Comedy is both a creative practice and a working sector. The figures below show how many people make live comedy, how often they perform, what organisations earn, where audiences travel, and how comedy reaches television and the internet. The UK survey figures describe respondents and organisations in 2024 and 2025; the US labour figures describe actors, while Pew’s figures measure online adults or adult internet users.
Contents
- The people behind UK live comedy
- Shows, work, and career support
- Income and the business of comedy
- Where comedy happens and who travels
- Ticket prices and access
- Comedy’s wider economic and cultural reach
- Actors, online video, and measurable demand
The people behind UK live comedy
The UK Live Comedy Sector Survey 2025 was completed by 272 people working in UK live comedy. Comedians made up 63% of respondents, while the remaining 37% were promoters, producers, venue managers, festival organisers, agents, technicians, publishers, journalists, or comedy critics. The survey therefore captures more than performers alone: it also reflects the people who organise, distribute, document, and support live work.
The sector includes both established organisations and newcomers. In the 2025 survey, 45% of comedy organisations had been working in the sector for 16 years or more, while 7% were newcomers in 2025. Among comedians, 27% had worked in live comedy for at least 16 years, and 18% described themselves as relatively new to the sector.
The previous year’s survey had a different respondent mix and a larger response. The UK Live Comedy Sector Survey 2024 included 366 respondents: 67% were comedians, and 33% were promoters, producers, venue managers, festival organisers, or agents. In that survey, 64% of comedy organisations had operated for more than 10 years, and 57% of comedians had been performing live comedy for more than 10 years.
These percentages describe each survey’s respondents, so the two years should be read as separate snapshots rather than a continuous count of the whole UK comedy workforce. The 2025 results nevertheless show a sector with long-running organisations alongside new entrants.
Shows, work, and career support
The average number of shows performed by comedians in the 2025 survey was 2.54 per week. That was down from 3.2 shows per week in 2024. The 2024 survey also recorded 757 total shows per week among the comedians who completed it. These measures describe survey respondents, not every performance in the UK.
The route into paid live work often runs through individual bookers. In 2025, 68% of comedians said most of their live work came from individual comedy bookers. Another 9% identified companies or organisations that book comedy, 2% said most of their work was festival-related, and 19% generally performed and promoted their own shows. At the same time, 73% reported that they did not have support from an agent, manager, or booker.
The 2024 survey offers a useful comparison. Then, 65% of comedians said most of their live work came from individual comedy bookers, and 33% said they had an agent, manager, booker, or similar support. The difference between the two survey snapshots is notable: the reported share with support was lower in 2025, while individual bookers remained the leading source of live work.
Training and community activity are also part of the picture. In 2025, 46% of comedians said they benefited from comedy workshops or masterclasses. Annual charity work was reported by 78% of comedians and 76% of comedy organisations. Those figures indicate substantial involvement beyond the shows themselves, although they do not measure the hours or value of that work.
Income and the business of comedy
The 2025 survey reported an average annual turnover of £527,295.79 for comedy organisations. The comparable 2024 average was £962,212.50. For individual comedians, the 2025 average annual turnover was £21,143, compared with £26,778 in 2024. These are reported averages, not medians, and they should not be treated as typical earnings for every organisation or comedian.
The share of comedians with other paid employment also changed between the two snapshots. In 2025, 74% reported other paid employment, up from 62% in 2024. The 2024 survey additionally found that 31% of comedians said 91% to 100% of their income came from comedy, 19% said 1% to 10% came from comedy, and 7% said none of their income came from comedy.
The 2024 organisational figures include totals as well as averages. Responding comedy organisations reported total turnover of £76,977,000. The total turnover for 219 comedians was £5,864,459. The average number of people working in a comedy organisation was 10.875. Among off-stage workers, 43% worked on a sole-trader basis and 43% worked in a limited-company capacity.
Organisation activity could be substantial even when the sector’s average income varied. In 2024, 50% of comedy organisations promoted 100 or more shows per year. Within the reported bands, 22% promoted 100 to 199 shows, 15% promoted 50 to 99, 11% promoted 200 to 299, and 11% promoted 500 or more.
Where comedy happens and who travels
Location data from the UK Live Comedy Sector Survey 2025 shows a concentration in cities and a broad touring pattern. Of single-location comedy organisations, 25% were based in London and 11% in the South East. Wales, the West Midlands, and East Anglia each accounted for 4%.
