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The world's most successful comedians have successfully maintained their loyal fanbase and amassed their staggering wealth through years of stand-up shows, sitcom roles, Netflix specials and talk shows. This is the case for the American funnyman, Jerry Seinfeld, who first burst into the spotlight in 1989. At the time, he played a semi-fictional version of himself on his self-titled NBC sitcom, Seinfeld. The TV series was an instant hit and ran for nine seasons, for which Jerry earned a Golden Globe in 1995.

Throughout his career, the 71-year-old has become the world's richest comedian, having leveraged his success with Seinfeld to venture into other areas of entertainment. After the NBC series ended in 1998, Jerry produced the panel game show, The Marriage Ref and hosted the talk show, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, which Netflix picked up in 2018 for the debut of its 10th season.

The comedian is now reportedly worth a staggering £770million and is said to have sold the streaming rights to his hit show to Netflix for £405million in 2019.

After winning three Webby awards, Jerry then co-produced, co-wrote, and starred in the 2007 DreamWorks animated film Bee Movie and the Netflix comedy Unfrosted.

The star also released four stand-up specials, his first being Stand-Up Confidential in 1987, followed by I'm Telling You for the Last Time in 1998, 2017's Jerry Before Seinfeld and then 23 Hours to Kill in 2020.

Jerry is also an author, having written three books, starting with SeinLanguage, a children's book, Halloween, and the comedic compilation book Is This Anything?

In second place is comedian and media mogul Byron Allen, who rose to prominence in 1989 at the age of 18 after appearing on The Tonight Show as the youngest comedian to ever perform on the show.

He is now worth an eye-watering £648million as head of Allen Media Group, which focuses on television production, broadcasting, film production, and digital media; making Allen is the second-richest comedian in history.

The richest female comedian on the list is talk show icon Ellen DeGeneres, who first embarked on her career in the 1980s as a stand-up comedian before famously transitioning into hosting.

The presenter is worth a vast £405million, and with her wife, actress Portia de Rossi, who has also built an impressive real estate portfolio.

Meanwhile, Chris Rock, who is considered one of the comedy icons of his generation, is worth £129million.