There’s No #1 Comedian Right Now, And That’s A Good Thing

Twenty years ago, the concept of a top comic was concrete. Everyone would argue about who, exactly, that person was, but a top spot to vie for existed. In 2025, that number one position doesn’t really exist in a comedy ecosystem spread across so many different mediums. 

On Trevor Noah’s podcast, What Now? With Trevor Noah, stand-up comedian and Daily Show host Josh Johnson discussed how the absence of a reigning champion of comedy might actually be beneficial to comics like him. 

“When I look at you, I go it's the perfect example—like you'll tell me if I'm wrong—but I feel like this version of Josh Johnson,  like the person we know you as today, you couldn't exist the same if the internet wasn't what it is now,” Noah said. 

“I know exactly what you mean and I think about that a lot because I had found some mainstream and like legacy media success, but not enough to live the way that I'm living or make the choices that I make,” Johnson replied.  

Johnson recapped his major accomplishments, including appearances on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and Conan. But after cracking into the industry and passing milestones like a half-hour special on Comedy Central, careers can bottom out. There’s no longer a clear funnel into mainstream fame once you hit certain benchmarks, “the ways in which an industry could elevate a person along the way.” 

“I had got a lot of that stuff and then there was a gap between, ‘Does he have his own show? Is he writing a show? Is he selling shows? Is he a touring headlining comedian?’ And so there was a gap there,” Johnson reflected. “The internet closed that gap. The people closed that gap.”

Now, Johnson releases a weekly stand-up set straight to YouTube. Every week features original material on a current event; recent sets discussed the Louvre heist, the government shutdown and Diddy’s chances of getting pardoned by Trump. The videos quickly rack up over a million views on the platform. This internet achievement allows Johnson to put aside worries about being at the top of the comedy food chain.  

“If you have connection to people and if you've built community then you'll always be a version of what you're doing now, especially if you're not doing it to be number one,” Johnson continued. “And the thing that we're lucky about, what makes us different from sports, is that there can really be no number one…Because there's no number one, you can just be like your number one. You can be like the best you.”

Being the “best you” clearly looks different for everyone. There are the touring comics, like Matt Rife and Nate Bargatze, who have a tight grip on ticket sales and TikTok followers but who haven't yet crossed over into  TV and film. There are the Stavros Halkias and Caleb Hearon types, who balance the comedy podcast with continued pushes into Hollywood. The internet gave us a crowded field, but also the freedom of choice. Plenty of comedians are now finding success without being the number one anything. 

That’s not a bad thing. As we’ve seen, once a comedian becomes ultra-wealthy, they tend to make some pretty disappointing choices. Fortunately, YouTube views can subvert the need to perform at the Riyadh Comedy Festival. 

“As long as you don't convince yourself that there's a clock, you can just carry on,” Johnson said.