| A LOOK AT 14 WHO LEVELED UP WITH EXPLOSIVE PROFESSIONAL GROWTH |
| Clockwise Top L-R: Leanne Morgan, Max Amini, Jeff Arcuri, Morgan Jay, Nurse John, Ali Siddiq, Gianmarco Soresi, Josh Johnson, Mo Amer and Robby Hoffman (Joseph Llanes/Saeid Kaveh/Christian Cicchini/Nathersonn/Sarah Krick/Mindy Tucker/David Wright/John Cafaro/Javeon Butler/Aaron Wynia) |
| Hi everyone, and welcome back to Comedy Means Business — coming to you a week early with a new list marking the last newsletter of the year.
With last night's horrifying news of Rob and Michele Reiner's murder still weighing on the mind — not to mention the mass shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach — it feels strange to be reporting on anything else, in comedy or otherwise. But with the holiday exodus coming up swiftly, we're back with a list on this year's most captivating comedy success stories — a companion piece to our second annual comics-to-watch list, The Future of Funny, which ran a little over a week ago. With this list, I've honed in on 14 comedic performers who achieved explosive professional growth in 2025, whether by substantially boosting their ticket sales or social media following, landing a coveted role or development opportunity, or elevating to a new tier of venue as a headliner.
It should be noted that this list certainly isn't all encompassing — indeed, it's the sheer volume of great success stories in comedy right now that makes the space so interesting to cover. That being said, I avoided the most obvious names at comedy’s top tier. You won’t find Jim Gaffigan listed here, even if he did the unthinkable by putting together nearly 45 great minutes just on the topic of bourbon, getting it to 3.7M views on YouTube in two weeks. Nor will you find Nate Bargatze — one of today’s top-grossing comics, who between four specials generating 24.48M views, is the top performing comedian of the year on streaming, per Nielsen numbers we’ve reviewed. You won’t find Nikki Glaser, who’s elevated to the A-list with an array of starring vehicles lined up, nor Tom Segura, who landed his first Emmy nominee for his Netflix series Bad Thoughts amid a move to place more of his focus on film and TV work of his own. I generally tried to avoid arena-tier comedians, though a couple snuck through. And while I was purely focused on stand-ups with my comics-to-watch list, I opened this one up to those who broke out as digital creators. Read on for my selections and insight into what they've accomplished this year. |
While Max Amini has been performing stand-up since the early 2000s, 2025 was by far the biggest year of his career to date. This year, he has performed 150 sold-out shows in 19 countries, selling over 200,000 tickets. In March, Amini released his latest special, Randomly Selected, seeing it pull in a whopping 16 million views on YouTube. Remarkably, this special, released on YouTube, is not only the top-performing special of the year across all platforms. Per Nielsen numbers that we've reviewed, it's also the ninth-most-viewed on YouTube of all time.
Described by Jerry Seinfeld as "one of the hottest comedians to watch in the next generation of comedy," Amini is someone who has built himself up by way of the internet à la Matt Rife. This year, he experienced explosive digital growth, closing out with a total following of 25.6 million and 5.8 billion views across all platforms. 48% of those views were on Instagram, where he's become the #1 most-watched comedian globally, far surpassing the likes of Joe Rogan, Theo Von, and Rife. He has 16 million followers on the platform and, as of this month, is Instagram's #2 creator, period, behind only MrBeast. Amini generated 2.77 billion views on the platform this year and has now surpassed 6 billion all-time. While his Instagram following is huge, the platform he's experienced the greatest growth on this year is Facebook, where he's surged 254%, with views jumping from 407 million to 1.04 billion. Amini also doubled his YouTube engagement in 2025, adding 2.53 million subscribers, with a total of 33 million hours viewed.
