The 50 Most Influential People in Comedy in 2022

Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky

The Hacks trio followed up their season one success (which included a directing Emmy for Aniello and a writing Emmy for all three) with a hit sophomore season of the HBO Max comedy, bringing in another 17 Emmy nominations in 2022. Aniello, who also serves as an EP on Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens, and husband Downs signed an overall deal to develop new projects with Warner Bros. Television Group in August 2021, the same month Statsky extended her own overall pact with Universal Television.

Judd Apatow

Nearly two decades after directing the The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Apatow remains one of the very few talents who can secure a green light for an R-rated studio comedy. The writer-producer-director, who over the years has partnered with then-emerging talent like Amy Schumer (Trainwreck) and Pete Davidson (The King of Staten Island), this year did the same with Billy Eichner’s Bros — which may have underperformed but would likely not have seen the light of day, and certainly not the push of its history-making wide theatrical release, if not for Apatow’s involvement (and his long-standing relationship with Universal). “I met an enormous amount of hilarious people while making Bros,” says Apatow, “and I hope they all get the opportunity to create their own projects.” Apatow continues his mentoring mission with coming projects from comedic duo The Lucas Bros and SNL video breakouts Please Don’t Destroy (Martin Herlihy, John Higgins and Ben Marshall, also on this list).

Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes

Of all the homespun celebrity projects that popped up in the early days of COVID when stars had nothing better to do, SmartLess — a weekly interview podcast featuring the chop-busting banter of longtime actor friends Arnett, Bateman and Hayes — was perhaps the only one to not only survive the pandemic but become a major cultural force. Acquired by Amazon/Wondery for a reported $80 million last year, the show has elicited both laughs and heartfelt confessions from more than 120 guests, such as George Clooney, Katy Perry, a good number of people from this list, and President Joe Biden, whose episode dropped Nov. 2. A docuseries following the SmartLess live tour this year will be released in early 2023.

Kate Berlant and John Early

Hollywood has a rich history of bickering comedic duos. Kate Berlant and John Early are not part of it. That’s not a slight — it’s just to say the pair, whose act veers into some very surreal territory and who have created an entire new laugh language of their own, have been besties since meeting in New York comedy circles in 2012. (Take the all-beaver family they play in their Peacock comedy special, Would It Kill You to Laugh?) But when it comes to comedy, what is initially considered fringe eventually comes to define the mainstream — and that’s where Berlant and Early now find themselves, admired, imitated and in hot demand. Their concurrent acting careers are thriving: Berlant released her first solo special on FX on Hulu, Cinnamon in the Wind, in September; stars in Amazon’s A League of Their Own as the slugger Shirley Cohen; and appears in Don’t Worry Darling as the pregnant neighbor, Peg. A TV party boy, Early played narcissist Elliot Goss for five seasons (two on TBS, three on HBO Max) on Search Party and was Tiffany Haddish’s partner Detective Culp on Apple’s The After Party. And their stand-up shows — performed both together and apart — are always among the best-attended by Hollywood comedy cognoscenti and fans alike.

Mike Birbiglia

The first thing Mike Birbiglia does before staging one of his one-man shows at a new venue is sit in every seat. “I try to understand what the sightlines are, how they can hear. I’m obsessed with it because that’s all we have,” he says over Zoom in October, hiding in daughter Oona’s bedroom from the noise of Brooklyn construction outside. “The intimacy is everything.”

Birbiglia is known as a comedian, a filmmaker (2016’s Don’t Think Twice), a podcaster and a for-hire actor — recurring on Billions and, more recently, making a memorable cameo in Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” music video. But it’s his plays, narrative interpretations of stand-up, that have always distinguished him from his peers. He’s now 44 and committed to shirking Hollywood for his life in Brooklyn with wife Jen Stein (the poet who publishes under the pen name J. Hope Stein) and prefers his current commute into Manhattan to a year on the road. This latest show, a contemplative and comic look at mortality called The Old Man and the Pool, kicked off the first of 70 shows on Broadway at the 1,000-seat Vivian Beaumont Theater on Oct. 28. “That’s three Madison Square Gardens,” Birbiglia clarifies. “I drive my agent nuts.” Read the full story.

