The comedy industry is overwhelmingly liberal. Despite that, conservatives still breakthrough every now and then. So who are the most famous conservative comedians?
At one point in time, the comedy industry was seemingly a 50-50 split. Today, there are hundreds of famous liberal comedians, with almost no conservative comedians. Although, the conservative comedian scene is growing!
15. Jeff Foxworthy
Jeff Foxworthy is most famous for being one of the oldest Republican comedians in the industry. He is best known for his roles in Blue Collar TV and The American Bible Challenge, the latter hosted on GSN.
As the name of the latter show may imply, Foxworthy is incredibly religious, with that dictating a few of his jokes. With that, he is also against things like gay marriage and gay conservatives, although has refused to make jokes about it.
For a long time, Foxworthy has supported Republican bids for president. In 2012, Foxworthy supported Mitt Romney through his comedy. He has also contributed a lot of money to the Republican National Convention (RNC).
Hilariously, in the mid-1990’s, Foxworthy wrote a Republican themed Christmas song! This song, Redneck 12 Days of Christmas is a parody of the famous 12 Days of Christmas song. It’s actually quite good!
14. Dennis Miller
When it comes to the best conservative comedians, Dennis Miller is often near the top. He is most famous for his comedy-influenced talk shows, hosted on HBO, CNBC and RT, as well as his role on Saturday Night Live in the 1990’s.
Prior to 9/11, Miller was just like most other comedians: liberal. However, since then, Miller has become increasingly conservative, both in private and in terms of his jokes, attracting huge bi-partisan audiences.
Miller has repeatedly been critical of Democrat politicians. Despite this, Miller has been quite critical of several Republican politicians, including President Trump, believing him to not be a good president.
At one point, the Republican Party even approached him to replace Arnold Schwarzenegger as California’s governor. However, Miller declined the offer in favor of his comedy work.
13. Evan Sayet
For many conservatives, Evan Sayet is their favorite comedian. He is most famous for his role in The Right To Laugh – a night of Conservative Comedy show, which he founded.
This show looks at current events, from a conservative viewpoint. Sayet is occasionally critical of Trump and his policies, although more often makes jokes at the Democrats’ expense.
Beyond just his comedy, Sayet has also become an accomplished writer. He is weekly columnist for Human Events and the Washington Times. He has also appeared on C-Span a couple of times.
Interestingly, Sayet claims his inspiration for many of his jokes to be Bruce Springsteen, the famous 1970’s musician. Indeed many of his jokes have their origins in Springsteen’s lyrics!
12. The Deplorables
In 2016, Hillary Clinton called Trump supporters a “basket of deplorables” as an insult. For three years, this insult was kept as such, until a new group of conservatives decided to flip that term…
In 2019, four independent conservative comedians formed a comedy show of their own. This group mostly performed at bars and clubs but have since grown to be able to go on tour in November 2019.
Many in the group believe that recent Democratic presidents have tarnished the American Dream. As such, they aim to use their comedy to not only support Trump, but also revitalize the American Dream.
The Deplorables are probably best known for their use of social media, gathering a large follower base from the social media conservative sector of the American public.
11. Terrence Williams
Perhaps the most famous member of The Deplorables is Terrance Williams. Trump himself has taken notice of Williams, calling him his famous comedian! This has helped get The Deplorables recognized.
For many black men, Obama was a Godsend, however, throughout Obama’s presidency, Williams, a black man, use Obama as comedic material. He said that essentially his whole campaign was full of empty promises.
Throughout his presidency, Trump has been praised by Williams. This has resulted in Trump taking notice of him and inviting him to the White House on several occasions, both for private and public events.
At one of these events, Williams performed for Trump, which resulted in Trump calling Williams “[My] favorite comedian”. This has since helped him with his role in the aforementioned The Deplorables group.
10. Jim Davidson
Unless you live in the UK, you probably haven’t heard of Jim Davidson. However, to many conservatives in the UK, he is the man they turn to in order to get an honest, but funny look on the world, from the conservative viewpoint.
Davidson isn’t afraid to speak his mind. He has repeatedly made jokes about the Labour Party (the British left-leaning party) and about the emerging SJW (Social Justice Warrior) culture in the UK.
Whilst some of this is just a laugh at their expense, Davidson is known for layering his jokes. He is known for making several mini-jokes before building up into the final punch line.
Several of his jokes also make fun of Labour-influenced policies going around in the House of Commons at the time. Davidson is also one of the few remaining British celebrity conservatives.
9. Geoff Norcott
Besides just Jim Davidson, there is also Geoff Norcott, a less right-wing comedian who occasionally has left-leaning opinions. Norcott is most famous for his roles on Mock the Week and Live at the Apollo.
During general elections, Norcott uses his comedy to poke fun at the Labour Party’s blunders. However, he does it in such a way, that liberals can’t help themselves but laugh along!
Norcott prides himself on being one of the only registered Conservatives Party comedians in the game. Where Davidson has been mocked, Norcott has created a niche around himself, that attracts bipartisan crowds!
During the War in Afghanistan, Norcott, a civilian, flew out to Afghanistan a total of five times. Here, he entertained the troops with jokes about his travels and time time in Afghanistan.
8. Tim Allen
Tim Allen, whilst best known for his work as an actor, is also well known for his comedy. In fact, his comedy career sparked his initial acting career, which has since taken off, landing him roles such as Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story.
