Jerry Seinfeld, Louis C.K., Jeff Dunham, George Lopez, Kevin Hart. You probably know and maybe love all of these comedians. Each of them has been featured on Forbes’ list of Top Earning Comedians. But do you notice anything missing from the list? Cause we sure do. No woman has ever made it onto Forbes’ list of Top Earning Comedians, until now.
Amy Schumer has broken this glass ceiling for women in the comedy community! Schumer was just announced as the first woman to ever make Forbes’ list of highest paid comedians. In the timespan between June 2015 and June 2016, Schumer earned $17 million, ranking her 4th on the list. She falls right behind Kevin Hart, Jerry Seinfeld, and Terry Fator, and was able to beat out Jeff Dunham, Dave Chapelle, and Jim Gaffigan.
In the past year, the 35 year-old from Manhattan has been working like a boss. Inside Amy Schumer (which she created, co-produced, and writes for) won an Emmy, and is now considered a television staple that pushes the boundaries of comedy and feminism. Her film Trainwreck, which she wrote and stars in, became an instant summer hit - and scored her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. Not to mention she earned a considerable amount of money for her Bud Light Super Bowl commercial (watch below), and her first published book The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo - which soared to the top of the Bestsellers List shortly after its release. To top it all off, Schumer also became the first female comic ever to headline at Madison Square Garden!
In conclusion, Amy Schumer is amazing and we are not worthy. But why is Schumer only now the first women to break this list? Many hilarious women have come before her - Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the list goes on. Yet none of them have financially matched their male comedian counterparts. The truth is that women remain the minority in a field that is dominated by men. It’s especially hard for women to get started in comedy - most stand up joints have audiences that are used to an all-male line up. But the 21st century has made great strides for women in comedy, with more female leads in television comedies (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), and Netflix stand-up specials featuring women (Ali Wong: Baby Cobra, Iliza Schlesinger: Confirmed Kills). There’s also the age-old fact that women make 75 cents to every dollar a man makes, meaning women have to work twice as hard in comedy to earn the same as men.
The fact is women are funny! And even though we’ve made some great progress, we still have a long way to go. Congrats again to Amy and all her success, and we can’t wait to see what else she - and other funny women - achieve in the coming years.
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