An Arizona native who cut his teeth as a comic at the Los Angeles Improv, Amini sold out The Forum in Los Angeles on his latest tour and in February will become the first Iranian-American to headline Madison Square Garden. Outside of the U.S. — which represents his largest digital audience — India has emerged as his biggest international stronghold, making up 32% of his global audience. He's said to be the top-selling international comedian in that territory. Reps: UTA |
| Leanne Morgan (Todd Rosenberg) |
This year was momentous for Leanne Morgan, as the one where she jumped from playing 2,000-seat theaters to selling out arenas. While she only toured for six months this year amidst filming obligations, she broke records in every single arena she played — a total of nine — while breaking into the cultural conversation like never before. This, off of the release of just one hit special — Netflix's I'm Every Woman — and the release of her Chuck Lorre Netflix series, Leanne.
Select highlights on tour included the first back-to-back sold-out performances at F&B Bank Arena in Clarksville, TN, as well as setting a record for tickets sold at Wilson Center in Wilmington, NC with 5,229 over four shows. She did the first-ever comedy show at Akins Ford Arena in Athens, GA and, in doing so, became the first female comedian to sell over 4K tickets in Athens, as well as the first ever to sell the arena out in advance. She set records for attendance and tickets sold at Forum River Center in Rome, GA, and made over $6M in economic impact in Asheville, NC over the course of four shows at Exploreashville.com Arena, per the local chamber of commerce. Additionally, she sold out two shows at American Airline Center in Dallas, TX.
In 2025, Morgan increased total tickets sold by nearly 30% and boosted gross ticket revenue by more than 37% compared to 2024. She sold around 212,000 tickets and also this yea saw an overall growth of 25% across her social platforms, bringing her audience to over 6.2M. Her Netflix show Leanne was critically acclaimed and renewed for a second season, pushing her in the direction of becoming a household name. And her latest Netflix special, Unspeakable Things, immediately shot to No. 1 on Netflix's Top 10 upon its release in November, watched by 3.8M. Between her new special and two previous hours, she was the eighth most impactful comic of the year, in terms of viewership achieved on streaming. Reps: UTA; Levity Entertainment Group; Yorn, Levine, Barnes |
| Josh Johnson (John Cafaro) |
This year, Josh Johnson elevated into the rotating host schedule on The Daily Show, joining the likes of Ronny Chieng, Jordan Klepper, Desi Lydic and Michael Kosta. He's been with the show for around eight years, having joined the writing staff in 2017, and was previously upped to correspondent in 2024.
Johnson has completely sold out his The Flowers Tour, which kicked off in January and continues through February 2026, with 300 shows in 111 markets in the U.S. and around the world. The feat is all the more impressive in that he's done it with zero promoter marketing money.
In 2025, Johnson headlined the Wilbur in Boston for the first time with 10 sold-out shows — the most ever for a first-time performer in the venue. This year also marked his first time performing in London, as he helped open the new Soho Theatre Walthamstow on Memorial Day Weekend with three sold-out shows. He'll return to London to play four sold-out shows at The London Palladium at the end of January, and will also that month play five shows at The Beacon in New York City, in his first time out with the theatre. Johnson's tour winds down with five sold-out shows at the Chicago Theatre on Valentine's Day weekend, marking his first time performing at that venue.
It's worth noting that Johnson is something of a unicorn as a comic who's uncommonly prolific. Between touring and his work on The Daily Show, he's known for taking to YouTube with a new long-form topical stand-up set on a weekly basis. 49 of his last 50 videos have reached over a million views. Johnson released 28 hours of stand-up in 2024 and is on track to exceed that amount this year on his YouTube channel, whose content has been viewed over 440 million times by people all over the world. Johnson now boasts over 8.7 million followers across social platforms. Since October 2024, he's taken his YouTube channel from 860K to 2.16M subscribers, growing his following on Instagram to 1.9M, TikTok to 2.5M, and Facebook to 2.1M. Reps: Independent Artist Group; Dixon Talent; Hansen, Jacobson, Teller |
| Ali Siddiq (David Wright) |
Talk about prolific: Whereas for many comics, churning out one special a year is a lot of work, Ali Siddiq is poised to release his third of the year in Mondays on December 21. Siddiq's other two specials this year, My Two Sons and Rugged, have done over 10.5M and 6.3M views on YouTube, respectively. These are major numbers rivaling those of many a Netflix special — in fact, per Nielsen numbers reviewed by Deadline, My Two Sons was the third most-viewed special on any platform in the last year.
