Comedians who ran for political office – and some who succeeded

A while back, we wrote about how Dave Smith, one of the comedians behind the popular comedy podcast Legion Skanks was setting himself up for a very real run for President of the United States on the Libertarian ticket. The move from comedian straight to President may seem unusual, but actually Smith is not the first comedian to attempt the switch to politics.

Smith’s attempt may be the most serious, as most comedians who have run for political office have done so with some sort of joke behind it. In fact, he isn’t even the first comedian to attempt a run for the White House on the Libertarian ticket. Doug Stanhope famously made a push back in 2008, continuing a long affiliation with the party while Ben Glieb made a run for the highest office in the land as recently as 2020.

With that in mind… here’s a very incomplete list of comedians that ran for political office.

Stephen Colbert ran a joke campaign for President back in 2008 in order to satirize the election process. This included creating a real Super PAC, although the run itself was never serious it did offer an eye-opening look at how money could easily influence elections

Roseanne Barr ran for the Green Party nomination in 2012, and after losing, successfully became the candidate for the Peace and Freedom Party.

On the smaller office, Gallagher ran for Governor of California in 2003. In 1994, Howard Stern actually won the nomination election for the Libertarian Party’s Governor of New York, with the main thrust of his campaign being to fix the streets of NY. While this made Stern the first election winner on this list the iconic radio show host was informed that were he to accept the nomination he would have to disclose his income and tax returns. Stern ultimately decided against this and passed on the nomination.

Probably the most successful comedian turned politician is Al Franken, who went from the halls of 8H at Saturday Night Live to the Capital building, becoming Senator of Minnesota. Franken served until 2018 when he ultimately was forced to resign when allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced at the peak of the #metoo movement.

Far from American shores, Jón Gnarr, who successfully ran for Mayor of Reykjavik. Gnarr started out as a comedian, and ran a satirical campaign for Mayor, similar to the efforts of Stephen Colbert. Unlike Colbert, however, Gnarr made an actual push for the position, and ended up winning the election. He served from 2010 to 2014.

One of the biggest satirists that turned into leaders was also Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” for 2022, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The president of Ukraine whose managed to rally the world in an effort to gain assistance for his country this past February after being invaded by Russia. The 44-year-old former actor and comedian was elected president of the country in 2019 after playing one on a TV show.

There’s also been times where comedians have been pushed to run for office. We wrote about the push for Jon Stewart to run for office, which was roundly rebuffed by much of the public and by the comedian himself. In the end, it isn’t so surprising that the same people who feel a desire to come in front of a mic and try to make you laugh might want their voice to be heard even louder. There’s ego to comedy, and there’s a prerequisite desire to have your voice heard.

Most of the comedians on this list never wanted to actually be elected. They were using the process to make a point and to build their audience. Many times, they have succeeded in pointing out the absurdities in our lives, just as comedians always try to do. There’s always been a connection between comedy and politics. So who knows. Maybe you’ll get to see one of your favorite comedians run for office again sooner rather than later.