Quinta Brunson

Quinta Brunson appears remarkably unfazed. Whether the creator and star of Abbott Elementary is plugging her project on a talk show or accepting the Emmy for best comedy writing over Jimmy Kimmel’s limp body, the 32-year-old projects an air that never leans too far toward humility or confidence. She’s simply making the TV show that she wants.

What’s earned Brunson so much attention, however, is the fact that what she’s doing is anything but simple. Before ABC launched Abbott in January, the suggestion that a broadcast comedy could overwhelmingly win over critics and pull in 7 million weekly viewers across platforms in 2022 would have gotten more laughs than plenty of half-hours. But, with her mockumentary spin on an underserved Philadelphia grammar school, Brunson has many in Hollywood reassessing what’s possible in this crowded market. That has led to a flurry of pitches for the sitcom savant to take on extra work, something she’s quick to dismiss. “I’ve narrowed it down,” says Brunson. “If it doesn’t serve Abbott right now, then I feel like I don’t have to do it.”

During a rare hiatus — ABC upped Abbott‘s order to a robust 22 episodes for its sophomore season — Brunson, THR‘s comedy star of the year, spoke over the phone about boundaries, the genre’s shifting landscape and her recent boozy run-in with Paul Rudd. Read the full story.

Bo Burnham

Burnham followed up his hit 2021 Netflix special, Inside — which landed him six Emmy nominations and three wins, and for which he released an outtakes version this summer on YouTube — with a post–Eighth Grade shift back behind the camera, this year directing Jerrod Carmichael’s buzzy HBO special Rothaniel. The comedian has also formed a creative partnership with comic Kate Berlant, directing her FX on Hulu special Cinnamon in the Wind as well as her NYC-based one-woman show Kate.

Touring Powerhouses: Bill Burr, Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias, Jo Koy, Bert Kreischer, Sebastian Maniscalco, Hasan Minhaj, John Mulaney, Tom Segura

As the pandemic waned, this year finally marked a full-scale return to touring for many comics, with this crew leading the pack. According to a Pollstar report tracking comedy tours from September 2021 to September 2022, Maniscalco topped the charts with $44.9 million in gross revenue and 440,268 tickets sold across 84 shows. He’ll soon headline an HBO Max bookie comedy from Chuck Lorre, and stars opposite Robert De Niro in the upcoming semiautobiographical Lionsgate comedy About My Father. Iglesias came in at No. 2, with $25.5 million gross revenue, as he became the first comedian to sell out Dodger Stadium this summer. Koy, who also made his big-screen debut this year with underperforming Universal comedy Easter Sunday, sits at No. 3 with $23.9 million. Kreischer ($23.5 million) is also big in the podcast space, with four shows under his Berty Boy Productions. Meanwhile, Mulaney, who earned $15.5 million, and Minhaj also had buzzy sold-out tours, and the latter turned his into his second Netflix special, The King’s Jester; Burr hit arenas and amphitheaters across the country with the Slight Return tour and released his Live at Red Rocks special in July; and Segura, who co-hosts popular comedy podcasts Your Mom’s House with his wife, comedian Christina P., and Two Bears, One Cave with Kreischer, landed a deal for two new Netflix comedy specials, set to arrive in 2023.

Nicole Byer

Nicole Byer kicked off her first Netflix stand-up special swinging around a stripper pole, and her career has been in perpetual motion ever since. The Big Beautiful Weirdo star is also a writer, producer, podcaster and Emmy-nominated host for Nailed It!, and fronts the NBC comedy Grand Crew and TBS’ Wipeout. And the fast-dwindling subset who don’t recognize her face likely know Byer’s voice, either from her animated work (Rugrats; Tuca & Bertie) or from one of her four podcasts, including her popular series Why Won’t You Date Me?