As ambitious as Siddiq is in putting out his own original material, he's equally passionate about using his platform to support up-and-coming comics. Thus, this year, he's exec produced and released two other comics' specials on his YouTube channel: Marcus D. Wiley: Marriage Is Major Surgery, which has been viewed by more than 4.6 million since February, and Ryan Davis: Under-Rated, which has over 2M views since October. (The latter comic just made our list of 20 Stand-Ups to Keep an Eye On in 2026).
Remarkably, Siddiq has seven stand-up specials on the list of the top 50 biggest YouTube specials of all time, per Nielsen, as well as one he exec produced (Marcus D. Wiley: Marriage Is Major Surgery). The biggest of those, The Domino Effect, has over 18M views. Siddiq has had the third biggest impact of any comedian this year, in terms of viewership on streaming, behind only Nate Bargatze and Jeff Dunham. Already, he has shot another three specials of his own for release next year — and in February, he'll film three more. In Q1 2026, he'll release another special from Wiley, as well as one from Malik S. And late last month, he filmed The Jive Turkeys — an ensemble special of Houston comics for 2026 release.
Born in Houston, Siddiq began performing stand-up in the late '90s, famously developing his voice while incarcerated. Recently, he's sold over 135,000 tickets to his In the Shadows theater tour, which has one more leg to go. This year, he's done over 82 million views on his YouTube page — up from 64 million in 2024 with weeks left to go. During his first theater tour, Siddiq found himself selling out 750 to 1,500-seat rooms, selling 102K tickets in total over a 14-month period. On pace to sell 50% more tickets this year than he did on that first tour, he's recently jumped up to 2,000-3,000 cap venues while adding shows in some markets. Siddiq now has 975K followers on YouTube, along with 1.5M on Facebook, 715K on Instagram, 1.4M on TikTok, and 35K on X. Reps: Irreverent Character Management; Hansen, Jacobson, Teller |
| Jimmy O. Yang (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) |
Many people know Jimmy Yang for roles in projects like Silicon Valley and Crazy Rich Asians , but they might not be aware of the level of business he’s doing as a stand-up comic. This year, he more than doubled his North American touring numbers, selling over 136,000 tickets — up from 49,000 during his last theater tour in 2022. Yang also exploded internationally, selling more than 121,000 tickets and adding shows due to demand. He kicked off his third tour and biggest yet, The Big and Tall Tour, in November 2024 with two sold-out shows at Carnegie Hall. He then went on to level up in major U.S. venues, jumping from the Wilshire Ebell to selling out the inner bowl of the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, and elevating from the Chicago Improv to the Chicago Theatre.
Yang sold out 27 shows in North America, as well as 25 in international markets, announcing his first-ever show at Radio City Music Hall, which he’s playing in January and is on track to sell out. Notably, on the international front, he brought his stand-up to his birthplace of Hong Kong and broader Asia for the first time. In June, he sold out five shows at the Hong Kong Coliseum — where he'd go on to greet 35,000 fans — in a matter of minutes. He also sold out his debut run in Macau, across six shows at the Broadway Theatre, and is set to return to the market for a Lunar New Year Show at Galaxy Arena in February. Yang's Asia Pacific presence included first-time markets Malaysia and Singapore. In Singapore, he had to upgrade to the Singapore Indoor Stadium due to the overwhelming demand from two shows at the Star Theatre. He also upgraded venues across Australia and New Zealand, growing from 5,000 tickets in 2022 to 32,000+ tickets across eight shows at venues like Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Aware Super Theater in Sydney, Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne, and the Kiri Te Kanawa Theater in Auckland. In Europe, he headlined the OVO Arena Wembley in London, followed by four shows at the RAI Amsterdam.
