Comedy is a lot harder to pull off successfully than it’s often given credit for. It makes sense that some of the best filmmakers in history began their careers as comics, or at least comedic actors, given how a great comedian’s mind works. They see the world in completely different ways, and that way of looking at things often means great movies, like some of the best rom-coms of all time, but they aren’t always comedies. Here is our list of great comics who became great filmmakers.
Mel Brooks
You really couldn’t have this list without Mel Brooks. His movies, which he’s been making for an astonishing seven decades, never fail to disappoint. His career stretches back to the 1940s! He reinvented comedy on film with his early movies like The Producers, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein, and while he doesn’t do as much directing these days, he’s still killing it when he does.
Jordan Peele
Of all the comedians-turned-directors on this list, the biggest departure from his acting career to his directing career has to be Jordan Peele. He first entered our collective consciousness with his legendary sketch comedy show Key and Peele, but starting with Get Out in 2017, he’s become one of the premier horror directors in modern Hollywood.
Amy Poehler
Like so many comedians over the last 50 years or so, Amy Poehler got her big break on Saturday Night Live. She left the long-running comedy show in 2008 to work on her next hit show, Parks & Recreation. In 2019, she directed her first movie, Wine Country, and followed that up with 2021’s Moxie.
Christopher Guest
Some of the most quotable movies of all time have come from the collective minds of the ensemble casts that Christopher Guest has assembled for his movies, like Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind. He serves as the director, but he gives great leeway to his fellow cast members in all of the movies.
Paul Feig
Though he’s best known as a writer and a director these days, Paul Feig started as a stand-up comedian when he first arrived in Hollywood in the 1980s. He struggled as an actor before scoring a role in Heavyweights in 1995. While working on that movie, he met writer Judd Apatow and the two co-created Freaks and Geeks. The rest is history.
Ben Stiller
Ben Stiller‘s biggest early break came in the Ben Stiller Show on MTV, which blended sketch comedy with music videos. From there, Stiller basically took over Hollywood to the point that it seemed like he was making a dozen movies a year! Okay, maybe not that many, but he was in a lot of movies, including many that he directed, like Reality Bites, The Cable Guy, Zoolander, and Tropic Thunder.
Mike Nichols
EGOT winner Mike Nichols directed some of the most iconic movies in Hollywood history. Movies like The Graduate, Working Girl, and The Birdcage. Nichols started his career as part of the comedy duo Nichols & May alongside Elaine May, who also became a filmmaker of some renown.
Charlie Chaplin
There are few people in Hollywood history who are as important to the growth of the industry as Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin wrote, starred, and directed almost all his major hits from the silent era up until A Countess from Hong Kong in 1967. He even scored many of his movies. He started in show business in the very early 20th Century in comedic roles on stage before movies were even invented.
Rob Reiner
As the son of the great Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner has comedy in his blood. His biggest fame early came as Mike “Meathead” Stivic in All in the Family, but for most of the last half-century, he’s been known for his writing and directing, creating such movies as This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, and When Harry Met Sally…, among many others.
Chris Rock
Like many SNL alums, Chris Rock has had an incredible career in Hollywood. He started acting as a teenager in New Jack City, but he quickly became known for his stand-up act and his work on SNL. He’s long been a writer and producer, and he started directing in 2003 with his directorial debut, Head of State. He’s been busy directing ever since, in addition to everything else he does.
Judd Apatow
One of the most successful comedy directors in the last few decades is Judd Apatow. He’s a one-man show, in many ways, writing, producing, and directing hits like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, The King of Staten Island, and This Is 40. He’s also produced a whole slew of successful comedies, like Bridesmaids, Anchorman, Step Brothers, and Pineapple Express. That doesn’t even get into the TV shows he’s produced or co-created, like Freaks and Geeks, Girls, and Crashing.
Harold Ramis
Without question, Harold Ramis belongs on the Mount Rushmore of comedy writers and directors. The list of movies he’s directed and written (or co-written) is amazing. Caddyshack, National Lampoon’s Vacation, and Groundhog Day are just the tip of the iceberg. Like so many in his generation of comedians, he started in sketch comedy at Second City in Chicago.
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais gained worldwide fame when he co-created, co-wrote, and starred in the original version of The Office in the U.K. He’s created a slew of shows since, and could even be credited with helping create podcasts with his early podcast, The Ricky Gervais Show. The stand-up comedian started directing films in 2009 with The Invention of Lying.
Penny Marshall
We lost a lot when Penny Marshall died in 2018 at age 75. She began her career in comedic roles, most notably as Laverne DeFazio, first on Happy Days, then in her own spin-off, Laverne & Shirley. Before long, though, she transitioned to directing. Her first movie, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, introduced the world to Whoopi Goldberg as a comedic actor (her lone previous credit was in the drama The Color Purple) and went on to direct beloved hits like A League of Their Own and Big.
Seth MacFarlane
Seth MacFarlane started mostly as a comedy writer, which is hardly a surprise. He then created the animated shows Family Guy and American Dad for Fox. He made his directorial debut with Ted in 2012.