Jerrod Carmichael

Owning the comedy conversation for the month of April with breakout HBO special Rothaniel and a first-time SNL hosting gig arriving almost simultaneously, the 35-year-old stand-up cemented his status as a member of the new vanguard for event-izing his decision to come out of the closet. Industry love didn’t stop there. In June, Carmichael inked an eight-figure deal with HBO and, in September, he took home his first Emmy for writing Rothaniel. Next year, he’ll dip into dark comedy with a role in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things alongside Emma Stone and Ramy Youssef.

Dave Chappelle

2021 ended with the release of Netflix’s The Closer, triggering a wave of protests and canceled gigs over his repeated barbs about the transgender community. But Chappelle never apologized or backed down. He even went so far as to release a surprise special in July — Netflix’s What’s in a Name? — that doubled down on his right to joke as he sees fit. Netflix has never wavered in its support, sponsoring a record-breaking four shows at the Hollywood Bowl as part of its Netflix Is a Joke festival. (That, too, ended in controversy when an audience member at the final show rushed Chappelle; the comic was rattled but unharmed.) None of it seems to have had any impact on Chappelle’s massive popularity: Between September 2021 and September 2022, Pollstar shows he grossed $22 million in ticket sales (including $10 million from the Bowl shows), and his just-announced arena tour co-headlining with Chris Rock is selling briskly.

Network Late Night Guys: Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers

Samantha Bee is gone. Trevor Noah and James Corden will be soon. No surprise: In the age of cord-cutting, the late night talk show is no longer the dependable low-overhead/high-ad-rate moneymaker it had been for decades. But so far, streamers haven’t been able to compete with the network hosts’ ability to riff on the news in real time, night after night, ensuring headlines the next morning. The Late Show With Stephen Colbert remains an essential stop for major promo tours and political campaigns (though it lost bandleader Jon Batiste after his album of the year Grammy win). “A Closer Look” deep dives on Late Night With Seth Meyers reliably rake in clicks. And the Jimmys (Fallon and Kimmel) are still able to commandeer attention with epic bits like their April Fools’ switcheroo, in which they hosted each other’s shows. While they — and the networks — will have to get (even more) creative to survive, the remaining Big Four have dug in their heels: Meyers, Fallon and Colbert are sticking around, and after publicly hemming and hawing, Kimmel has re-signed with ABC through 2026.

Billy Eichner

With Bros, the Judd Apatow-produced romantic comedy he wrote and starred in, Eichner achieved a historic first, a gay rom-com by a major studio (Universal), starring an all-LGBTQ cast. But despite largely glowing reviews, the film was unable to buck the trend of underperforming theatrical comedies. It opened to a dismal $4.8 million, prompting Eichner to lash out on Twitter: “Everyone who ISN’T a homophobic weirdo should go see BROS tonight! You will have a blast!” While it didn’t rescue the release, the passionate plea launched a thousand debates about what was to blame for the bomb, making Eichner one of the most talked-about — and yes, influential — comedians of the year.

Will Ferrell and Jessica Elbaum

After being spun out from Gary Sanchez, the former Will Ferrell and Adam McKay outfit, Gloria Sanchez remains the top destination for female-fronted comedy. Run by founder Jessica Elbaum, the banner behind Booksmart (a film that quadrupled its tiny $6 million budget and launched Olivia Wilde’s directing career) and Hustlers (the surprise $160 million Jennifer Lopez hit) is gearing up for an untitled sister comedy starring Sandra Oh and Awkwafina from 20th Century — where Gloria Sanchez has its first-look deal — and Todd Haynes’ May December starring Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman. On top of its original mandate, Gloria Sanchez is also now backing all Ferrell-fronted projects, including Apple’s Spirited, the Christmas Carol musical co-starring Ryan Reynolds that drops Nov. 11.

