How Much Does A Comedian Make for Selling Out An Arena?

Nate Bargatze, the popular Emmy Awards host who makes a living doing stand-up comedy in arena-sized venues, can probably afford to buy a theme park or two. Billboard reports that Bargatze sold more than a million tickets to his concerts last year, grossing over $82 million in sales. 

Used to be a comedian playing an arena, like Andrew Dice Clay selling out Madison Square Garden in 1990, was the pinnacle of success. Now several popular comics draw those kinds of crowds, from Matt Rife and Katt Williams to Gabriel Iglesias and Sebastian Maniscalco. Each of them sold more than $35 million worth of tickets last year. But how much does a stand-up comic take home after putting all those comedy butts in seats?

An exact figure remains something of a mystery, though there are some good educated guesses out there. Why is the math so hard? Because so many people have their fingers in the pie. While stand-up comedy is less expensive than a Taylor Swift show — no dancers, no costume changes, no special effects (usually) — there are still plenty of people to pay, including venues, managers, opening acts and ticket-selling outlets. 

Still, the biggest comics make a lot of cash. “It’s a surgeon’s salary for one show,” Tom Segura admitted on the KFC Radio podcast. Even when Segura is feeling burnt out, he finds it hard to turn down lucrative offers. “Am I a fucking asshole or something, that I’m going to be like, ‘No, I will turn down this fucking down payment on a goddamn condo for one show?’”

But how much do comedians like Segura put in their pockets? One Redditor estimated about half of the gross, meaning Bargatze would have taken home about $40 million last year. Others took more educated guesses. One who works for a company that books live events estimates top comedy acts take home about $250,000 to $350,000 a night, in line with Segura’s “surgeon salary” comparison.

Those figures also align with Humorism’s deep dive. The site’s Sam Simon contacted venues on Matt Rife’s ProbleMATTic tour in 2023, and got some actual numbers. “At the 2,363-seat Paramount Theater in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in July, he came away with $194,734.56,” Simon reported. “At the 1,693-seat Kansas City Music Hall in Kansas City, Missouri in October, he came away with $371,699.03.”

Why did Rife pocket more cash at the venue with fewer seats? Simon couldn’t say conclusively, although it appeared tickets at the Kansas City venue went for a higher price than the ones in Cedar Rapids. 

As for other A-list comics? Humorism says a little napkin math is all you need to estimate what a comedian is making — simply multiply a venue’s capacity by ticket prices for a given show. “What you’ll find is that comedy’s biggest names are usually grossing high-five or low-six figures per show and millions per tour.”