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From Hannah Gadsby to Sacha Baron Cohen: the 30 best living comedians

In the run-up to the Edinburgh Festival our comedy critic Dominic Maxwell ranks the funniest comics working now

Dominic Maxwell
The Times
Bret McKenzie, left, and Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords
Bret McKenzie, left, and Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords
MATT GRACE
Dominic Maxwell
The Times

So then: who’s funniest? In compiling this list of the 30 best English-speaking comedians at work today, I gave myself some parameters. This would be an overview of who is at the top of their game now, on stage or screen or even podcast. It is not a guide to the most influential living comedians. It is not a handing out of long-service medals. So: no Pythons, no Mighty Booshes, no French and Saunders, nor even – though he came close – any Gervaises. It’s a snapshot of now.

Am I objective, or am I just listing what has made me laugh most in the past year or so? As The Times’s comedy critic, I get to see loads of live comedy by comedians