Nathan Fielder

The Canadian comic took his genre-bending act from Comedy Central — where Nathan for You ran for four seasons — to the deeper pockets over at HBO. The result was The Rehearsal, a Charlie Kaufman-esque reality show involving elaborate re-creations of real-world scenarios. As the internet debated its moral implications (the season ends with the fatherless boy who played Fielder’s TV son sobbing after Fielder abandons him), there was no question that Fielder had taken his strange, brilliant vision to the next level. Signs of the Fielder-fication of America started popping up everywhere. Magazines declared him a “genius.” Twitter fan accounts proliferated (“Men for Fielder” offers Halloween costume tips). And referencing The Rehearsal at cocktail parties signaled an elevated comedy IQ. Next up, Fielder tries his hand at scripted comedy with Showtime’s The Curse, in which he and Emma Stone play the married stars of a fictional HGTV show called Flipanthropy, the first project to come out of a production deal with Uncut Gems writer-directors Josh and Benny Safdie (Benny also stars) and A24.

Donald Glover

Despite a four-year, partially pandemic-related hiatus, Atlanta returned for its final two seasons this year as fresh as ever — and just as challenging and experimental in its defiance of genre and form. As his multi-Emmy-winning comedy (technically speaking) takes a final bow on FX this month, the enigmatic Glover has already moved on to other projects. First up is a series reboot of spy-vs.-spy actioner Mr. & Mrs. Smith for Amazon, which Glover is currently filming, alongside PEN15‘s Maya Erskine.

Bill Hader

It’s been almost a decade since Hader left Saturday Night Live, and after the frenetic pace of the weekly sketch show, he’s been selective about projects. With Barry, Hader’s HBO black comedy series about a hitman who just wants to be an actor, which is now heading into its fourth season, the comic has found the perfect vehicle for his distinctive tastes and expansive talents. Hader stars in, writes, directs and produces Barry, which has won him two Emmys for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series and has collected some 44 Primetime Emmy nominations overall.

Sterlin Harjo

The Reservation Dogs co-creator (alongside Taika Waititi) kicked off his year by signing an overall deal with FX. Then the series — a quirky dramedy about a quartet of Indigenous teens in rural Oklahoma plotting their great escape to California, and a groundbreaker for its all-Indigenous principal cast, writing staff and directors — aired a critically adored second season on FX on Hulu, proving that Harjo is no flash in the pan. He is overseeing the writers room for season three while also working on a heist miniseries for FX featuring an Indigenous American female lead.

Kevin Hart

The prolific actor and producer may branch out from time to time, but comedy remains Hart’s core business. Production and distribution outfit Hartbeat locked in a $100 million infusion from Abry Partners in April, just before back-to-back Hart vehicles The Man From Toronto and Me Time spent much of the summer atop Netflix’s streaming charts. His upcoming film and TV slate is perhaps not as crowded as his fans may be used to, but they can blame current tour Reality Check. Hart is filling arenas and stadiums for the first time since the pandemic, with dozens of dates through the year’s end.

Mindy Kaling

Now a bona fide YA whisperer, thanks to her shows Never Have I Ever (a fourth and final season premieres on Netflix in 2023) and The Sex Lives of College Girls (season two bows Nov. 17 on HBO Max), the onetime Office scribe and star is in a particularly prolific period. She adds an animated comedy (Scooby Doo origins spin Velma) in 2023, is fine-tuning the script for Reese Witherspoon’s long-gestating Legally Blonde 3 and still frequently pops up in her many pals’ projects (see: The Morning Show). Kaling’s Twitter account, which courts 11.5 million followers, remains a reliable source of cultural criticism — both astute and snarky.

Joel Kim Booster and Bowen Yang

The Bros box office debate may have sucked up a lot of valuable oxygen, but it was not the only landmark gay feature to arrive in 2022. Hulu original Fire Island, written by and starring veteran stand-up Booster, centered queer Asian American men in the traditional rom-com format and united Booster and friend Yang on camera. Yang, meanwhile, is approaching MVP status at Saturday Night Live four years in. The mass cast exodus of 2022 has boosted his profile even more, as he’s seemingly succeeded Kate McKinnon as the sketch show’s most versatile (and utilized) player. Up next: Booster will reprise his role for season two of Apple’s Loot (starring fellow comedy list member Maya Rudolph), while Yang, who memorably cameoed in Bros, will appear in the yet-untitled movie from the Please Don’t Destroy guys (also on this list).

Nick Kroll

Kroll insists he “has aspirations to do everything,” though one could argue he’s already doing just that. During a months-long stretch earlier this fall, he could be seen fronting his first stand-up special in 11 years (Netflix’s Little Big Boy); acting in Olivia Wilde’s film Don’t Worry Darling; writing, producing and lending his voice to his Emmy-winning animated hit, Big Mouth, and co-creating its spinoff, Human Resources. Around that time, Kroll also wrote and directed Hulu’s upcoming sketch show, Mel Brooks’ History of the World, Part II, which Brooks personally tapped Kroll to produce with him; and continued growing his production company Good at Business.

Phil Lord and Chris Miller

Having long ago proved their instincts with hit franchises like 21 Jump Street and the Lego movies, Lord and Miller can still convince increasingly risk-averse Hollywood to bet big on untested IP to develop wild, high-concept comedies. The duo is readying Universal’s Cocaine Bear, based on the true story of a black bear that ingested a duffel bag full of white powder after a botched drug deal, and Lionsgate’s 48 Hours in Vegas, depicting the wild weekend during which Dennis Rodman tore through Sin City in the middle of the 1998 NBA Finals. “Everything comes down to relationships,” says Lord. “Not the Hollywood ones, but the ones between the characters. You get that stuff right and everything is funnier.” Meanwhile, the duo’s The After Party is getting a second season from Apple and they are in production on the next two sequels to the Oscar-winning animated superhero film Into the Spider-Verse. “Court danger,” says Miller when asked how studios can get audiences back in theaters. “My favorite comedies all feel dangerous. Everyone — the characters, the filmmakers — should be headed for the rocks all the time.”

Bill Maher

Amid a bleak talk show landscape, Maher achieves the unthinkable: He consistently gets people talking. Chalk that up to a confrontational approach to current-affairs comedy — one that never adheres to predictable us/them talking points. Currently in its 20th season on HBO, Real Time With Bill Maher still draws some of the most influential and high-profile guests — Benjamin Netanyahu, Amy Klobuchar and Bob Odenkirk have appeared this year — who come ready for bare-knuckle debate, frequently with Maher himself. And yet the host manages to make the whole endeavor funny. His audience of diehards — about 1.25 million weekly, often making it the most watched single telecast on HBO (on non-dragon weeks) — also drives ticket sales for his popular stand-up shows around the country.

Steve Martin and Martin Short

The dueling male leads of Hulu hit Only Murders in the Building may have missed out on that Emmy — both were nominated for best actor and lost to Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis — but these comedy legends aren’t exactly in need of more laurels. Their series, recently renewed for a third season, has the two Amigos back in the zeitgeist despite the fact that they’re now in their 70s. When not sharing scenes with Selena Gomez, they’re perpetually touring their two-man show. The latest interaction, You Won’t Believe What They Look Like Today!, has dates on the calendar through June 2023.

Lorne Michaels

The unofficial godfather of comedy, Michaels just picked up his sixth consecutive variety sketch Emmy for Saturday Night Live, bringing the show’s total to a staggering 87. Back in New York, he’s now lording over the 48th season, which he has called an “exhilarating” year “of reinvention”; and at age 77, Michaels recently told The New York Times he has “no plans to retire.” He’s certainly plenty busy with producer credits on NBC’s two late night shows (The Tonight Show and Late Night With Seth Meyers) as well as Peacock’s upcoming Pete Davidson comedy Bupkis; Cecily Strong’s Schmigadoon; Fred Armisen, Bill Hader and Seth Meyers’ Documentary Now!; and Los Espookys, from Armisen and fellow SNL alum Julio Torres.

