Buster Keaton, the Great Stone Face, in a still from The Navigator (1924)

Comedians

Best Deadpan Comedians: Funny Without Cracking a Smile

Deadpan comedians say the strangest things with a straight face, and that's the joke. From Buster Keaton and Bob Newhart to Steven Wright, Mitch Hedberg and Nathan Fielder, the best of the stone-faced.

By Written Facts StaffOctober 4, 20263 min read

Deadpan comedy is all about the delivery: no laughing at your own jokes, no big faces, no raised voice. The comedian says something absurd as if it's a weather report, and the gap between what they say and how they say it is where the laugh lives.

Buster Keaton

The silent-film star was nicknamed "The Great Stone Face." While buildings fell around him (literally, in Steamboat Bill, Jr.), his expression barely moved. A century later, comedians still study his timing.

Bob Newhart

Newhart's routines were half of a phone call: calm, polite, and increasingly baffled. His 1960 album The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart won the Grammy for Album of the Year, beating music albums, and he went on to star in two hit sitcoms. He died in July 2024 at 94.

Steven Wright

Slow, monotone, and packed with surreal one-liners: "I have a large seashell collection, which I keep scattered on beaches all over the world." Wright also won an Academy Award for the short film The Appointments of Dennis Jennings.

Mitch Hedberg

Hedberg delivered his one-liners shyly, often behind sunglasses, with his eyes closed or looking away from the crowd. His jokes still circulate on social media decades later. He died in 2005, at just 37.

Norm Macdonald

Norm's deadpan came with a twinkle: long, pointless stories that ended in the worst possible punch line, delivered like he'd just told the best joke in the world. He was famous for his "Weekend Update" years on Saturday Night Live. He died in 2021.

Tig Notaro

Notaro speaks slowly and lets silence do the work. Her famous 2012 set, delivered days after a cancer diagnosis, opened with "Good evening. Hello. I have cancer," and became one of the most talked-about stand-up sets ever.

Demetri Martin

Martin mixes one-liners with drawings, charts and a guitar, all delivered in the same flat, thoughtful tone.

Nathan Fielder

On Nathan for You and The Rehearsal, Fielder plays an awkward, earnest version of himself in real situations with real people. He never winks at the camera, and that makes it almost unbearable to watch, in the best way.

Jack Dee

A British deadpan master, Dee built a career on looking miserable and sounding fed up, which is exactly what audiences love about him. See more in our list of British comedians.