Time Out’s Comedians to Watch 2026: Our 12 favorite on-the-rise performers

We all have those “truth is stranger than fiction” moments, but we can’t all craft those random encounters into a funny story quite like Andrew Orolfo. A fixture at the Comedy & Magic Club and on Don’t Tell Comedy lineups, Orolfo lures in crowds with relaxed setups that give way to surprisingly outlandish punchlines, whether that’s about tolerating a bit of casual racism when you’re dating or sharing an edible with your mom. The L.A. by way of the Bay Area comedian’s cleverly silly perspective extends to The Meter, a game show he first hatched on long car rides to find out which Hollywood actor has the highest of-the-moment STARmeter rating on IMDb in as niche of a category as possible—say, the most famous person who’s ever worn a cowboy in a film or actors who’ve been really, really sweaty on camera. 

What’s the funniest thing about your life right now?

My mom vapes, and sometimes it has a screen on it.

The one joke that always lands: Comics, we all just kind of dress similar for the most part. I always open with, “Do y’all like the lineup?” And then the crowd is like, “Yeah!” And I’m like, “Yeah, me too. Everybody’s been very funny, but am I tripping, or does this whole lineup look like we all work at the same thrift store? This is the most Buffalo Exchange–looking lineup I’ve ever been on.” In other cities I’ll just switch the thrift store, and find the local thrift store. It works most of the time—if the wind conditions are right.

You can stream The Meter each week on YouTube or watch live at DSP Studios in L.A. Check out Andrew Orolfo’s website for his upcoming shows, and follow along with him on Instagram and TikTok.

As a native Coloradan, Chris Higgins fits the part with a scruffy beard and long locks, usually rocking a beanie or flat-brimmed hat, and a very public love of marijuana. These days, the Chicago-based comedian performs stand-up across the country (and sometimes across the pond) with astute bits, like why cops should be required to smoke weed and his fantasy of being treated like a British lord should he ever become a landlord. Offstage, he hosts a podcast called Buddy System with similarly macho Matty Ryan. Despite his tall stature and cool-guy persona, Higgins is, as he recently put it during a show, a golden retriever at heart. After all, he has a cat, whom he believes is the reincarnation of Severus Snape actor Alan Rickman.

What’s the funniest thing about your life right now?

As a comedian? My life? [It’s] only funny. I wake up. Immediately: pratfalls, pranks and high jinks. I’m clowning, slapping stick (don’t be gross) and doing wacky voices. People love to hang out with me. 

The one joke that always lands: Most of my jokes take place on land, yes. I have one that’s about whale watching. So that’s definitely the one that doesn’t land. Oh, and a couple are in the sky. Sheesh, I’d say a bunch aren’t land-based, if you think about it. So, maybe that joke about stoned cops? That one always lands. Except if they were boat cops or in a helicopter. 

Catch Chris Higgins on tour now through early next year, and follow him on Instagram and TikTok.

When Curtis Cook left Portland in 2016, he published a self-interview in the city’s alternative weekly about where he saw himself in five years: broke and broken in a world without comedy because his then-upcoming farewell PDX show was just unsurpassable. “Guess I’ve always been kind of a dreary guy,” Cook tells me today, noting that while we’re all doomed due to climate change and its survival-necessitated decline of “the arts,” it has been a thrilling decade of opportunities since he moved to L.A. You might’ve caught some of his TV writing credits on American Dad!, the criminally overlooked This Fool or recent hangout sitcom Adults. On-stage, Cook’s stand-up presence is one-of-a-kind, at once care-free, provocative and insightful whether talking about telling his six-year-old daughter that her family identifies as goth or trying to join the military to feed an insatiable blood lust. 

What’s the funniest thing about your life right now?

I’m gonna die. Every day I live is a step closer to death, and through it all, I’m like, “Please follow me on social media so I don’t get kicked outta comedy.” It’s funny how much of this one, short, precious life I spend tryna get my numbers up online so I can keep doing what I love in person. That said, please follow me on social media so I don’t get kicked outta comedy. 

The one joke that always lands: I am, for better or worse, one of those stand-ups who revels in the knowledge that I could always lose the audience. It’s fun to play with uncertain energy. That said, this joke [about coercive interrogation–inspired role play] tends to work more often than not. 

Catch Curtis Cook on Wednesday nights at Zero Lounge in Hollywood, where he cohosts the weekly Zero Hour Comedy with Brandie Posey, Rick Wood and John Michael Bond. You can follow him on Instagram and TikTok.

Don’t try hitting on a bank teller when you have a negative balance—because, as Felicia Folkes did in her former job, she’ll literally see that you can’t afford to take her anywhere. The Inglewood native brings charm and raw honesty to takes on relationship compromises and overly aggressive encouragement that’ll still have you talking on the car ride home. Folkes first got into stand-up as an after-class diversion at Santa Monica College and then was the first Black woman to be a door guy—and she really puts the emphasis on it being mostly guys—at the famed Comedy Store, where she worked her way up to being a paid regular. A breast cancer survivor, when Folkes was first diagnosed, she was hesitant whether she could turn an experience that intense into something funny. But she certainly can, whether talking about accepting advances when you think you’re on your deathbed or being irresistible to men even if you’re radioactive. “For the first time, my comedy’s doing that cheesy kind of thing where it’s doing more than just making people laugh for the night,” she says. “It’s really making people laugh for a while, and it’s healing them through their own journeys as well.”

What’s the funniest thing about your life right now?

I was just on that Netflix show [with Kevin Hart], and so now people recognize me. But like, I’m still in L.A., I’m still in Leimert Park, you know? So people now [in my go-to local shops], they’ll be stopping me, like, “Oh, wait, are you from that show, can we get a picture?” But I’m like, I was here yesterday, and the day before, I’ve been here for years, I see you all the time.

The one joke that always lands: I have my own personal beef with Trader Joe’s, and I feel like it looks like a kid built a grocery store, and the carts are too small, and they’re drawing the prices on, and I want them to go in the back and print out the prices and put it on and stop playing these games with me. And the parking lots are all crazy. So that always works because people feel very personal about their grocery store. They start messaging me about Erewhon and what they think about that—people in L.A. have a lot of opinions about grocery stores.

You can see Felicia Folkes live most Sundays at the Comedy Store, as well as at the New York Comedy Festival in November. Keep up with her on Instagram.

Hannah Magy kind of does it all. Whether it’s improv at Chicago’s legendary iO Theater, sketch at Second City or uncannily spot-on impressions of Lois Griffin on TikTok, she’s a true powerhouse performer. Oh, and she dances, acts and sings in a comedy duo dubbed Jaffe & Magy with her friend Rebecca Jaffe. Aside from her hilarious takes on navigating life as a redhead and self-deprecating jokes about her parents’ divorce, her popular series of short-form videos personifying obscure inanimate objects—from Chicago streets and restaurant groups to instruments and mashed potatoes—has earned her nearly four million likes on TikTok.

What’s the funniest thing about your life right now?

I’ve developed stupid autoimmune issues because (drumroll) I’m a little bit inbred. I think that’s pretty funny! Like who on earth would EVER want to bang their cousin? Unfortunately, my great-great-grandparents. Sigh. HAHA (please laugh so I don’t cry).

The one joke that always lands: It’s not a joke, but my burlesque character, Lucy Deucy, brings the house down. She’s a frisky dominatrix with a transatlantic accent and a penchant for eating poop. Fake poop, of course, lovingly fashioned out of brownies and Tootsie Rolls by me. During the act, I’m dressed in a corset and fishnet tights. One of my favorite bits is saying, “Now, I bet you’re wondering, ‘How does she shit with the tights on?’ Well, it’s very simple. It just comes out like Play-Doh spaghetti.” It always gets a groan from the audience. The whole act was inspired by someone telling me they didn’t think a poop joke could be funny!

Catch Hannah Magy weekly on Fridays at iO Theater and at The Den in October, and you can follow her on Instagram.

Jessie Lee has been performing since she was eight years old. She grew up doing regional theater in Miami and watching Chris Farley and Mike Myers movies—it was love at first sight. After attending a performing arts middle and high school, Lee went on to study theater at Florida State University. When comedian Zainab Johnson was set to perform at the school, Lee herself got a big break: “I don’t know what came over me,” Lee says, “but I emailed her and was like, ‘Hey, I’m such a huge fan. I’d love to get a coffee with you.’" Johnson responded by inviting Lee to open for her show. She had never performed stand-up, but when she got her first big laugh, she knew she’d be back. Now, Lee’s favorite place to perform is Union Hall, where she cohosts a monthly show called “Love That.” There’s something infectious about Lee’s performance—she’s exactly who she presents to be and yet every punchline comes out of nowhere. When she’s not performing around the city, she’s making viral videos playing a slew of characters; one of her best is a middle-aged woman named Sharon who loves to dance. She’s also a pro at impressions and can transition seamlessly between Jennifer Coolidge, Britney Spears and Kamala Harris all delivering the line “you shaved your bush.” 

What’s the funniest thing about your life right now?

When I get noticed on the street, people yell out the viral video they remember me from. I’ll be walking to the train and have a stranger yell out of their car “IKEA girl!” or “you shaved your bush!”

The one joke that always lands: Singing to my dying grandpa. I don’t want to give too much away, but that is kinda the thesis of the joke.

Catch Jessie Lee at her monthly show, “Love That,” at Union Hall, and follow her on Instagram and TikTok.

A surreal short film about a dystopian marketing app, a satirical talk show, a card-based party game about gossip: No matter the form their comedy takes, you can expect something truly singular when Kim Seltzer and Aliya Kamalova are behind it. The improv and sketch collaborators, who go by Kim & Aliya for short, excel in authoring all sorts of offbeat, often exquisitely awkward bite-sized videos, whether that’s slightly unnerving cooking demos, half-baked business pitches or, most recently, parodies of late-analog-era commercials. (Also, if you’ve seen TikToks of messy-faced friends demanding to know who ate the last powdered doughnut, you can thank Kim & Aliya for starting that trend.) But the L.A. performers’ talents extend beyond phone-sized-screens: They’re currently developing their debut feature, Pistols at 3:45, a mockumentary about two feuding local politicians trying to valiantly chicken out of an old-school gun duel. 

What’s the funniest thing about your life right now?

We made a half-joke about how funny it would be if we launched a web arcade on our website because of how much we loved Flash game sites from the early 2000s. We took the joke too far and actually built an online game based on one mildly successful video series we have called “Kitchen Hacks.” We taught ourselves pixel art and game development and created a game where you can play as Aliya in her demented kitchen hacks world. Then we became addicted to our own proprietary game. The highest score we’ve gotten so far is 198,020, which is actually quite high for a score if you know anything about this game which most people don’t.

The one joke that always lands: Anytime we have a visual component while performing live, we try to always run the tech from stage via Aliya’s laptop. Instead of seamlessly switching to the screen we want to share, we “accidentally” show Aliya’s desktop which we fill with embarrassing open tabs like Google searches for “how to get people to like you easy,” “when is too old for a first kiss?” and “are Minions real life animals?” Kim tries to vamp while Aliya struggles to navigate to the right screen. The audience always feels a split-second of horror until they realize it’s a bit and then they laugh, laugh, laugh all the way home.

You can keep up with Kim & Aliya’s latest games and videos on their website, and follow them on Instagram and TikTok.

Maddie Wiener is something of a prodigy when it comes to stand-up. She started the art form as a teenager after spending her childhood as a theater and improv kid in North Carolina. “After three months of doing it every night,” she says, “I made these friends and we were like, ‘Oh, I guess we do this now.’” At 16 years old, hanging around a lot of divorced dads, Wiener became a mainstay at Goodnights Comedy Club in Raleigh and managed to get on stage most nights of the week. Wiener’s newer sets are supercharged with knee-slappers about everything from body positivity (“We should just let people be ugly”) to gender identity (“I’ve got a little they/them bubbling up in me, but I’m more lazy than I am trans, so it’s at a standstill”). When people compare comedians to modern day philosophers, Wiener is the kind of comic to which they refer. 

What’s the funniest thing about your life right now?

I got prescribed Klonopin and then I got worried that it would make my anxiety worse. I might be the first person ever Klonopin gave a panic attack to. I think my anxiety was so strong that it broke through the Klonopin. And looking back, that’s hilarious to me.

The one joke that always lands: I hope this doesn’t sound like a pretentious answer, but I think once you really are like, “This one can never fail,” then you’re sort of fucked because I think the audience can sense that you have this energy of, “This is about to crush,” and then it’s off-putting.

Maddie Wiener made her late-night debut last year on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and has filmed sets for Comedy Central and Don’t Tell Comedy. She joined Saturday Night Live as a writer during Season 51, and performs everywhere from Bar Bayeux to the Comedy Cellar, where she just taped her first special. She’s a regular at the Comedy Cellar and Union Hall, and you can follow her on Instagram.

Max Higgins got his start in stand-up just four years ago at the Vermont Comedy Club in Burlington. What brought him to the stage was a combination of encouragement from a college English professor and the pain and rebirth of a good old-fashioned breakup. “The thing about the breakup is, I think deep in my heart I knew I was gonna transition,” he says. “One of the first jokes I did when I came out was ‘How soon after a breakup is too soon to transition?’” Since embarking on stand-up, Higgins has moved to New York and now performs all around the city, often mining his transition for content. “I used to be a straight woman. Sorry, I talk about being a woman the way people talk about studying abroad,” he quips in one of his sets. His observational humor about the trans experience has the clear perspective of a former (but self-aware) English major. You can catch Higgins performing jokes about the divisive jam band Phish or comparing himself to Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams. He’s been relishing his newfound boyhood by making a lot of high protein desserts.

What’s the funniest thing about your life right now?

I am dating for the first time since transitioning. I never actually had to “put myself out there” because I was a 20-year-old woman into older guys—I just had to stand in one place for a few minutes. So I’m learning dating from scratch. Now I’m just a guy who knows a lot about the ‘80s. 

The one joke that always lands: Do you know what color analysis is? Well, if you don’t, it’s where a stylist holds up your favorite color and tells you why you cannot wear it anymore. The heart of the joke is that I find out I’m a soft autumn, apparently, and I was just like, “No, I’m not. I’m a man. I’m whatever navy blue is.”

Catch Max Higgins at clubs across NYC, and follow him on Instagram.

To call what Richard Perez does “performance art” might undermine the comedic genius in all of his work. But even Perez will admit that his style is far from traditional. “I don’t have a setup, punchline sort of thing,” he says. “A lot of what I do is fooling around with the room.” Perez has an affinity for crowdwork, but does it in a way that takes the onus off of the audience members—he doesn’t need the audience to be funny for his jokes to work. And for even the most participation averse (yes, it’s me) he makes it an enjoyable experience. These days, he is primarily performing his two solo shows around various New York City venues. One of them, titled I Have To Do This, is a pantomimed series of vignettes in which he tells a story of love and partnership. His other, more interactive show, For One Night, Okay, incorporates cabaret and crowdwork, Zohran and Rama Mamdani fan fiction, and, if you’re lucky, might even involve a simulated wedding. He’s also an actor having played the role of Morgh in Charli XCX’s satirical film The Moment.

What’s the funniest thing about your life right now?

Recently my friends showed me “Choosin’ Texas” by Ella Langley, and on my TikTok feed I’ve been getting Stella Lefty, so there’s this country wave. I’ve been joking around, creating a character that’s a cartoon of what either of them would be like in the studio writing a song. I’m just picturing Ella being like [in a very high-pitched cartoonish voice] “That’s a damn good lyric! We gotta write that one down! Yee haw! Pow pow!” She has a gun and she shoots the ceiling as drywall is falling on top of her head. So if there’s a way to transpose that… haha. 

