The Biggest Comedy Tours of 2021

These stand-up comedians sold the most tickets in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Pollstar

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging globally, and here in the United States. Two years after the first publicly reported cases of the novel coronavirus emerged in China, we’re still losing more than 1,000 Americans every day in December 2021 from the pandemic. BING BONG!

Oh, now I got your attention? BING BONG!

Pollstar counted ticket sales from Nov. 19, 2020, through Nov. 17, 2021 — a period which started with no vaccine availability, and eventually found all of America and much of the world having access to vaccines, although every country, and within the U.S., every state seemed to have its own rules and everyone seemed to have their own way of acting responsibly (or irresponsibly) during a global pandemic. Do I blame comedians or bands for trying to get back on the road and touring? I don’t blame them for wanting to do the thing they believe they were put on this earth to do, but the idea of maintaining their livelihood when lives are at stake? Let me put it this way. I’ve only been to one indoor comedy show throughout the pandemic. But as these ticket sales collected and reported by Pollstar demonstrate, lots of you felt differently about the whole thing. Performers and audience members alike.

And of course, some performers and venues took safety precautions to heart, mandating vaccinations, reducing seating capacities and the like, while others did not.

So let’s look at those numbers.

The top comedian on this year’s touring list (in ticket sales worldwide) was Gabriel Iglesias, ranking 26th overall with 213,663 — Harry Styles topped this year’s touring list in ticket sales with 669,051, while The Rolling Stones had the highest-grossing tour, with $115.5 million. Fluffy’s ticket sales grossed just more than $13 mil.

Comedians on the Top 100 Worldwide Touring List for Nov. 2020-2021

1. Gabriel Iglesias (26th overall) — 213,663 — $13 mil

2. Sebastian Maniscalco (30th) — 200,197 — $19.8 mil

3. Jo Koy (40th) — 158,069 — $9.9 mil

4. Jeff Dunham (55th) — 134,296 — $7.1 mil

5. Dave Chappelle (60th) — 132,311 — $22 mil

6. Jim Gaffigan (66th) — 114,887 — $8.4 mil

7. Bert Kreischer (68th) — 113,596 — $6.58 mil

8. In Real Life Comedy Tour/Mike Epps (79th) — 83,665 — $7.74 mil

9. Nate Bargatze (86th) — 69,073 — $3.56 mil

10. Ron White (88th) — 65,790 — $3.75 mil

11. Joe Rogan (91st) — 64,278 — $4.42 mil

12. Iliza Shlesinger (97th) — 60,542 — $3.19 mil

OK, so Iliza’s the only woman to make this cut, but remember, this list is a direct reflection of who toured and played theaters and larger comedy clubs in the middle of a pandemic.

Now if you just look at the touring numbers within North America, we get a fuller picture of who toured at what cost to them and us. For this ranking, Pollstar sorted by gross sales, so the bigger-ticket headliners rose to the top, with Chappelle first among stand-up acts with his $22 mil (his tour ranked 21st overall). That Chappelle’s ticket prices were so much higher than everyone else’s just proves how little he’s worried about catching flak about any of his horrible takes.

Comedians ranked by North American touring grosses from Nov. 2020-2021, according to Pollstar:

1. Chappelle, $22 mil

2. Sebastian Maniscalco, $19.8 mil

3. Gabriel Iglesias, $13 mil

4. Jo Koy, $9.9 mil

5. Jim Gaffigan, $8.4 mil

6. Mike Epps In Real Life Comedy Tour, $7.7 mil

7. Jeff Dunham, $7.1 mil

8. Bert Kreischer, $6.6 mil

9. Joe Rogan, $4.4 mil

10. Bill Burr, $4 mil

11. Katt Williams, $3.8 mil

12. Ron White, $3.8 mil

13. Nate Bargatze, $3.6 mil

14. Chelsea Handler, $3.1 mil

15. John Mulaney, $2.9 mil

16. Iliza Shlesinger, $2.8 mil

17. Hasan Minhaj, $2.6 mil

18. Tom Segura, $2.4 mil

19. Trevor Noah, $1.9 mil

20. Ali Wong, $1.9 mil

21. Rodney Carrington, $1.6 mil

22. Jim Jefferies, $1.3 mil

23. Lit AF Tour (Martin Lawrence and friends), $1.2 mil

To give you some perspective on these figures, Martin Lawrence’s “Lit AF Tour” brought in that $1.2 million over just two concert dates, selling a total of 17,518 tickets. Ali Wong only played three dates in the past year. Mulaney racked up his totals over 24 shows in five cities. Jo Koy, on the other end, hit up 40 cities for 44 shows; Fluffy, 41 cities and 71 shows.

And for more perspective, compare all of that to the 2019 pre-pandemic touring stats.

That year, the top global touring comic was Maniscalco, who only ranked 74th behind 73 musical acts, but sold almost 100,000 more tickets in 2019 compared to the past year. Only he and Jerry Seinfeld cracked Pollstar’s Top 100 global tours of 2019, where the 100th act, Drake, raked in $16 mil.