And funnier ones die younger

Comedians die earlier than other people – and funnier ones die younger.

That's the findings of new research, which compared  comics to dramatic actors. It  follows a number of deaths of high-profile comedians including Rik Mayall, Robin Williams, Victoria Wood and Caroline Aherne.

The research comes from the same team that previously found that the funnyman in a comedy duo was more likely to die younger than the straightman.

In the new study, they found that the stand-ups died, on average, aged 67.1, compared to 68.9 for comedy actors and 70.7 for dramatic actors.

The research from the Mary MacKillop Institute of Health Research at Australian Catholic University was based on the top 200  comedians, 114 comedy actors and 184 dramatic actors, as ranked online. They found that of those, 36 stand-ups died, nearly 39 per cent of them prematurely, compared to almost 20 per cent of the 56 dramatic actors who had died.

The researchers also found that comedians ranked higher by the public were more likely to die younger than their less funny colleagues. 

The study, published in the International Journal of Cardiology, also suggests that comedians are more likely to die from non-natural causes, such as suicide or accidents, than actors – although the numbers are relatively small for concrete conclusions.   

Lead author Simon Stewart told The Guardian that factors contributing to early death of comedians might include low pay, job insecurity,  irregular hours and the personality types of people drawn to stand-up.

'We think of [comedians] as just people that are heroes because they make us laugh and the have this bulletproof aura,' he said. 'But this data tells us they are quite sensitive souls underneath there and we need to protect them.'

Published: 13 Jul 2016