12 Comedians Who Had Bonkers Jobs Before Making It Big

Welcome to ComedyNerd, Cracked's new deep dive series on funny business. Today's topic: the jobs comedians had before making it big. 

The majority of professional comedians have to take on several different jobs in order to fully pay student loans, alimony, leg-breaking bookie, and other financial responsibilities. Some of them bartend, drive for Lyft, or write for Cracked before making audiences laugh with life-changing money. Others had more unique side hustles before getting their big break on stage, in film, on your television.

An Academy Award winner first got her start making corpses look pretty. A legendary Saturday Night Live performer had a great career as an album designer. And who would have thought that a strip club busboy would have starred in one of the most successful film comedies of all time.

Many successful people have paid their dues long ago, including those listed here. Let’s take a look at some of the oddest jobs famous comedians had to do for rent money before they made comedy a full-time job.