On the acting front, Yang elevated to leading man with the Hulu series Interior Chinatown. He also expanded his social media reach from 8.3 million followers to over 9.9 million, becoming Amazon's #1 stand-up clip performer in social engagement. According to Nielsen numbers that we've reviewed, Yang has two of the top-performing Amazon specials of all time in Good Deal (2020) and Guess How Much? (2023) — old specials that continue to do major numbers on streaming. Good Deal is the streamer's eighth most-viewed at 1.7M views; Guess How Much? is the twelfth most-viewed at 1.2M.
Reps: CAA; Artists First; Schreck Rose Dapello |
A nurse turned viral creator and comedian who blew up online with relatable portrayals of life working in healthcare, Nurse John (aka John Dela Cruz) just announced an extension of his debut tour, The Short Staffed Tour, which will take him around Europe and the UK in April. This, after selling over 200,000 tickets on the tour in the last year and a half, with more than 100+ sold-out shows across North America.
While there are interestingly several personalities who have managed to parlay their experiences in health care into a full-fledged touring business, we're told Nurse John’s is currently the biggest. Boasting a global audience of over 17M followers, he gained 3.7 million this year, with 27% growth across all platforms. He grew his Facebook audience by 78% this year, to 3.2M, also growing his following on Instagram by 31%, on TikTok by 15%, and on YouTube by 10%. From December 2024 to November 2025, he brought in more than 1.3 billion views on Instagram, along with 1.2 billion views on TikTok.
Overperforming with a Gen Z and millennial audience, Nurse John's audience is predominantly U.S-based, though he also has a major following in markets like Manila, London, Lagos, Toronto, Montreal, and Warsaw. While it's rare to find an American comedian who can move more than 7,000 or 8,000 tickets in Australia, Nurse John put up powerhouse numbers there this year, with the sale of 57,000 tickets over the course of a month, before moving on to New Zealand. He also performed two sold-out shows at London's Royal Albert Hall. Making over $1.3M this year on tour merch alone, Nurse John has also recently been seen at major festivals like Netflix Is a Joke, the New York Comedy Festival and Just for Laughs. Reps: CAA; Logan Watkins of Select Management Group |
Currently performing for audiences of 5,000+, Morgan Jay has sold more than 210,000 tickets this year, selling out every headlining performance he had, totaling 120 shows in 57 cities and 20 countries. This, after selling only around 50,000 tickets in 2024.
One of the highest-selling young comedians of the digital age overseas, Jay sold over 38,000 tickets in Europe and is now the first American comic to sell out theaters in Brazil. In April, he premiered his special Live at The Village on Hulu — the same day he had two sold-out headline performances at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. During his weekend at The Wiltern, Jay also set up a hush-hush series with A24 where he'll serve as creator, star and EP. When his first shows for the New York Comedy Festival went on sale at the Beacon Theatre, there was a digital queue that exceeded 20,000 fans waiting to buy tickets, with both shows selling out instantly. Jay will close out 2025 in Las Vegas with two sold-out shows at The Palazzo Theatre on December 30th and 31st. Next year, he will headline venues in excess of 6,000 seats per show across the United States. Upcoming, he'll also be seen performing in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and India.
