Survey of comedy fans lists Britain's best-known stand-ups

A survey of live comedy fans has revealed a list of the UK's best known stand-up comedians.

The results were announced as part of a wide-ranging new report into live comedy, published by Ticketmaster.

Michael McIntyre (pictured), who is set to tour the UK in 2015 with new show 'Happy & Glorious', was named as the best-selling British comedian over the last 5 years.

The report suggests that the "rise of the celebrity comedian" is continuing. Ticketmaster's transactional data reveals that the top five selling tours each year since 2009 have accounted for over half of comedy ticket sales sold.

This is backed up by the survey report, which notes that famous names have "a stronger pull on comedy attendees". 51% of those polled said they wouldn't pay to see someone live if they hadn't already seen them on TV, and 67% would rather go to a big comedy tour with a famous comedian rather than a smaller event with mostly unknowns.

Top 10 Comedians - By Awareness

Michael McIntyre (89%)

Jimmy Carr (89%)

Peter Kay (89%)

Alan Carr (88%)

Lee Evans (87%)

Ricky Gervais (87%)

John Bishop (86%)

Eddie Izzard (83%)

Sarah Millican (82%)

Frankie Boyle (79%)

Best Selling Comedians (Since 2009) - Male

1. Michael McIntyre

2. Peter Kay

3. Lee Evans

4. Micky Flanagan

5. Jimmy Carr

Best Selling Comedians (Since 2009) - Female

1. Sarah Millican

2. Miranda Hart

3. Dawn French

4. Pam Ann

5. Joan Rivers

UK's Favourite Comedians (defined by 'top of mind')

1. Lee Evans

2. Michael McIntyre

3. Peter Kay

4. John Bishop

5. Jimmy Carr

6. Billy Connolly

7. Russell Howard

8. Kevin Bridges

9. Jack Dee

10= Frankie Boyle

10= Miranda Hart

Ticketmaster's State of Play: Comedy UK report was compiled by surveying 2499 members of the British public and combining the findings with ticket sales.

Other findings in the report include:

- Female comedians are enjoying an unprecedented surge in popularity, with ticket sales having trebled since 2011.

- A 46% increase in comedy events outside of London.

- Differences in what types of humour men and women find funny. Males find sexual, death, religious, race and toilet humour funnier than females.

- Differences in what different regions of the UK find funny. Scotland found toilet humour the least funny, whilst only Yorkshire didn't find sexual jokes acceptable. The South West, North West, North East and Scotland all found humour about countries/regions funniest, whilst the West Midlands, Wales, the East and South East all preferred humour about the economy. Northern Ireland and Yorkshire found jokes about education tickled their funny-bones the most, whereas for London and the East Midlands it was politics.

Ticketmaster's Sophie Crosby says: "The report shows that the shared experience of attending comedy events is something that truly unites us, not just as families and couples but as friends - even though we may have differences in humour! The industry is in rude health and it's fantastic to see that the public are engaging in a range of options for seeing live comedy - from arena tours with the country's biggest comedians to shows in smaller regional venues."

Speaking about the 1064% increase in sales of tickets for female comedians, Shappi Khorsandi comments: "It's great to see the surge in female comedians, stamping out the prejudice. We have still further to go though, I'd like to see more female comics enjoying the dominance that men do on the bigger stages. Perhaps we are not capturing the public's imagination in the same way, but it is all changing for the better and we are well on the way to enjoying equal success with our comedy brothers."

To download a copy of the full report, visit ticketmaster.co.uk

British Comedy Guide will soon be participating in an alternative survey that is independent of ticketing companies and will be aiming to poll all comedy fans. The survey will be launched later this year by Comedy Research Group UK