventura, Me, Myself, and Irene.
12. Adam Sandler
Actor | The Waterboy
Adam Richard Sandler was born September 9, 1966 in Brooklyn, New York, to Judith (Levine), a teacher at a nursery school, and Stanley Alan Sandler, an electrical engineer. He is of Russian Jewish descent. At 17, he took his first step towards becoming a stand-up comedian when he spontaneously took ...
Best Role(s) Waterboy, Big Daddy
13. Don Rickles
Actor | Kelly's Heroes
Donald Jay Rickles was born May 8, 1926 in New York. Following the Golden Era of Hollywood, he remained active until early 2017. He got his start in night clubs, toiling for over 20 years, until 1958, when he made his film debut in Run Silent Run Deep (1958). The movie was a big hit. Afterward, ...
14. Russell Brand
Producer | Arthur
Russell Brand was born on June 4, 1975, in Grays, Essex, England, the son of Barbara Elizabeth (Nichols) and Ronald Henry Brand, a photographer. An only child, his parents divorced when he was only six months old, and he was subsequently raised by his mother. Enduring a difficult childhood that saw...
15. Daniel Tosh
Actor | The Love Guru
Daniel Tosh was born on May 29, 1975 in Germany. He is a producer and writer, known for The Love Guru (2008), Daniel Tosh: Happy Thoughts (2011) and Tosh.0 (2009). He has been married to Carly Hallam since April 15, 2016.
16. Simon Pegg
Actor | Shaun of the Dead
English actor, writer, and comedian Simon Pegg was born Simon John Beckingham in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, to Gillian Rosemary (Smith), a civil servant, and John Henry Beckingham, a jazz musician. His parents divorced when he was seven. He later took his stepfather's surname "Pegg." He was ...
Best Role(s) Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Run Fat boy Run, Paul
17. Nick Frost
Actor | The World's End
Nick Frost is an English actor, screenwriter and comedian. He is known for his work in the series of British comedic genre films The Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy: Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007) and The World's End (2013). He also co-starred in Paul (2011), with frequent collaborator ...
Best Role(s) Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Paul
18. Moe Howard
Actor | If a Body Meets a Body
Moe Howard, the "Boss Stooge" and brother of Stooges Curly Howard and Shemp Howard, began his acting career in 1909 by playing bit roles in silent Vitagraph films. At 17 he joined a troupe working on a showboat and also appeared in several two-reel comedy shorts. In 1922 he, brother Shemp and Larry...
Moe-The Three Stooges
19. Larry Fine
Actor | Disorder in the Court
Larry began performing as a violinist at a young age. During his teenage years, he earned his living as a singer and boxer. At 18, Larry began working vaudeville with "The Haney Sisters and Fine" and in 1925, he joined Ted Healy and Moe Howard in the act that would eventually become The Three ...
Larry-The Three Stooges
20. Curly Howard
Actor | If a Body Meets a Body
Jerome "Curly" Howard, the rotund, bald Stooge with the high voice was the most popular member of The Three Stooges. His first stage experience was as a comedic conductor for the Orville Knapp Band in 1928. Curly joined The Three Stooges in 1932, replacing his brother Shemp Howard. He made more ...
Curly-The Three Stooges
21. Johnny Knoxville
Writer | Bad Grandpa
Johnny Knoxville was born on March 11, 1971 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013), The Dukes of Hazzard (2005) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014). He has been married to Naomi Nelson since September 24, 2010. They have two ...
22. Jon Heder
Actor | Napoleon Dynamite
Jonathan Joseph Heder is an American actor and producer who is known for portraying Napoleon Dynamite in 2004. He returned to play the role in an animated series and a 2005 MTV Movie Awards skit. He also acted in the Pororo the Penguin films including Pororo's Racing Adventure, Pororo's Dinosaur ...
Best Role-Napoleon Dynamite
23. Steve-O
Writer | Jackass Forever
Steve graduated from Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1997. He says the program was more like boot camp than college. Out of 2000 applicants, only 33 were accepted and Steve-O was one of them. However, after graduation, 10 were selected for the circus and this didn't include ...
24. Kevin Heffernan
Actor | Super Troopers
Kevin Heffernan was born on May 25, 1968 in West Haven, Connecticut, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Super Troopers (2001), Club Dread (2004) and Beerfest (2006).
Best Role(s) Super Troopers 1 & 2(announced 2011), Beerfest
25. Jay Chandrasekhar
Director | Super Troopers
Jay Chandrasekhar was born on April 9, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is a director and actor, known for Super Troopers (2001), Club Dread (2004) and Beerfest (2006). He has been married to Susan Clarke since September 18, 2005. They have three children.
Best Role(s) Super Troopers 1 &2(announced 2011) Beerfest
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