Boxoffice Insider: A Comedy Golden Age Continues For Top 25 Comedy Tours

Comedy performance at the box office in the past year showed growth across the board, according to reports from live events occurring August 2023 through the end of this July. Among the 25 highest-grossing comedy acts, the overall gross and number of sold tickets, as well as the averages per show in both metrics, all showed increases compared to box-office results in the same 12-month period in both 2023 and 2022. The average ticket price at comedy shows by the top 25 artists also grew steadily from year to year.

The combined gross from the top 25 comedians during the past year is $582.7 million. That’s an increase of 11% over the $525.8 million in comedy grosses from the same 12-month period one year earlier. Likewise, the number of tickets sold during the past year totals 7,063,839 from 1,557 performances on record, also marking an 11% jump compared to the previous year. In 2023, the top 10 comedy acts sold 6.38 million tickets at 1,501 reported shows.

Even greater percentage increases can be seen in comparison to 2022 when the top 25 grossed $387.2 million from 5.16 million tickets at 1,532 comedy shows. The 2024 gross is 50% higher than 2022’s, while the ticket total is 37% higher.

Then, regarding box-office averages, grosses reported in 2024 averaged $374,233 per show during the past 12 months for an increase of 6.8% compared to last year’s $350,321 per-show average. Also showing a 6.8% jump, the average number of tickets sold per show this year is 4,537, topping the 2023 average of 4,248. The averages in both years easily surpass those from 2022 when the gross average was $252,745 and tickets 3,369.

Throughout the past two years, in every quarterly recap and practically any box-office analysis, one metric that almost universally has shown a significant increase over previous years is the average ticket price. In this instance, however, the $82.49 average price for the top 25 comedy artists is almost identical to last year’s $82.46 average – just three cents higher. Compared to 2022, though, this year’s average price jumps by 10%.

The artists included among the top 25 comedy tours represent a diverse lineup of talent. They are predominantly male, though, with women claiming only three of the positions on the chart.

Taking the top spot is Nate Bargatze who maintains a tight grip on No. 1 with his massive $79.9 million box-office haul. It is over $35 million more than any other gross listed. With 163 performances reported – the most of any comic in the lineup – his attendance is also the best of the top 25, peaking at 1,098,929. Austin fans bought the most tickets to see him perform with 33,276 sold for three performances at Moody Center, April 21-22, while his highest gross was $2.23 million from two shows at Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Jan. 13.

Dave Chappelle, who ranked in the top five in both previous years, lands there again in 2024, taking No. 2 with $44.2 million in ticket revenue from 30 shows at 16 venues. With attendance hitting 317,950, his most successful engagement at the box office was a four-show stint at New York’s Madison Square Garden with 49,140 tickets sold for a $7.95 million gross. Along with his arena dates, he also performed at the 1,225-seat Lincoln Theatre in Washington, D.C., selling out seven shows at the venue last October.

Third in the ranking belongs to Jerry Seinfeld who scored his top venue gross in Australia, racking up $5.58 million from 36,498 sold seats at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, June 22-23. It was one of nine venues on the comedian’s 12-show trek through Australia, New Zealand and Singapore earlier this summer. In 12 performances there, he grossed over $17.9 million. Adding his 70 solo headlining shows in North America reported during the past 12 months, he grossed $43.7 million from 329,832 sold tickets worldwide.

Gabriel Iglesias is No. 4 based on $40.6 million from 558,334 sold seats at 111 reported shows, three of which were at state fairs in U.S. cities. The first was Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island where he sold 5,052 tickets on Aug. 30, 2023. This year, he played West Fargo, North Dakota’s Red River Valley Fair in June as well as Columbus’ Ohio State Fair in July.

Matt Rife rounds out the top five with a $35.4 million box-office take from 125 reported shows. He has the second-highest show count behind Bargatze, while his 412,415-ticket total is fourth highest among the top 25, following Bargatze, Iglesias and No. 6-ranked Bert Kreischer with 452,701 tickets.