The Grammy Award for Best Comedy Performance, Recording, or Album has been given out since the first annual ceremony in 1959. Over the years, some of the biggest comedians ever to do it have taken home a golden gramophone trophy, from George Carlin to Richard Pryor to Steve Martin to Dave Chappelle. But simply putting out a comedy album and having it do well is no guarantee that it’ll get nominated by the Recording Academy, let alone become a winner. Here are a few stand-up icons who never managed to get their hands on the most coveted award in their field.
4. DON RICKLES
Though it may be hard to believe, Don Rickles released only two stand-up comedy albums in his lifetime. Both were well-received, and his 1968 album, Hello Dummy!, was added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry in 2025. Hello Dummy! and his 1969 follow-up, Don Rickles Speaks!, were also nominated for Best Comedy Recording at the 1969 and 1970 Grammy Awards, respectively, but neither of them won. Rickles lost to Bill Cosby both times, who won the award six years in a row from 1965 to 1970.
3. LENNY BRUCE
Widely considered to be one of the most influential stand-up comedians of all time, Lenny Bruce was also as controversial as anyone during his time. Even so, the Recording Academy considered him worthy of being nominated for a Grammy on at least three different occasions. Bruce was first in the running for Best Comedy Performance for his second album, The Sick Humor of Lenny Bruce, in 1959, but lost to Shelley Berman. Every other album he put out in his lifetime got snubbed, though he was nominated posthumously twice, losing, like Rickles, to Cosby during his six-year streak.
2. REDD FOXX
Despite being incredibly prolific when it came to stand-up albums and eventually becoming known as “The King of the Party Records,” Redd Foxx received just one nomination for Best Comedy Recording in his entire career. Everything he’d released prior to 1975 was completely ignored by the Academy. They finally acknowledged him for his album You Gotta Wash Your A— at the 1977 ceremony—likely because Sanford and Son was still on TV at the time—but he was beat out by Richard Pryor.
1. JEFF FOXWORTHY
At one point, Jeff Foxworthy’s 1995 record Games Rednecks Play was recognized by Billboard as the highest-selling stand-up comedy album since Nielsen SoundScan started tracking album sales in 1991. In second place at the time was his previous effort, You Might Be a Redneck If…, released in 1993. Nevertheless, only three of his five solo albums were nominated for Best Comedy Album at the Grammys, along with a Blue Collar Comedy Tour compilation, and none of them won. His 1996 song “Redneck Games” with Alan Jackson also received a nomination for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals, but lost to Vince Gill’s “High Lonesome Sound,” featuring Alison Krauss and Union Station.
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