The one joke that always lands: My roller coaster scene from my solo show, I Have To Do This. I bring this person who I am entering into a budding relationship with to New Jersey Six Flags Great Adventure. I’m acting out my first time on a roller coaster. I’m with this phantom lover and I’m pantomiming going on this rollercoaster ride and it’s building up. When the big drop comes, I faint. The scene ends with me saying “Wow, I’ve never felt so close to you,” and then we make out. But you’ll have to see it to believe it. 

Catch Perez during one of his regular shows at Union Hall, and follow him on Instagram and TikTok.

Much of Chicago comedian Sam Rocha’s work centers around saying the quiet part out loud. Her sketches, which have earned her a substantial Instagram following, often depict the anxiety-induced—and in some cases, completely impossible—situations that we’re embarrassed to admit we overthink and worry about anyway, like whether we accidentally packed a bomb in our carry-on or whether the DMV might issue all transgender people IDs with a generic photo of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Rocha is also a cast member at indie venue the Lincoln Lodge and a producer of the recurring (and aptly named) stand-up show Nervous Laughter. On stage, Rocha is instantly able to channel a character and mood that make jokes viscerally evocative and ridiculously funny, like her bit about the stereotypical depiction of the wife of an astronaut in film that we all recognize but never thought to call out.

What’s the funniest thing about your life right now?

How confused people think I am due to my videos where I play very confused characters. It’s hilarious, and I welcome it! The other night, when I walked into the Lincoln Lodge, a new doorperson said to me, “I recognized you as the confused customer… but then you knew where to go!” They were shocked. But much of the time I can be genuinely confused in new places. I had a moment the other night where I was in the green room of a comedy club, and I started exploring the backstage area, and one thing led to another, and I found myself behind their bar. Yet no actual customers thought I worked there; all one of them said was, “Do you need some help?”

The one joke that always lands: “I’m transgender… but you should see the other guy!” It’s a one-liner that really makes no sense at all if you think about it, but it seems to delight both queer and straight audiences. I think because it’s taking a topic that people find so charged and gravely serious right now and making it absolutely silly and nonsensical.

Catch Sam Rocha monthly in the Nervous Laughter Comedy Show at the Lincoln Lodge, and follow her on Instagram and TikTok.

Being alive today can be exhausting, but at least we have Victoria Vincent to make us laugh about it. The Chicago comic and healthcare worker has a knack for shifting a crowd’s energy from quiet and eager to be wowed to giddy with the kind of laughs that rumble around in your belly until the end of the show. Some of her best work revolves around formative experiences like beefing with her boss and growing up as the daughter of a rich surgeon (something she says is her greatest accomplishment). The many white kids around her were surprised to learn that she read and wrote Good Charlotte (yes, the early-2000s band of brothers) fan fiction until the ripe age of 27. Her comical deadpan approach to topics that conjure dread and discomfort offers a refreshing reprieve from life’s unrelenting absurdities. 

What’s the funniest thing about your life right now?

That I keep telling myself I’m going to be a better comedian/writer, or even just a better person, once I declutter my home. I have a joke that’s like, “I have a new version of the TV show Scared Straight: you just bring your kids to my apartment and say, ‘This is what it looks like if you think you’re going to be an artist.’ Very Miss Havisham, very Grey Gardens. Also, Facebook Marketplace selling will be the death of me, but in 2040, when I finally finish the declutter, that’s when people will know my name.

The one joke that always lands: “I’m keto, which is the opposite of Fight Club; you can’t shut the fuck up about it. I was at an appointment the other day, and I was like I’m keto and he was like, ‘Ma’am, this is an oil change’.” I think that lands a lot because everyone has that friend that can’t stop talking about a new diet or exercise regimen they are trying to implement. I don’t stop talking about being keto, my sister doesn’t stop talking about CrossFit, and my brother doesn’t stop talking about anime. It’s a very fun group chat where we annoy one another about our hyperfixations of the year.

Catch the live taping of Victoria Vincent’s debut comedy album at the Hideout in November, and follow her on Instagram.