Comedians reported a wider performance footprint. The largest single category was performing in a range of locations, at 22%. London accounted for 19%, the South East for 11%, Yorkshire and Humber for 12%, and the North West for 10%.
Rural venues represented only 5% of comedy venues in the 2025 survey, and only 1% of comedians reported performing in rural venues. This is a sharp contrast within the survey’s location measures, though the figures do not explain whether the difference reflects venue supply, touring patterns, respondent geography, or other factors.
Audience travel was usually local or regional. In 2025, 39% of comedy organisations said their audiences travelled under 10 miles to attend shows, while 40% said audiences travelled 10 to 50 miles. Together, those reported bands describe the distance ranges selected by the largest shares of organisations, without establishing an average journey.
Ticket prices and access
The 2025 ticket-price responses show a concentration in the lower and middle bands. Among comedy organisations, 31% reported average ticket prices of £5 to £12, 32% reported £13 to £18, and 20% reported £19 to £25. A further 5% said shows were free to attend or pay-what-you-want.
Comedians’ responses were distributed somewhat differently. Forty percent reported average prices of £5 to £12, 23% reported £13 to £18, 8% reported £19 to £25, and 3% reported £26 to £35. Free or pay-what-you-want shows were reported by 22% of comedians.
| 2025 average ticket measure | Comedy organisations | Comedians |
|---|---|---|
| £5–£12 | 31% | 40% |
| £13–£18 | 32% | 23% |
| £19–£25 | 20% | 8% |
| £26–£35 | Not reported | 3% |
| Free or pay-what-you-want | 5% | 22% |
The 2024 survey provides another baseline. Among organisations, 33% priced tickets at £5 to £12 on average and 43% at £13 to £18. Two percent of tickets were free. Among comedians, 42% reported £5 to £12, 34% reported £13 to £18, and 14% said their shows were free to attend.
Ticket sales were not uniformly sold out in 2024. Forty-five percent of comedy organisations said they sold 71% to 90% of tickets on average, 10% sold 91% to 99%, and 2% reported consistent sell-outs. These measures concern the organisations responding to the survey and do not represent every UK show.
Comedy’s wider economic and cultural reach
The BBC Comedy Economic Impact Report 2025 estimated that the UK live comedy production sector supports around 2,050 jobs. Public service broadcaster spending on comedy content was responsible for 45% of those jobs. The same report said the BBC invested nearly £67.1 million in television comedy in 2024.
The report also described the BBC’s output relative to other broadcasters and streamers: in the previous year, the BBC made over twice as many first-run UK-originated comedy hours as every other broadcaster and streamer combined. This is a production-volume comparison, not a measure of audience size or programme quality.
Comedy’s cultural role was reflected in audience and public-attitude measures in the report. Seven in ten people thought British comedy could reflect Britain today. The programme Gavin & Stacey drew more than 20 million viewers. The report also associated live comedy with local cultural life: 76% of comedy organisations said it contributed to a vibrant cultural offer, 69% said it provided opportunities for new and emerging comedians, and 68% said it celebrated British comedy and humour.
Actors, online video, and measurable demand
US labour statistics provide a separate view of performance work. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a median hourly wage for actors of $23.33 in May 2024. It projected little or no change in actor employment from 2024 to 2034, with about 6,300 openings for actors each year on average over that decade. BLS reported actor employment of 57,000 in 2024 and projected employment of 57,100 in 2034.
For the broader category of entertainers and performers, sports and related workers, BLS reported a median hourly wage of $26.38 in May 2024. The median annual wage for all workers was $49,500 in May 2024. Earlier actor wage figures in the supplied BLS record put the May 2023 median hourly wage at $20.50; 25% of actors earned $15.98 an hour or less, while 90% earned $100.01 an hour or less.
Online viewing figures from the Pew Research Center show an earlier rise in the share of people watching humorous video. Pew found that 31% of adult internet users watched comedy or humorous videos in 2007, 50% of online adults did so in 2010, and 58% did so in 2013. The wording and populations differ slightly across the reported years, so these figures should be read as historical survey measures rather than a current estimate of all internet users.
Together, the UK live-sector figures, BBC production measures, US labour statistics, and Pew viewing figures describe different parts of comedy: making shows, earning income, creating jobs, reaching audiences, and watching humorous video. Each source uses its own population, geography, measurement date, and definition, so the clearest comparisons stay within the same survey or report.