Learn about the types of people who become comedians. This page goes into detail about the employment, gender, and ethnic ratios of the workplace.
Employment Type Mix, 2025
16% of comedians work in full-time roles while 84% work part-time.
Gender Mix By Career Interest, 2025
This graph shows the distribution of females and males that are interested in becoming a comedian. Four or five star ratings on CareerExplorer indicate interest.
More men than women are interested in becoming comedians at a ratio of 2.31 to 1.
Actual Gender Mix, 2025
38% of comedians are female and 62% are male.
Gender Bias, 2025
This is one of the most compelling statistics we collect. Gender bias shows the difference between gender interest in being a comedian and the actual gender mix of people in the career.
If there is a significant difference, then it means there is a gender imbalance between those interested in becoming a comedian and those who end up becoming one.
In this case there are more men interested in becoming a comedian than those actually working as one. It is hard to pinpoint the exact reasons why, but there are likely various forces at play, from changing interests over time to societal norms and biases.
Ethnic Mix, 2019
The largest ethnic group of comedians are White, making up 73% of the population. The next highest segments are Black or African American and Other, making up 11% and 6% respectively.