How To Become A Stand Up Comedian: What It Is and Career Path

What is a stand up comedian and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a stand up comedian. For example, did you know that they make an average of $24.57 an hour? That's $51,101 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 4,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreStand Up ComedianUS Average

Salary

4.0

Avg. Salary $51,101

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

4.1

Growth Rate 8%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.22%

Asian 5.38%

Black or African American 12.81%

Hispanic or Latino 17.44%

Unknown 6.72%

White 57.42%

Gender

female 11.34%

male 88.66%

Age - 36

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 36

Stress Level

4.1

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

6.8

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

5.3

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a stand up comedian

Explore stand up comedian education requirements

Most common stand up comedian degrees

Bachelor's

71.9 %

High School Diploma

10.5 %

Associate

6.5 %

Start to develop specific stand up comedian skills

Skills	Percentages
Comedy	36.14%
Different Venues	23.19%
Colleges	18.24%
Comics	8.06%
Corporate Events	7.63%

Complete relevant stand up comedian training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New stand up comedians learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a stand up comedian based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real stand up comedian resumes.

Research stand up comedian duties and responsibilities

Manage presence on Facebook, YouTube and SoundCloud.
Perform in a wide variety of venues including hotel lounges, comedy clubs and theaters.
Perform all original content at a variety of venues in NYC, Los Angeles and Detroit.
Write and perform original comedy material design to appeal to a broad cross section of the populace.

Prepare your stand up comedian resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your stand up comedian resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a stand up comedian resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Stand Up Comedian Resume templates

Build a professional Stand Up Comedian resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Stand Up Comedian resume.

Apply for stand up comedian jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a stand up comedian job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams