Kevin Hart passes Jerry Seinfeld on list of highest-paid comedians
Here’s one domain Jerry Seinfeld is no longer the master of.
Kevin Hart overtook Seinfeld on Forbes’ list of the highest-paid stand-up comedians after the “Seinfeld” creator and star took the top spot on the list last year.
Hart earned $59 million last year, thanks to a stadium tour, Netflix special and sponsorships from brands like Mountain Dew, Forbes reported.
Seinfeld has dominated Forbes’ list since 2006, except for 2016 when he was dethroned by Hart. Still, Seinfeld did fairly well, earning a comfortable $41 million, according to the report. While that was down from his pay last year, he’s still earning big bucks thanks to a residency he has at the Madison Square Garden owned Beacon Theater in New York and streaming episodes of “Seinfeld” on Hulu and “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” on Netflix.
But Seinfeld may soon climb to the top again. Sony is hoping to score close to half a billion dollars for new streaming rights to the comic's classic series once the Hulu rights expire in 2021.
Jim Gaffigan was third on the list with $30 million in earnings, thanks largely to touring as well as his latest stand-up special for Amazon, “Quality Time.”
“Daily Show” host Trevor Noah was close behind with $28 million, according to the report. While the list usually puts TV hosts on a separate list, Forbes reported that Noah earned most of his income through stand-up. He released a Netflix special last fall and his 2016 book, “Born a Crime,” remained a New York Times bestseller.
Amy Schumer was the only woman to make the top 10 list. She made $21 million thanks to touring and a Netflix special, according to the report.
Altogether, the 10 highest-earning comedians made $272 million. That was down $20 million from the year before.
Here are the 10 highest-paid comedians of 2019 according to Forbes:
1. Kevin Hart
Earnings: $59 million
2. Jerry Seinfeld
Earnings: $41 million
3. Jim Gaffigan
Earnings: $30 million
4. Trevor Noah
Earnings: $28 million
5. Sebastian Maniscalco
Earnings: $26 million
6. Gabriel Iglesias
Earnings: $22 million
7. Amy Schumer
Earnings: $21 million
8. Terry Fator
Earnings: $17 million
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9. Jeff Dunham
Earnings: $15 million
10. Aziz Ansari
Earnings: $13 million