A study published in the International Journal of Cardiology back in 2016 focused on the morbid topic of comedians dying young. The goal was to determine whether the phenomenon was limited to comics or if it occurred in other areas of the entertainment world as well. According to the study’s lead author, Simon Stewart, the idea came about following Robin Williams’s premature death a couple years earlier. From there, Stewart realized that the funnier members of his favorite comedy duos had all died first. 

To begin with, Stewart and his fellow researchers at the Mary McKillop Institute for Health Research at Australian Catholic University examined the top 200 performers in different categories on Ranker.com. This included stand-up comedians like Richard Pryor, comedic actors like Jim Carrey, and dramatic actors like Jodie Foster. If an individual appeared on more than one list, they were only counted in the category they ranked highest in. As an example, Williams’s name appeared on all three, but he was only logged as a stand-up comedian.

In all, the study factored in 200 stand-ups, 114 comedic actors, and 184 dramatic actors. What they found was that stand-up comics tended to die younger than the others, with their average age of death being 67.1 years. Between the three types of performers, dramatic actors had the highest average age at 70.7. Taking date of birth and life expectancy into account, they found that stand-ups were more likely to die young than dramatic actors, and that close to 39% of the stand-ups on their list who’d already died did so prematurely—less than 20% of dramatic actors passed away at a younger age, in contrast.

Additionally, Stewart’s team found that higher-ranking comedians were more likely to live shorter lives than their dramatic contemporaries. However, the higher someone was ranked for their acting ability, the longer their lifespan turned out to be. Although the numbers were small, the research suggests that stand-up comics are also more likely to die from things like suicide and accidents, despite 80% of their recorded deaths being from natural causes. Stewart attributes his findings to a variety of factors, such as low income, job insecurity, working irregular hours, and the overall stress of being a comedian.