How many professional stand-up comedians are there in Australia?

How many professional stand-up comedians are there in Australia?

(Updated 6 July, 2026)

We’re going to go with 180. But answering how many stand-up comedians there are in Australia is tricky, given the transient nature of this performing art. Comedians often take a break from ‘gigging’ to jump on jobs in theatre, radio, TV and even writing books. Here’s our ‘living document’ our ‘Stand-up comedian list’ of current list of working stand-up comedians who you can see on stage somewhere, sometime during the year in Australia.

TV/Radio Celebrity Comedians

This group of comedians earn most of their money through TV and radio, but are still active performers on stand-up comedy stages around the country, particularly during comedy festivals.

  1. Wil Anderson
  2. Jacques Barrett
  3. Melanie Bracewell
  4. Harley Breen
  5. Aaron Chen
  6. Nick Cody
  7. Joel Creasey
  8. Anh Do
  9. Kitty Flanagan
  10. Tom Gleeson
  11. Mike Goldstein
  12. Pete Helliar
  13. Luke Heggie
  14. Dave Hughes
  15. Sammy J
  16. Jim Jefferies
  17. Dilruk Jayasinha
  18. Lehmo
  19. Mick Molloy
  20. Luke McGregor
  21. Rove McManus
  22. Matt Okine
  23. Celia Pacquola
  24. Sam Peng
  25. Charlie Pickering
  26. Glen Robbins
  27. Adam Rozenbachs
  28. Marty Sheargold
  29. Jenny Tian
  30. Tripod (Scott Edgar, Simon Hall, and Steven Gates)
  31. Kirsty Webeck

Full Time Stand-up Comedians

This group might dabble in podcasts and occasionally guest appearances on TV and radio, but the majority of their income comes from performing stand-up comedy.

  1. Anthony Ackroyd
  2. Ivan Aristeguieta
  3. Joe Avati
  4. Tom Ballard
  5. Andrew Barnett
  6. Arj Barker
  7. Carl Barron
  8. Rusty Berther
  9. Tahir Bilgic
  10. Brett Blake
  11. Mel Buttle
  12. Rose Callaghan
  13. Dave Callan
  14. Damian Callinan
  15. Col Cameron
  16. Ro Campbell
  17. Sam Campbell
  18. Georgie Carroll
  19. Doug Chappel
  20. Jason Chong
  21. Sean Choolburra
  22. Daniel Connell
  23. Mickey D
  24. Stuart Daulman
  25. Kelsey del Amedia
  26. Sonia Di Iorio
  27. Aunty Donna
  28. Jeremy Dooley
  29. Des Dowling
  30. Josh Earl
  31. Anne Edmonds
  32. Marty Fields
  33. Ashley Fils-Aime
  34. Chris Franklin
  35. Heath Franklin
  36. Frenchy
  37. Hannah Gadsby
  38. Amos Gill
  39. Josh Glanc
  40. Elliot Goblet (Jack Levi)
  41. Jarryd Goundrey
  42. Jeff Green
  43. Tilahun Hailu (aka Joe White)
  44. Geraldine Hickey
  45. Evan Hocking
  46. Lizzy Hoo
  47. Claire Hooper
  48. Steve Hughes
  49. Nazeem Hussain
  50. Cameron James
  51. Jimeoin
  52. Johnny Kats
  53. Fady Kassab
  54. Simon Kennedy
  55. Khaled Khalafalla
  56. Luke Kidgell
  57. Bev Killick
  58. Troy Kinne
  59. Cam Knight
  60. Kevin Kropinyeri
  61. Hung Le
  62. Colin Lane
  63. Becky Lucas
  64. Judith Lucy
  65. Lloyd Langford
  66. Tommy Little
  67. Ben Lomas
  68. Tony Martin
  69. James Donald Forbes McCann
  70. Danny McGinlay
  71. Mick Meredith
  72. Emo Mojak
  73. Lawrence Mooney
  74. Daniel Muggleton
  75. Rhys Nicholson
  76. Ross Noble
  77. Bradford Oakes
  78. Ray O’Leary
  79. Dave O’Neil
  80. Nina Oyama
  81. Damien Power
  82. Chris Ryan
  83. Marcus Ryan
  84. Marc Ryan
  85. Akmal Saleh
  86. Michael Shafar
  87. Sam Simmons
  88. Dane Simpson
  89. Vince Sorrenti
  90. Lewis Spears
  91. Richard Stubbs
  92. Sam Taunton
  93. Simon Taylor
  94. Dave Thornton
  95. Nath Valvo
  96. Merrick Watts
  97. Julia Wilson
  98. Susie Youssef
  99. George Kapiniaris
  100. The Nelson Twins
  101. Danielle Walker
  102. Chris Wainhouse
  103. Katie Wainhouse (née Burch)
  104. Frank Woodley

Semi-professional Stand-up Comedians

The list of semi-professional stand-up comedians comprise both veteran comedians and up-and-comers. Through choice, or simply because they are still growing their personal brand, these comedians supplement their stand-up comedy by working other jobs. These could be 9 to 5 jobs, acting or even being an entrepreneur. Some, on the other hand, choose to perform stand-up comedy part time.

  1. Big Al
  2. Christine Basil
  3. Gavin Baskerville
  4. Nick Capper
  5. Oliver Clark
  6. Michael Connell
  7. Zack Dyer
  8. Greg Fleet
  9. CJ Fortuna
  10. Bob Franklin
  11. Alice Fraser
  12. Andrew Hamilton
  13. Justin Hamilton
  14. Krutika Harale
  15. He Huang
  16. Ben Knight
  17. Simon Hughes
  18. Alex Keen
  19. Neel Kolhatkar
  20. Greg Larsen
  21. Bron Lewis
  22. Urvi Majumdar
  23. Gerry Masi (Mad Dog Malcolm Cummins)
  24. Andrew McClelland 
  25. Bec Melrose
  26. Mick Neven
  27. Glynn Nicholas
  28. Fiona O’Loughlin
  29. Matt O’Neill
  30. Nikki Osborne
  31. Simon Palomares
  32. Jess Pearman
  33. Sashi Perera
  34. David Quirk
  35. David Rose
  36. Peter Rowsthorn
  37. Tom Siegert
  38. Billy Stiles
  39. Steph Tisdell
  40. Dave Tulk
  41. Tom Walker
  42. William Wang
  43. Alex Ward
  44. Stella Wu
  45. Henry Yan

How many professional stand-up comedians are active in Australia in any given month will vary, but this list of active stand-up comedians working in Australia is fairly accurate. However, if you’d like to recommend another comedians, share their name below in the comments.

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