Television has long been the dominant medium for American comedy, with series ranging from The Simpsons to The Office telling carefully-crafted and hysterical stories too dependent on physicality to be relegated to literature and too elongated to be put to film.
Many of the genre's most looming stars have significantly profited from their work - despite television's former reputation as a lesser medium - and many of the shows in which they starred have become cultural mainstays that are enjoyed by fans long after their respective conclusions.
Drew Carey (The Drew Carey Show; $750,000 per episode)
The comedian now most notable for his hosting stints on The Price Is Right and Whose Line Is It Anyway? was previously successful as an actor, helming the ABC sitcom The Drew Carey Show from 1995 until 2004.
According to celebritynetworth.com, the show's popularity secured him a salary that peaked at $750,000 per episode, rendering him one of the highest-paid sitcom stars in the history of the art form. With the similarly-high salaries he earned for his roles in the other aforementioned shows, Carey is now one of the wealthiest comedians in Hollywood.
Jerry Seinfeld (Seinfeld; $1 million per episode)
Seinfeld is regarded by many comedy aficionados as the greatest and most inventive sitcom to ever air, and the show's star and namesake was well-compensated for his contributions to its success.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Jerry Seinfeld received $1 million per episode by the end of the show's nine season run - a greater sum than that received by any of his main three costars. The show's second life in the form of syndication, DVD sales, and streaming has certainly provided him with an additional fortune to his hefty salary from the 1990s.
Kaley Cuoco, Jim Parsons, and Johnny Galecki (The Big Bang Theory; $1 million per episode)
The Big Bang Theory was a righteously-successful multi-camera, laugh-track-layered sitcom in an era in which such techniques were widely considered to be antiquated in television comedy. Much of the series' popularity was owed to the performances of its starring cast members - particularly Kaley Cuoco and Jim Parsons, who were involved in some of the best storylines in The Big Bang Theory.
In addition to Johnny Galecki, Cuoco and Parsons earned $1 million per episode by the show's conclusion in 2019, according to an article in Variety. The overwhelming mainstream success of the series ensured the main cast members' financial security, in addition to their reputations as effective comedic actors.
Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso; $1 million per episode)
Jason Sudeikis maintained a relatively low profile for several years following his departure from Saturday Night Live in 2013, but his Apple TV+ comedy series, Ted Lasso, launched him to a level of success so stratospheric that he and his show are now virtually inescapable.
The phenomenal popularity of the show, for which Sudeikis serves as an executive producer in addition to delivering one of Ted Lasso's best performances, has garnered the SNL alum a sizable fortune. According to an article in The Hollywood Reporter, Sudeikis now earns $1 million per episode of the series, placing him in the highest ranks of sitcom earners throughout television history.
Friends Main Cast ($1 million per episode)
While many sitcoms lose relevance shortly after their conclusions, the NBC show Friends is arguably just as viewed and discussed 18 years following its series finale as it was during its run in the mid-to-late 1990s and early 2000s.
As the show gained notoriety and commercial success, its six stars negotiated for the higher salaries that they believed they were entitled to due to their portrayals of Friends' best characters. According to Us Weekly, the six primary cast members ultimately earned $1 million per episode by the final seasons of the show. Additionally, they were each paid $2.5 million for appearing in the Friends reunion special on HBO Max in 2021.
Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser (Mad About You; $1 million per episode)
Mad About You stars Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser were among the many sitcom actors of the 1990s who translated the resurgent success of the genre into earnings that were unprecedented shortly before.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Hunt and Reiser each earned $1 million per episode of the show by the height of its run, an equivalent salary to that of the six primary cast members of NBC's Friends. In addition to securing their hefty salaries, the chemistry between the two stars solidified Mad About You's standing as one of the most-viewed and most-beloved programs of its era.
Tim Allen (Home Improvement; $1.25 million per episode)
Home Improvement, the ABC series which served as a starring vehicle for standup comedian Tim Allen, was immensely popular and profitable during its run in the 1990s, and its success provided Allen with financial prosperity in addition to career security. According to Fox Business, Allen's salary at the show's height was a staggering $1.25 million per episode, making him one of the most highly-paid sitcom stars to ever work in the medium.
The actor and comedian attempted to replicate Home Improvement's success in the 21st century with the ABC/Fox sitcom Last Man Standing, but celebritynetworth.com reports that he made only $235,000 per episode at that series' peak.
Kelsey Grammer (Frasier; $1.6 million per episode)
Television spinoffs have earned a reputation as horrible creative and business decisions, with most failing to replicate the mainstream success and/or artistic value of the better-regarded series from which they are derived.
Frasier, which tackled deep issues as it followed a character from Cheers, is perhaps the most notable and dramatic exception to this trend. It attained enough monetary success that the network was able to offer star Kelsey Grammer $1.6 million per episode by the series' most prominent seasons, according to Showbiz Cheatsheet - an unusually-high salary for a television actor.
Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond; $1.725 million per episode)
Actor and comedian Ray Romano - who has since ventured into dramatic territory with his work in films such as The Irishman and Paddleton - began his career as a decidedly-comedic performer, cutting his teeth as a standup comedian before helming his own sitcom for CBS from 1996 until 2005.
The series was a commercial powerhouse during its run, and such profitability secured star and namesake Romano as one of the highest-earning television stars of all time. Yahoo! reports that he earned $1.725 million per episode by the final seasons of the show, rendering him the second-highest-paid sitcom star in television history.
Charlie Sheen (Two And A Half Men; $1.8 million per episode)
Charlie Sheen's run as star of the wildly-popular Chuck Lorre production Two and a Half Men notoriously ended in shambles, with his unruly, headline-making behavior leading CBS to publicly fire him in 2011. This proved to be a significant financial disappointment for Sheen, as he was netting a colossal $1.8 million per episode of the show by the termination of his contract (per Screen Rant).
Two and a Half Men has not proven to be as timeless in influence as 2000s sitcoms such as Arrested Development and The Office, but its popularity during the time of its run translated to immense profitability.