Trevor Noah

Noah stunned his bosses, colleagues and viewers in late September, when the Daily Show star announced on the show that he was ready to move on. The Emmy-nominated host, whose iteration of the Comedy Central staple earned Emmy noms and, in the first half of 2022, $25 million in ad revenue, will sign off in December. From there, Noah will turn his attention to his many other ventures, including a prolific production company that will likely have him acting and producing considerably more than his schedule previously allowed. The best-selling author will spend more time on the road, too, where he’s one of only a handful of comics who can sell out arenas on multiple continents. Per Pollstar, Noah has grossed nearly $10 million with only 16 tour stops — and he’s just getting started.

Conan O'Brien

Being unceremoniously ousted from his dream gig as host of NBC’s Tonight Show might well have been the best thing to happen to O’Brien’s career. Relegated to basic cable, the veteran funnyman experimented with various approaches to reclaiming his lost audience share, including an Emmy-winning travel series and, beginning in 2018, a weekly podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. Even as his TBS talk show became a casualty of late night’s decline (and the pandemic), the podcast took off, spawning an audio empire. This year, O’Brien sold his production company, Team Coco, for a reported $150 million to SiriusXM, where he is developing a new comedy channel. Who’s laughing now?

John Oliver

Oliver’s Last Week Tonight continues to dominate the late night conversation with newsmaking weekly episodes — ranging from jabs at House of the Dragon to the fight for trans rights — and seven straight Emmy wins in the variety talk series and writing for a variety series categories. Oliver’s HBO deal takes him through 2023, marking 10 years on air — all because of his “inability to fulfill my actual dream of becoming a footballer and playing for Liverpool.”

Please Don't Destroy

The comedy-nerd vid kids of Saturday Night Live — Ben Marshall, 27, John Higgins, 26, and Martin Herlihy, 24 — have stolen the show with their prerecorded bits of controlled mayhem. The trio, two of them sons of SNL writing legends (Tim Herlihy and Steve Higgins), met doing comedy at NYU. Their viral videos, like “Three Sad Virgins (ft. Taylor Swift),” draw over 7 million hits on YouTube. Next the guys graduate to the big screen with a Judd Apatow-produced movie for Universal about three friends who set out on a search to a nearby mountain for rumored buried treasure. (Title ideas welcome.)

Issa Rae

Her landmark HBO comedy Insecure aired its final episode in the last week of December, but Rae — who signed a five-year, eight-figure deal with WarnerMedia last year — was back this summer with HBO Max’s Miami music scene comedy Rap Sh!t. Her “audio everywhere” company Raedio, launched in 2019, released the show’s soundtrack in September. While remaining firmly behind the scenes for her new series as creator and writer, she has logged plenty of acting credits, too, including on Apple TV+’s Roar and B.J. Novak’s Vengeance. She’s also set to appear in two of the most anticipated films of 2023: Barbie and the animated Spider-Verse sequel.

Chris Rock

No matter how many eight-figure Netflix specials Chris Rock releases, his résumé from here on out will include a footnote: recipient of Will Smith’s slap at the 2022 Oscars. But rather than dole out interviews about the infamous incident, Rock has stuck to cracking jokes on his Ego Death tour, which has him selling out theaters around the globe. Per Pollstar, he grossed nearly $17 million on only 35 stops. Back in Hollywood, the Fargo lead appeared in David O. Russell’s star-studded flop Amsterdam, and co-stars in George C. Wolfe’s forthcoming March on Washington film, Rustin, from the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions.

Maya Rudolph and Natasha Lyonne

The stars of Apple TV+’s Loot and Netflix’s Russian Doll, respectively, have not been slacking off. Midway through the first season of Rudolph’s show, about a billionaire divorcée, Apple signed a first-look deal with the duo’s Animal Pictures. The banner, which launched in 2018, expanded the pair’s 20-year friendship into a working relationship. (When Lyonne hosted SNL this year, former castmember Rudolph joined her onstage for the monologue.) Next up comes the highly anticipated Rian Johnson mystery series Poker Face, starring Lyonne; Cirocco Dunlap’s animated series The Hospital, with Rudolph among the voice cast; and the second season of Loot. “It’s a joy to have such an inspiring, creative, visionary hub,” says Lyonne. Rudolph adds, “We are working together to help bring stories and faces and relationships we have never seen onscreen before. It’s a very exciting time.”

