24 Facts About Stand-Up Comedians That'll Give You A Glimpse Into What It's Like To Be Professionally Funny

1.In 2001, Robin Williams visited the gorilla Koko, who was famous for having learned American Sign Language to communicate. Williams called their experience together "mind-altering," and said that they "shared something extraordinary: laughter." Robin even managed to get Koko to smile, something her trainer, Dr. Penny Patterson, said she hadn't done since the death of her gorilla companion Michael over six months prior.

Here's the video of Williams and Koko's day together:

2.When Williams appeared on a 2001 episode of Inside the Actors Studio, he made one audience member laugh so hard that they developed a hernia and had to be "taken away in an ambulance" at the end of the show.

3.Dave Chappelle played Prince in the 2004 Chappelle's Show sketch “Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories — Prince," and Prince apparently thought it was hilarious. He liked it so much, in fact, that he used a photo of Chappelle dressed up as him as the album cover for his single "Breakfast Can Wait."

4.Midway through the third season of Chappelle's Show, Dave Chappelle went missing. (It was later discovered he'd gone to South Africa to "hide out from press coverage.") None other than John Mulaney was temping as an assistant for the head of development at Comedy Central when he got the call that Chappelle had disappeared. He told the executives, who brushed him off at first, because Chappelle was regularly late to tapings. But when Mulaney stressed that this time was different, they almost flew him to Los Angeles that day to collect the physical tapes of the third season of Chappelle's Show so that they couldn't be destroyed.

5.Stephen Colbert donates all the money he makes from sales of his Ben & Jerry's flavor Americone Dream to The Stephen Colbert Americone Dream Fund, which uses its funds for "food and medical assistance for disadvantaged children, helping veterans and their families, and environmental causes."

6.Wanda Sykes used to work for the National Security Agency. She was a contracting specialist who bought "anything from radar equipment to surveillance equipment to furniture." Naturally, she had a top-secret security clearance.

7.Patton Oswalt stood silent, motionless, and expressionless for almost three full minutes in the background of a King of Queens scene as a prank. He apparently forgot about it, but when the scene resurfaced, he called it "EERIE."

Here's the full scene:

8.Jerry Seinfeld was banned from the restaurant that inspired "The Soup Nazi." The iconic Seinfeld episode was based on a real person, Al Yeganeh, who hated the nickname and the sitcom's take on his strict ordering rules. Yeganeh referred to Jerry Seinfeld as a "clown," and according to the president of Original SoupMan, "Jerry has come to his store a couple of times when he opened, and he wouldn't let him in."

9.In the 1980s, Ricky Gervais was a pop singer and one half of the duo Seona Dancing. Their single "More to Lose" was released when Gervais was 22, and it became a "teen anthem in the Philippines." The group split up in 1984 after releasing only two singles (their second was called "Bitter Heart"). But "More to Lose" is apparently still a "cultural landmark" in the Philippines. About his pop-star past, Gervais said, "I am almost glad it didn’t quite work out. I would be dead now."

10.When Richard Pryor hosted Saturday Night Live, NBC executives were nervous that the comedian was "too dangerous" for live television, so they insisted that the broadcast be aired with a five-second delay. This set the standard for live television broadcasts, most of which use a five-to-seven-second delay to this day.

11.Jon Stewart proposed to his girlfriend with a personalized crossword made with the help of Will Shortz, the New York Times crossword puzzle editor.

12.Trevor Noah is fluent in six languages: English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana, and Tsonga. He is also conversational in German, though he doesn't yet "claim" it as his official seventh language, and he is planning on learning Spanish.

13.Ali Wong, who graduated with a degree in Asian American studies from the University of California, Los Angeles, was a Fulbright Scholar in Vietnam, where she studied language. She tried stand-up for the first time shortly after returning home, at the age of 23.

14.In 2016, Eddie Izzard ran 27 marathons in 27 days for the charity Sport Relief, and raised more than £1.35 million. Izzard ran over 707 miles in South Africa, and even completed two full marathons in one day to make up for a schedule interruption earlier in the challenge. The number 27 was chosen to "reflect the 27 years [Nelson] Mandela had spent in prison before becoming South Africa's first Black president."

15.At the beginning of his career in the 1980s, Chris Rock made Eddie Murphy laugh during a set at the Comic Strip. Rock had a deal with the club's manager that if he stacked chairs, he could perform late at night. One night, Murphy asked Rock when he was performing; Rock, stacking chairs, replied that he wasn't scheduled for that night. So Murphy told the manager to put Rock on next, and during his set, Rock could hear Murphy's trademark laugh.

Here's a clip of Chris Rock talking about the moment:

16.Don Rickles brushed off Frank Sinatra on purpose to impress a woman he was on a date with. When Rickles' date spotted Sinatra in the hotel lounge, she excitedly asked if Rickles knew him. The pair were actually friends, but Rickles talked up their relationship, telling his date that they were like brothers. Then, Rickles privately asked Sinatra to come up to their table and greet him. Sinatra did it, and when he asked how Rickles was, Rickles replied, "Not now, Frank. Can’t you see I’m with somebody?”

17.John Oliver met his wife at the 2008 Republican National Convention. He was there as a correspondent for The Daily Show, and when security tried to kick him and his crew out of a restricted area, he realized that since he was on a work visa, he was at risk of deportation if he got arrested. So a group of veterans, Oliver's future wife (and US combat medic) Kate Norley included, helped to hide the group. Two years later, Oliver proposed.

18.Hannibal Buress hired a double to attend the premiere of Spider-Man: Homecoming in his place. Buress, who played Coach Wilson in the film, recruited for the gig through social media, noting that he was offering $500 for a "lookalike with solid comedic timing." The imposter, Joe Carroll, didn't look much like Buress, but he took pictures with fans and answered interview questions about the movie regardless.

19.Vaughn Meader was a comedian best known for his impressions of President John F. Kennedy. The first time fellow comic Lenny Bruce performed following JFK's assassination, he started his set by saying, "Man, is Vaughn Meader fucked!"

20.Jim Gaffigan performed stand-up comedy for the pope. When Pope Francis visited Philadelphia in 2015, Gaffigan was the only comedian tapped to perform for the "Festival of Families" attended by the pope. Right before he performed, Gaffigan joked that he was waiting for an organizer to apologize to him and explain that they got him mixed up with Stephen Colbert (another famous comedic Catholic).

Here's a clip of Gaffigan talking about the experience, plus some footage from the Festival of Families:

21.In 2007, Steve Martin got married to his girlfriend, Anne Stringfield, in a surprise ceremony. The 75 or so guests, including Diane Keaton, Tom Hanks, and Eugene Levy, were all told that it was just a normal party. Lorne Michaels, the creator of Saturday Night Live, was Martin's best man.

22.Kumail Nanjiani adores The X-Files, and when he made an appearance on the show's revival, the props guy let him keep the actual X-File from his episode. Said Nanjiani, "Maybe I’ll get buried with it."

23.Before Trevor Noah got the job, Amy Schumer was asked to take over hosting The Daily Show following Jon Stewart's departure. She said she was "honored to be asked," but ultimately turned it down because she likes not knowing what she's going to do next.

24.And finally: Mindy Kaling, whose full name is Vera Mindy Chokalingam, was named in part after Mork & Mindy, a sitcom starring Robin Williams that her parents watched while living in Nigeria.