A Brazilian-Italian comic known for blending stand-up with musical performance and live audience participation, Jay now has a full live band accompanying him at some of his larger shows. His career has exploded since he was named a New Face at Just for Laughs in 2023. Jay is another comic with a huge digital footprint, which includes over 5.2 million Instagram followers and more than 9.3 million on TikTok. His posts have accrued over 330 million likes, with many videos getting over 100 million views. This year, Jay boosted his profile in film and television with appearances in both the hit Apple TV comedy Stick, opposite Owen Wilson & Marc Maron, and on NBC's St. Denis Medical . Notably, producers built his episode on the latter — titled "Some Famous Internet Guy" — around who Jay is as a performer. Reps: WME; Brillstein Entertainment Partners; Granderson Des Rochers |
| Atsuko Okatsuka (Disney/Mary Ellen Matthews) |
In 2025, Atsuko Okatsuka finished the last leg of her Full Grown Tour, spanning 200+ shows in 20 countries on a sold-out run. She then went on to launch her global Big Bowl Tour in September, with 47K tickets and counting sold in North America alone. The tour is continuing to add stops globally and will likely conclude in the first quarter of 2027.
Touring has been less of the centerpiece of Okatsuka’s year in 2025 than it has been in the recent past, but she nonetheless sold over 5,000 tickets across two shows at the Beacon Theatre in New York, over 5,500 across three shows in San Francisco, over 2,300 across two at the Wilbur Theater in Boston, over 6,000 across two shows at Meridian Hall in Toronto, over 2,000 across three at multiple venues in Portland, OR, and one show at the O2 Apollo in London.
Okatsuka’s sophomore special, Father, premiered on Hulu in the U.S. and on Disney+ internationally in June, quickly climbing into the Top 10. The comedian has grown her social media following by 50% in the past year, adding 1.2 million followers, and now reaches over 3.3M around the world. Okatsuka’s work garnered 438M video views in 2025, with Instagram driving the most traffic. Across platforms, she’s done over 1B views over the course of her career. The comic also voiced an Elio character in her Pixar debut and completed brand deals with both Nordstrom and P.F. Chang’s. She’ll next be seen starring opposite Jonah Hill and Keanu Reeves in Hill’s latest directorial effort, Outcome, an Apple comedy expected to release next year. Reps: CAA; Entertainment 360; Lichter, Grossman, Nichols |
Mo Amer recently wrapped his 2025 global tour, El Oso Palestino — his biggest yet, spanning over 100 shows on four continents, with 135K tickets sold. This year, he sold out over 100 shows — from L.A. to Atlanta to Dubai — headlining two back-to-back shows at the Dubai Comedy Festival. He wrapped up his worldwide tour with four shows at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C. where he filmed his third Netflix special, Wild World, which hit the Top 10 in its October debut.
Amer also released the second and final season of his critically acclaimed semi-autobiographical Netflix series Mo, which likewise landed on the streamer’s Top 10 list. This year, he saw 234.3% growth on TikTok, gaining 285K followers to reach a total audience of 407.4K. He also elevated to 733K followers on Instagram, adding 413.92K, in what amounted to 130.6% growth. On Facebook, he surged 145.9%, gaining 143K followers to get to 241K total.
Nominated for GQ Middle Eastern Man of the Year, Amer was also honored by the Arab American National Museum for his significant contributions to Palestinian-American art, representation, and cultural storytelling. Reps: CAA; Schreck Rose Dapello |
| Gianmarco Soresi (Mindy Tucker) |
One of two comedians who comes to this list after appearing on our December 2024 list of the 15 Comedians Ready To Break Out In 2025, Gianmarco Soresi got his year off on the right foot with the release of Thief of Joy, his first full-length comedy special. Filmed during a sold-out run of eight shows at the Elysian in Los Angeles, the special has drawn stellar reviews from critics and has also done exceptional viewership, with 3.2M views in its first two months on YouTube.
In 2025, Soresi also performed 119 sold-out shows all over the world and doubled his social media following, such that he's now well past the 1M follower mark on both Instagram and YouTube. Soresi sold out every show of his debut run at the Edinburgh Fringe, including a last-minute 1,000-seat theater show added in an attempt to accommodate demand.
