The 10 best comedians of 2015

You may not know Fortune Feimster yet, but considering how she’s won over the likes of Chelsea Handler, Mindy Kaling and Tina Fey, she’s a safe bet for the next big thing. The former Chelsea Lately writer and panelist has been quietly building a following for her enthusiasm and disarming charm during her frequent headlining gigs touring the states. Her television pilot Family Fortune, which she created with Tina Fey, unfortunately was not picked up, but her role on this season of The Mindy Project was a fine consolation prize until her full day in the sun.

Stand-up comedian and improviser Chris Gethard is unapologetically weird, so much so that he was the author behind Weird New York. The Brooklynite’s long-running public access show, The Chris Gethard Show, saw a huge cast of real life New York eccentrics doing whatever they could to push boundaries while staying on the air. It moved to the Fusion network this spring, but maintained plenty of the slapped together let’s-throw-shit-at-the-wall-and-see-if-it-sticks quirky charm. We just remain thankful that the confessional comic continues to remain a mainstay of venues like Gotham’s Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater as well as Union Hall and the Bell House in Gowanus. 

While the transition as the new host of The Daily Show hasn’t always been smooth, Trevor Noah has kept a calm confidence and an affable smile through every stumble in those (admittedly huge) shoes he’s been tasked with filling. The South African comic (and Time Out New York cover star) was relatively unknown to Americans back in 2014, but his stand-up special Trevor Noah: Lost in Translation, which debuted on Comedy Central last month, and some exceptional bits about the 2016 presidential candidates during his hosting gig prove that he’s one of the funniest men on TV. 

Though he was a writer on both Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock, most people didn’t know Buress until he boldly spoke out against Bill Cosby near the end of 2014. He’s remained in our thoughts and comedy-loving hearts through both his sweet to a fault goofy stoner-dentist character, Lincoln, on Broad City and his stand-up comedy. This past summer his show Why? With Hannibal Buress premiered on Comedy Central, allowing us to get our weekly fill of his unique comic delivery, which blends a slow speech pattern with meticulously well-worded jokes.

Sure, Aziz was already plenty popular befor this year: he sold out a little theater called Madison Square Garden with his stand-up in 2014 and he delivered many of the most quotable lines for seven seasons on Parks and Recreation as his douchey but lovable character Tom Haverford. But in the past few months the compact comedian has proven himself to have a thoughtfulness and ambition that puts him head and shoulders above other charismatic comic-actor hybrids. Instead of going the usual light-hearted memoir route with his de rigueur book deal, he teamed up with a sociologist for an indepth look at dating in the 21st century with Modern Romance. Then, to further surprise us, he created and starred in one of the most nuanced shows of the season, Master of None, which deftly navigated issues such as race and street harassment with such grace that he was (rightly) compared to Louis CK. All this before his 33rd birthday.