Phoebe Robinson

This year not only saw the debut of Robinson’s comedy series Everything’s Trash — based on her essay collection Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay — on Freeform, but also the extension of her and EP Jonathan Groff’s overall deal with ABC Signature. On top of her TV and film projects, Robinson’s Tiny Reparations banner has also launched a book imprint to amplify diverse voices across literary fiction, nonfiction and essays.

Joe Rogan

Despite — or because of — all his controversial headlines throughout the pandemic, Rogan continues to dominate the podcast charts (and fill arenas, on his rare stand-up tour dates). His 13-year-old The Joe Rogan Experience — in which the comedian and MMA commentator interviews a mix of celebrity guests and “intellectual dark web” figures at length — topped Edison Research’s most recent quarterly ranking of the 50 most listened-to shows in the U.S. In early 2023, Rogan plans to open his comedy club in his transplanted home of Austin, which is sure to disrupt the city’s already hot comedy scene. Like or loathe, Rogan’s prominence is undeniable.

Amy Schumer

Schumer is back with a vengeance. After a six-year hiatus, the comedian-actress’ Inside Amy Schumer has returned with its long-awaited fifth season. The Emmy- and Peabody-winning sketch series, now streaming on Paramount+, had been renewed at its former Comedy Central home back in 2016, but Schumer said that once Trump was elected president, she “was too depressed and just didn’t feel like I had anything helpful to say.” Now Schumer, who’s on her Whore Tour and also prepping a second season of Hulu’s Life & Beth — of which she is creator, star, executive producer and director — says she’s bringing the show back to “burn any remaining bridges.” Schumer, who memorably co-hosted the infamous 2022 Oscars, also released her Netflix comedy special Amy Schumer’s Parental Advisory and will star in Jerry Seinfeld’s upcoming, star-studded Netflix movie Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story.

Christopher Storer and Joanna Calo

Storer was executive producer of Hulu’s Ramy and Calo had written on HBO Max’s Hacks and Netflix’s BoJack Horseman. Then the two came together and magic happened, in the form of FX on Hulu’s The Bear — the undisputed breakout hit of the summer, about the pressure-cooker world of, well, cooking under pressure. Within days of the restaurant-centric series’ June 23 premiere, it was dominating social media chatter and, according to Parrot Analytics, in “the 97.3th percentile of the comedy genre.” (Translation: A lot of people watched.) Less than a month later, a second serving was ordered by FX. As Jeremy Allen White’s Carmy might say: “It’s about consistency.”

Jason Sudeikis

Sudeikis was showered with Emmy love this year, with his Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso winning for best comedy series and Sudeikis scoring his second consecutive best actor in a comedy trophy. Yet his nice-guy rep took a hit in April after he served his ex-wife Olivia Wilde with child custody papers while she was onstage at CinemaCon (whether the embarrassing move was intentional is in dispute). In 2023, Sudeikis is expected to unveil Lasso‘s very long-awaited third season — which could also be its last. After that, Sudeikis’ commitment slate is clear and the man can presumably land whatever comedy vehicle he wants next.

Robin Thede

One indication of the appeal of Thede’s A Black Lady Sketch Show is the ease with which it draws a wide range of celebrity cameos, which in the show’s third season this spring included Ava DuVernay, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Jemele Hill and season one regular Quinta Brunson. That the HBO sketch series consistently goes toe-to-toe against Saturday Night Live every year at the Emmys, despite just six episodes and four main castmembers each season, is a testament to its attention to craft. Among the multihyphenate’s multiple projects in development is Amazon zombie comedy Killing It. “It’s Shaun of the Dead meets Girls Trip,” she says, “and it’s going to be epic.”

