Laughter the New Cash Cow

Top comedians earn up to ₹25 crore annually from ticket sales, corporate gigs, and brand endorsements

- Pratishtha Bagai

The Indian comedy industry has grown 10-fold since 2018, with top comedians earning up to ₹25 crore annually from ticket sales, corporate gigs, and brand endorsements. This growth has created more jobs for editors, producers, managers, scriptwriters, and cameramen, all now earning competitive pay instead of working on barter.

Comedy show producers now make between ₹50 lakh and ₹3 crore a year, and managers—who typically take 10% of a comedian's earnings—see their incomes rise as the comic's popularity does. Young professionals are increasingly attracted to these behind-the-scenes roles.

Take Sohail Abbas, a 21-year-old cinematographer, who has filmed shows for major comics such as Ravi Gupta, Harsh Gujaral, and Anubhav Singh Bassi. "When it all started, the revenue opportunities in this space were minimal, but after the live comedy industry blew up post-covid, the earnings for cinematographers, photographers, and creative visionaries like me have grown at least five times," he said.