The State of Podcasting 2026

How long are comedy podcasts?

The typical top-charting comedy podcast runs 66 minutes an episode: that is the median of 86 shows' own medians, from 11,001 episodes released in the 12 months to 2 October 2026. That makes comedy the longest of the 11 big categories, 16 minutes over the all-chart figure of 50 minutes. 48% of episodes run over an hour.

By the Slice research teamUpdated How we did it

Get this page’s dataThe State of Podcasting 2026
  • 66 mintypical show’s median episode
  • 48%of episodes run over an hour
  • 7.5episodes a month, median show
  • 1st of 11categories, longest first

How long is the typical comedy episode?

Across all 11,001 comedy episodes, the median is 58.3 minutes and the middle half run 45 to 88 minutes. The longest tenth go past 127 minutes.

Show
90th percentile126.975th percentile88.2Median of show medians66.0Median episode58.325th percentile44.510th percentile24.6
Full episodes released in the 12 months to 2 October 2026, in minutes.
10th percentile24.610.1
25th percentile44.522.8
Median episode58.341.8
75th percentile88.261.7
90th percentile126.992.7
Median of show medians66.049.9
Under 30 minutes13.5%30 to 60 minutes39%Over an hour47.5%

Are comedy podcasts longer than other categories?

Yes. No other big category runs longer; the next, TV and film, is 62 minutes.

Comedy66 minThis pageTV & Film62 minSports57 minTechnology54 minSociety & Culture54 minHealth & Fitness53 minArts47 minTrue Crime44 minBusiness40 minEducation37 minNews35 min

Median of each show's own median length. Categories with at least 40 charting shows.

Free toolHow does your show compare?The free stats checker ranks your podcast’s episode count, age and pace against 4.4 million others.

How often do comedy podcasts publish?

Weekly is the rhythm here: 41% of these shows publish once a week, and only 7% daily. The most common schedule among the 87 charting comedy shows is weekly (36).

Daily (5+ a week)6 shows (7%)3–4 a week11 shows (13%)Twice a week27 shows (31%)Weekly36 shows (41%)Less than weekly2 shows (2%)Irregular4 shows (5%)Fewer than 3 in six months1 show (1%)

Schedule over the last 182 days of each feed.

How long are the top comedy podcasts?

The ten highest on Apple's US Comedy chart, with each show's median episode. Across all 86 charting comedy shows the range runs from The Breakfast Club (32 min) to Teen Taal (180 min).

Show
1165 min3110 min5110 min1090 min271 min971 min468 min662 min754 min851 min
Apple Podcasts US Comedy chart, 2 October 2026.
1The Joe Rogan Experience165 min15.2
2Good Hang with Amy Poehler71 min4.3
3This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von110 min6.4
4The Toast68 min18.1
5Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard110 min13.0
6SmartLess62 min4.3
7Giggly Squad54 min8.9
8Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend51 min8.9
9Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast71 min5.5
10The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart90 min3.3

How many comedy podcasts are there?

The Podcast Index lists 228,937 shows filed under Comedy, 5.2% of all podcasts. 13,415 of them published in the 90 days to 26 September 2026: 5.9% of the category, a lower survival rate than the 9.4% for all podcasts.

Questions

How long should a comedy podcast be?

There is no rule, but the top-charting comedy shows have a median episode of 66 minutes, and half of their episodes run between 45 and 88 minutes.

How many episodes a month do comedy podcasts release?

The median charting comedy show released 7.5 episodes a month over the last six months; 7% published daily and 41% weekly.

What share of comedy podcast episodes are over an hour?

47.5% of the 11,001 comedy episodes released in the past year ran over 60 minutes, and 13.5% were under 30.

Get the Slice Weekly

One free email every Friday: tools for creators and the best advice we found from people who make things.

Where do these numbers come from?

Slice, The State of Podcasting 2026: the RSS feed of every show on Apple Podcasts' top charts in six countries and eleven US genre charts, read on 2 October 2026. Category counts from the Podcast Census 2026 (Podcast Index database of 26 September 2026).

n = 86 comedy shows and 11,001 episodes. Last updated 2 October 2026.

Get the data

Free · CSV and JSON · 3 files

This page’s own figures as a CSV, and the full files behind The State of Podcasting 2026. One email unlocks every download on Slice’s data pages.

  • This page’s figures (CSV) Every table and figure on this page, with its source line.
  • Every show (CSV) One row per show in the study: charts and ranks, home market, episodes, median length and percentiles, cadence.
  • Every table (CSV) Every table on the page in long format: one number per row, with what it is and its n.
  • All the aggregates (JSON) The whole dataset behind the page: every breakdown, histogram, heatmap and trend.

Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: credit “Slice (tryslicemedia.com)” and link to this page. Leave the box unticked and we send you nothing. Everything on this page stays free to read without an email.

Other categories

More podcast data