Taika Waititi

Until he figures out a way to clone himself into a small army of Taikas, Waititi will have to learn to go without sleep. In 2022, he released Thor: Love and Thunder, his rom-com-disguised-as-a-Marvel-movie movie, which grossed $760 million worldwide amid the waning pandemic. He continued his stewardship of What We Do in the Shadows, the hit FX comedy based on his own 2014 vampire mockumentary film; and Reservation Dogs, the acclaimed FX series co-created with Sterlin Harjo. He wrapped filming on Next Goal Wins, a feature comedy about the American Samoan soccer team’s historic 31-0 loss at the 2001 World Cup qualifiers. And he started production on Time Bandits, the Apple TV+ series based on the 1981 Terry Gilliam fantasy film and starring Lisa Kudrow. Oh — he also found time to play Blackbeard in HBO Max’s Our Flag Means Death. Maybe he should launch an energy drink.

Mike White

The internet’s love for HBO’s dark dramedy The White Lotus carried over to this year’s Emmys, where White, the show’s creator, pulled off a clean sweep in the limited or anthology series or movie category — taking home writing, directing and outstanding series. The surprise second season (so much for that “limited”), which kicked off Oct. 30, follows season one star Jennifer Coolidge (another 2022 Emmy winner) as well as a new cast of characters (including Aubrey Plaza, F. Murray Abraham and Michael Imperioli) at a White Lotus resort in Sicily, with White once again at the helm writing, directing and producing.

Ramy Youssef

The young Egyptian American talent’s self-titled comedy, Ramy, returned in September to Hulu, where it continued to challenge traditional Hollywood tropes of Muslim representation with its darkly comic portrayal of a Muslim American family in a relatably suburban crisis. (Ramy‘s third season also boasts the distinction of hosting Bella Hadid’s acting debut, a recurring role in which the supermodel plays a dowdy dating-app girlfriend who speaks almost exclusively in The Office references.) “I’ve heard a lot from people not having to explain Ramadan to their co-workers because they’d seen Ramy,” says Youssef, who continues to expand the comedy pipeline by boosting others’ work: Along with his Ramy co-star Mo Amer, he co-created the A24 and Netflix comedy Mo, which premiered in August and is based on Amer’s experiences as a Palestinian refugee living in Texas. “It’s been cool to share how we live and hear a few more ‘Inshallah, bros,’ ” says Youssef. Earlier this year, Youssef inked a first-look deal at Amazon, where he’s readying an animated comedy about the Muslim American experience.

+ The Gatekeepers: Mike Berkowitz, Greg Cavic, Nick Grad, Kate Lambert, Robbie Praw, Geof Wills

Sure, there’s nothing particularly funny about a bunch of suits. And yet, the Netflix Is a Joke: The Festival, which sold 260,000 tickets across 295 shows, would not have been very funny, much less feasible, without the streamer’s stand-up head, Robbie Praw, or Live Nation’s president of comedy Geof Wills. “Live comedy is back!” crows Praw, who notes comedians are selling more tickets in arenas than ever before and filling stadiums. In fact, he still marvels at what Gabriel Iglesias was able to do, selling out two nights at Dodger Stadium during the Netflix festival.

Wills, who’s been moving at a breakneck pace booking tour dates for comedy giants like Kevin Hart, Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle, is similarly enthusiastic. “It’s the biggest year for live comedy ever,” he says, rattling off touring comic after touring comic, before concluding: “The whole planet is out.” John Mulaney, Bill Burr and Amy Schumer are among them, crisscrossing the globe with the help of their touring agent, WME’s Mike Berkowitz, whose roster (other clients include Hart, Mike Birbiglia and Jerrod Carmichael) reads like its own hot list.

Were it not for UTA partner Greg Cavic, buzzy clients like Nathan Fielder, Bo Burnham, Julio Torres, Kumail Nanjiani, Jemaine Clement and Succession creator Jesse Armstrong may have neither their clout nor their culture-defining television shows. And without the FX programming duo of Kate Lambert and Nick Grad making consistently bold bets on half-hours over at FX, there would be no Atlanta, What We Do in the Shadows, Dave, Reservation Dogs and this summer’s hottest half hour, The Bear. Adds Praw, “It feels like everyone wants to laugh together again.”

A version of this story first appeared in the Nov. 2 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.