This year, the comedian also expanded on his cult new-material show The Silver Lining, with shows in L.A. and at JFL in Montreal. Without exception, every single Silver Lining show for the past two years has been completely sold out, including 24 this year. Outside of his regular stand-up shows and The Silver Lining shows, Soresi has recently introduced Theater Adult, a third ongoing show celebrating his love of musical theater, which has attracted guests including Alex Moffat, Amber Ruffin, Joel Kim Booster and Alex Edelman.
Soresi sold out his next run of shows, kicking off in January 2026, within a few days. This includes one show in Tokyo, two in Taiwan, three in Hong Kong, six across Australia, one in Singapore, one in Indonesia, and two in India. The sell-out was so swift that promoters couldn't help but remark on it to his team. Among them was Eamonn Sadler, founder of Mad About Comedy in Indonesia, who said, "Gianmarco Soresi's show is one of the fastest selling shows we've had in almost a quarter of a century in the business." Reps: WME; Mosaic; Cohen & Gardner |
| Robby Hoffman (Aaron Wynia) |
An ex-Hasidic, queer comedian who's been compared to the likes of Larry David and Andrew Dice Clay, Robby Hoffman was undoubtedly one of the year's most discussed comics, as someone whose star rose significantly in recent work for the screen. She got a major career boost this year off of a fairly small TV role, such was the impression she made on viewers unfamiliar with her work in a short period of time.
Hoffman was introduced in the fourth season of HBO Max’s Hacks as the new assistant to agents Jimmy LuSaque Jr. (Paul W. Downs) and Kayla Schaefer (Megan Stalter), as they launch their own talent agency. The character introduces herself as "a Hasidic Lubavitch Jew living in Crown Heights, New York" who, now that she's relocated to L.A., is "gay and probably an atheist." She earned a Guest Actress Emmy nomination for her work with a role that was written specifically for her and is currently in production on the hit comedy's fifth and final season.
With the buzz around Hoffman's Hacks performance, HBO opted this year to expand its relationship with the comic by putting into development Unentitled, a starring vehicle for her to co-write with Karey Dornetto and executive produce. Hoffman also recently appeared on FX's buzzy limited series Dying for Sex, playing a sexual guide to Michelle Williams' character, in a memorable turn. Additionally, she shot a recurring role on the new Bill Lawrence-Steve Carell comedy Rooster for HBO.
Hoffman's first Netflix special, Wake Up, directed by John Mulaney, just premiered on the streamer yesterday. She recently announced her first ever national theater tour, to commence in 2026, and over the last 12 months, has increased her Instagram following by 108%. All over the media this year, Hoffman was included on Variety's Comics to Watch list, Marie Claire's Ones to Watch list, and The New York Times' piece The 67 Most Stylish People of 2025. She'll also be highlighted on the Washington Post's Next Gen list, out in February. Reps: UTA; El Centro Management; Schreck Rose Dapello |
| Caleb Hearon (Sela Shiloni) |
For comedian, actor and writer Caleb Hearon, 2025 was the biggest year yet — one marked by huge growth in the live space. Just last year, he was performing in intimate rooms to only a few hundred people. But earlier this year, he took his podcast, So True with Caleb Hearon, on its first ever tour, selling over 40,000 tickets in theatres nationwide. He sold out his entire tour in less than a week, selling out iconic venues like The Chicago Theater, and even adding shows at The Wiltern in L.A. and The Wilbur in Boston.
A breakout phenomenon, Hearon's podcast secured over a million downloads within three months of launching last year and since then, has continued to see massive growth on YouTube, Spotify, and TikTok. His episodic reach has increased over 200% YoY and his top episode of the podcast has reached over 5M viewers on YouTube. Hearon has a reach of over 3.4M across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, and has seen 140% YoY growth on social since 2024. In the last year alone, there have been 1.7B impressions on social posts mentioning either Hearon or the So True podcast.