Albert Brooks
The legendary Albert Brooks started his career in sketch comedy in collectives like The Credibility Gap and appeared on variety shows in the late ’60s and early ’70s as a stand-up. His first directing gig was as part of the first season of SNL, before directing his first feature, Real Life, co-written with his buddy Harry Shearer. His later movies include classics like Defending Your Life, Mother, and The Muse.
Keenen Ivory Wayans
The Wayans brothers have certainly left a huge mark on Hollywood over the years, and the oldest sibling, Keenen Ivory Wayans, is the one who got them all started. He created and directed In Living Color, which made him a household name, but he had already directed I’m Gonna Git You Sucka before that. His biggest success, of course, is the Scary Movie franchise.
Carl Reiner
Carl Reiner got his start as a writer and actor in comedy sketches on two shows starring Sid Caesar, Your Show of Shows and Caesar’s Hour. He then teamed up with fellow writer from the shows, Mel Brooks, and together they released comedy albums in the early 1960s. By the end of the decade, he was directing movies, with his two most notable hits, The Jerk and Oh! God, coming in the late ’70s.
Cheech Marin
One of the biggest comedy duos of the ’70s is, of course, Cheech & Chong. Before long, Cheech Marin was directing movies without his partner, including his directorial debut, Born in East L.A., in 1987.
Woody Allen
WE couldn’t have this list without Woody Allen. Setting aside any personal feelings people may have towards the actor for his questionable personal life, Allen is, hands down, one of the most successful comedy film directors in Hollywood history. The list of movies he’s written, directed, and starred in is far too long to list here. He developed his famous persona while working as a stand-up comedian in New York in the 1960s.
Michael Keaton
Michael Keaton was one of the most successful comedic actors of the 1980s with movies like Mr. Mom, Beetlejuice, and Johnny Dangerously. He started taking on more dramatic roles as the decade came to a close, and of course, he starred as the Caped Crusader in Tim Burton’s Batman. He made his directorial debut in 2008 with the drama The Merry Gentleman and, more recently, directed the underrated Knox Goes Away in 2023.
Bob Odenkirk
Along with David Cross, Bob Odenkirk first broke big on Mr. Show with Bob and David, but that was after years in sketch comedy on shows like SNL and The Ben Stiller Show. He has gained his biggest fame more recently as the character Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad and the spinoff Better Call Saul (which somehow never won an Emmy).
Jerry Lewis
His comedy might not have been for everyone, but you can’t argue with Jerry Lewis’ incredible success over decades in Hollywood. Of course, he started as part of a duo with Dean Martin, but he soon took off on his own with movies like The Nutty Professor and The Bellboy. He directed both those movies as well, and would continue to direct his own movies throughout the ’60s.
Donald Glover
While still in college, Donald Glover started doing sketch comedy in New York City. After graduating, he became a writer on 30 Rock first came to the public’s attention in Community on NBC. His biggest critical success came with the show he created and produced the show Atlant,a in 2013. His first feature film directing gig came with Bando Stone & the New World, which is a companion piece to his album of the same name.
Jeff Garlin
For most people, Curb Your Enthusiasm is where they first saw Jeff Garlin, but his career goes back further than that. He also starred in The Goldbergs before abuse accusations led him to leave the show. Over the years, he’s directed a number of movies, like the indie rom-com I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With and 2017’s Handsome, which you can watch with a Netflix subscription.
Buster Keaton
Like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton was a huge figure in the silent era of Hollywood. Also like Chaplin, the comedian started in theater at the dawn of the 20th century and then began writing, directing, and starring in his own films in the teens. He was one of the biggest stars of the early film industry, making more than a dozen hits in the 1920s.
Bob Saget
Not only is one of the dirtiest comedians of all time (and his version of The Aristocrats joke proves it), Bob Saget was also so beloved TV dad and wholesome host of America’s Funniest Home Videos. Saget’s first directorial credit came in the hilarious and underrated Dirty Work, working with Norm McDonald and Artie Lang on what must have been just a wild film shoot.
Aziz Ansari
Aziz Ansari had his breakout role as a member of the cast of Parks and Recreation, but he was already an experienced stand-up when that show took off. He directed his first film, Good Fortune, which he also wrote and stars in.
Jerrod Carmichael
Jerrod Carmichael is one of the most popular stand-up comedians in recent years and got his first major exposure with The Carmichael Show on NBC in 2015. He made his directorial debut in 2021 with On the Count of Three, which he also stars in alongside Christopher Abbott and an ensemble cast that includes Tiffany Haddish, J.B. Smoove, and Henry Winkler.
Bo Burnham
Bo Burnham made his name as literally a one-man show with his musical comedy YouTube channel that he started in 2006 (the very early days of YouTube). His first job as a director came in 2018 with Eighth Grade, which he wrote and stars in, as well.
Robert Townsend
Robert Townsend was groundbreaking as a Black comedian-turned-filmmaker in the 1980s when he wrote, directed, and starred in movies like Hollywood Shuffle, The Five Heartbeats, and Meteor Man, which is a comic book movie that deserves a reboot.
Bobcat Goldthwait
Without a doubt, one of the strangest movies mentioned in this list is Shakes the Clown, which was the first film directed by legendary stand-up comedian Bobcat Goldthwait. He’s directed seven independent films since Shakes and they are always unique and funny.