Although his acting has taken over much of his comedy, Tim Allen still does a lot of comedy. Much of this comedy has a slight right lean, although is not completely conservative for professional reasons.
Tim Allen is also extremely religious. He was raised in an Episcopalian family, which he has remained as throughout his entire life. This, has influenced many of his jokes, creating an impressive combo!
For much of his life, Allen has been a registered Republican. In 2016, Allen appeared on Hannity to announce his support of then-candidate John Kasich. Following this, he then supported Donald trump in both 2016 and in 2020.
7. Louis C.K.
Louis C.K. is most famous for being the comedian behind Louie, hosted by FX. Louis C.K. is also quite famous for his roles on Saturday Night Live and his recent show, Sincerely Louis C.K.
Despite a lot of his comedic material leaning more to the right, Louis C.K. himself does not see himself as either conservative or liberal. For instance, he is a major critic of Donald Trump, but a supporter of Joe Biden.
However, much of his comedic material pokes fun at the increasing SJW culture in the US. Other parts of his comedic material, focusing on current issues usually put Trump in a good light, rather than a bad one.
In 2020, Louis C.K. donated towards to Biden campaign, which was subsequently refunded for unknown reasons as of the time of writing.
6. Norm MacDonald
If you aren’t Canadian, you probably haven’t heard of Norm MacDonald. However, to many Canadian conservatives, Norm MacDonald is one of the best conservative comedians available!
For the most part, MacDonald tries to keep politics and comedy separate, preferring to make actual jokes, rather than mock a political party. Although, he will occasionally do so.
This has drawn MacDonald a large bipartisan audience. Using this bipartisan audience, MacDonald has spoken out on several issues, many of them being from a conservative standpoint.
MacDonald was among the first comedians to speak out against the rigid liberalness of the comedy industry. Since then, MacDonald claims that this has cost him jobs, but continues to do so anyway.
5. Adam Carolla
Adam Carolla is a debated one. For some, he is arguably one of the best conservative comedians. However, he does occasionally express liberal views which makes many wonder if he is in fact a liberal.
Carolla considers himself a libertarian, according to an interview with Reason. Although, many have stated that his views fall under the realm of conservatarian instead, due his his more conservative views on some policies.
Several of Carolla’s jokes have been made at the expense of policies such as big government, secure borders and the welfare state. He has also repeatedly made jokes about the free lunch program in US schools.
Despite this. Several of Carolla’s jokes have also implored policies such as the legalization of marijuana. On other occasions, Carolla has also spoken out against automatic and semi-automatic weapons, stating that they should be banned.
4. Jim Downey
If his last name seems familiar, that’s because it is. Jim Downey is the uncle of Robert Downey Jr. the famous Hollywood actor. Unlike his nephew, Jim Downey is incredibly conservative, or is incredibly liberal!
To many liberals, Downey’s work is very conservative. To many conservatives, his work is centrist to left leaning. Despite this, Downey considers himself a “conservative Democrat”.
As with most people, as Downey has gotten older, his views have become more conservative. These views, have in turn, influenced a lot of his recent works, which have gathered a large centrist audience.
For instance, during the 2008 Presidential Election, Downey gave more favorable coverage of both the Republicans and Hillary Clinton, and more negative coverage of Obama. All ultimately to no avail.
3. Bryan Callen
Bryan Callen was one of the first comedians to release his comedy show via podcast, rather than via a TV deal. He is also one of the youngest conservative comedians, appealing mostly to the younger generations of conservatives!
For years, Callen’s podcasts have poked fun at liberal policies. He is also one of the only comedians to point out the lack of diversity in the industry, both in terms of race and in terms of politics, which was subsequently ridiculed by the left.
Callen in also one of the only comedians to not implore the idea of socialism. In fact, he has repeatedly railed against the idea that America should become a socialist power.
Bryan Callen was also the one who brought the black conservative community into the public eye. This dealt a crippling blow to the Democrats during the Obama Administration, and was later a win for President Trump.
2. Jeff Dunham
When it comes to the most famous conservative comedians, Jeff Dunham often comes to mind. Despite his conservatism, Dunham is favored not only by the right but also the left!
Dunham stands out among comedians. He doesn’t stand up and just do comedy, he does comedy through his doll. That’s right, Jeff Dunham is a ventriloquist and a comedian in one!
Over the years, Dunham has had several different dolls. The vast majority of these dolls have been used to address issues at the time. For instance, after 9/11, Dunham began to use Achmed the Dead Terrorist.
Achmed was allegedly a member of Al-Qaeda, but was incompetent and died. Dunham introduced Achmed around the same that the US entered Iraq and later Afghanistan.
1. Adam Yenser
Adam Yenser might be the least famous conservative comedian I have mentioned. With that being said, he has received a lot of coverage for his “wins” at Politicon over the past few years.
Politicon is one of the largest politics conventions in the US. However, it is designed to be a two day long comedy show. Both Republicans and Democrats come to debate current affairs, but through their comedy.
Over the years, Yenser has performed comedy and debated current affairs with such conservative personalities as Tomi Lahren, James Comey and Guy Benson, debating against people like Lauren Duca and Mike Pesca.
For much of his adult life, Yenser has been a registered Republican. Yenser uses his comedy to influence the way people think about current affairs. Instead of everything being black and white, he delves into the gray.
Which are your favorite conservative comedians? Tell me in the comments!
Featured image courtesy of Gage Skidmore via Flickr.