Hearon's debut special, Model Comedian, premiered on HBO Max in September, hitting #3 on the platform's charts. He just wrapped production on the semi-autobiographical comedy Trash Mountain, produced by Colin Trevorrow and exec produced Lilly Wachowski, where he was co-writer and stars opposite Zooey Deschanel. Up next, he will be seen in The Devil Wears Prada 2 alongside Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, and Stanley Tucci, Hulu's Untitled BriTANicK Pizza Movie, and Netflix's Little Brother starring John Cena.
Hearon has also had a great year in the media, being named one of The 50 Hottest Influencers on the Planet by The Hollywood Reporter. Rolling Stone named him one of the 25 Most Influential Creators of 2025, and he was also featured on this year's Variety Comedy Impact Report. Reps: CAA; Mosaic; Jackoway Austen Tyerman |
| Jeff Arcuri (Christian Cicchini) |
The other Comic Who Won 2025 who was part of our 2024 Comics to Watch list is Jeff Arcuri, who recently completed a nine-show sold-out residency at The Wilbur in Boston, with 9,000 tickets sold. Arcuri has had a remarkable rise over the last couple of years, going from performing 200-seat comedy clubs in 2023 to headlining theaters with a capacity of 3,000 in 2024 and consistently selling out three to five shows every weekend.
In 2025, he has sold 195,000 tickets, with four sold-out shows at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, three at The Chicago Theatre, nine at The Wilbur in Boston, and five at The Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix. Arcuri also sold out 33 shows all over Europe, totaling over 37,000 tickets, and over 14,000 tickets in Australia across 11 shows. He's accomplished all of this while supporting his wife Katie Thurston in her battle with stage 4 breast cancer — a diagnosis that Thurston shared publicly for the first time in February.
Arcuri rescheduled a good chunk of this year's tour to be by his wife's side during her treatment and pledged to donate $1 for every ticket sold on the tour to breast cancer research. Recently, the comedian taped a new Netflix special during five shows at the Celebrity Theatre — the same venue where Tom Segura and Nate Bargatze shot their juggernaut comedy specials, Sledgehammer and Hello World, for Netflix and Amazon, respectively. He's set to headline the Moontower and Nashville comedy festivals next year. Reps: Brillstein Entertainment Partners; WME |
Like Leanne Morgan, India's Zakir Khan leveled up from theaters in 2024 to arenas in 2025, going from playing the Theater at MSG to Madison Square Garden Arena itself. In the process, he sold 115.9% more tickets — going from 4,915 in 2024 to 10,618 in 2025. Khan this year became the first comedian performing in Hindi to play Madison Square Garden in New York, as well as Scotiabank Arena in Toronto (2x), and Coca Cola Arena in Dubai. He's also the first Asian comedian to have headlined and sold out Royal Albert Hall in London.
Khan saw a 260% increase in sales when he hit Chicago this year, selling out the 3,500-seat Chicago Theatre in advance. Whereas in 2024, he sold out 3 shows at Toronto's Meridian Hall, amounting to 9,027 tickets, he this year sold 16,006 tickets and played Scotiabank Arena twice in one day, which is a 77.3% increase in sales year over year. Next year, he'll play his first-ever arena show in Seattle at Climate Pledge Arena. For markets like Seattle, Boston, San Jose, L.A., and Washington, D.C., he's expected to increase sales soon by 50% or more.
Khan saw an 11.7% increase in the size of his social media following this year, getting it to 18.7M. He now has 8.4M subscribers on YouTube (+7.7%), 7.8M followers on Instagram (+21.2%), and 2.5M followers on Facebook (+.13%). Over a 12 month period, he generated 36M engagements on Instagram, leading to an engagement rate of 4.8%. This figure is 8.3x more than the average rate for entertainment accounts on the platforms. Reps: UTA; OML Entertainment |
Happy holidays! 🎁
The next edition of this newsletter will likely run on Monday, January 19. Sign up to receive our companion Comedy Means Business podcast here. The pod can also be found on Apple, YouTube, and Spotify.
Got a tip, pitch, comment, feature idea, or Discovery of the Week? Reach out at mattgrobar@deadline.com. |
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