Humor on Substack
The top 100 Humor writers on Substack's Bestsellers and Rising boards, with moves between my reads, follower counts, who's gaining recommendations and who recommends them. Boards read once a day.
Board read · moves compare with the read at Oct 31 19:47 UTC
- Writers on the two boards
- 173
- Median followers, Rising
- 5,925
- Smallest on the board
- 6
- Michele L, #36
- New recommendations, 30 days
- 313
- to writers whose main category this is
Rising in Humor: new recommendations
Writers in this category who picked up the most new recommenders in the last 30 days. A new recommendation puts a writer in front of another publication's readers.
Dave Barry
127k followers · #4 Humor Bestsellers
God
254k followers · #1 Humor Bestsellers
caleb hearon
114k followers · #15 Humor Bestsellers
The Old Grey Thinker
25k followers · #17 Humor Bestsellers
In Otter News
71k followers · #68 Humor Bestsellers
Political Humor
133k followers · #100 Humor Bestsellers
Mycal Latravious Dédé III
9.9k followersNew recommenders per week, last 12 weeks; the orange bar is this week to date. Same scale in every panel. Dated by Substack; only recommendations still live. Outlined weeks are incomplete: Substack lists only a publication's 50 newest recommenders, so for busy writers older weeks can't be counted, and a 30-day count marked + is a floor.
Rising
Substack ranks Rising by recent growth in paid subscribers. Followers are my daily reading.
Climbed most since Oct 31: Bess Kalb new at #3, Day new at #4, God new at #5, The Halfway Cafe new at #7, Onwards and Sideways new at #9.
| # | Move | Writer | Followers | Recommended by | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 |  The Babylon Bee@thebabylonbee |
503,413 | 50 +44 | |
| 2 | ▲1 |  Charlie CraggsSHE MAIL |
1,448 | 1 +1 | |
| 3 | new |  Bess KalbThe Grudge Report |
81,925 | 73 +2 | |
| 4 | ▲4 |  Day@daydayday |
25,835 | 64 +7 | |
| 5 | ▲2 |  GodLetters from God |
254,207 | 59 +15 | |
| 6 | 0 |  Lyndsay RushMary Oliver's Drunk Substack |
5,671 | 44 +1 | |
| 7 | new |  The Halfway Cafe@thehalfwaycafe |
46,314 | 51 +2 | |
| 8 | ▲38 |  Political Humor@politicalhumor |
132,892 | 51 +8 | |
| 9 | new |  Onwards and SidewaysOnwards and Sideways! By Sophia Money-Coutts |
16,415 | 59 +3 | |
| 10 | new |  James LileksLILEKS (James) |
9,906 | 51 +2 | |
| 11 | new |  No Wire Hangers 2.0@nowirehangersever |
441 | ? | |
| 12 | ▼7 |  Count BinfaceCount Binface Lifts The Lid |
30,716 | 50 +4 | |
| 13 | new |  Angie BaileyDouble Prints |
591 | ? | |
| 14 | new |  Emma Golden Milleralso... from EMMASTHING |
4,571 | 41 | |
| 15 | ▼2 |  RAYGUN@raygunnews |
248,432 | 50 +3 | |
| 16 | ▼2 |  The Old Grey Thinker@theoldgreythinker |
24,601 | 54 +9 | |
| 17 | ▲34 |  KellyKelly’s Substack |
8 | 0 | |
| 18 | new |  Bronze Age PervertBronze Age Pervert Magenta Notebooks |
34,216 | 54 +6 | |
| 19 | new |  Robin WildingWilding Out |
12,921 | 51 +3 | |
| 20 | new |  Tibi CodoreanIerbosofii |
6,495 | ? | |
| 21 | new |  The Mouthy Renegade WriterYou Have the Right to Remain Mouthy |
73,347 | 54 +4 | |
| 22 | new |  Jeff MaurerI Might Be Wrong |
121,310 | 65 +2 | |
| 23 | new |  Charlotte DeanCharlotte's Shorts |
2,319 | ? | |
| 24 | new |  Lindsey CarmelaStoner Girls Have Dreams, Too |
161 | ? | |
| 25 | ▲8 |  Francis Foster@francisjfoster |
96,410 | 46 +2 | |
| 26 | new |  Noel SpanglerNew World Humor |
3,565 | ? | |
| 27 | new |  Jen Lancaster & Karyn BosnakMeet the Mess |
4,049 | 50 | |
| 28 | new |  Sara BenincasaSaratonin |
16,964 | ? | |
| 29 | new |  Astrid Ronning King@astridronningking |
268 | ? | |
| 30 | new |  Corey Ryan ForresterCorey Ryan Forrester’s Rants and Such! |
8,516 | 53 +1 | |
| 31 | new |  PhoneBooth PodcastPhoneBoothPodcast.Substack.Com |
361 | ? | |
| 32 | new |  Amelia HamiltonJourney to Christmasland with Kira and Amelia |
165 | ? | |
| 33 | new |  Jacqueline NovakJacqueline Novak, Quality Notions |
16,815 | 50 | |
| 34 | new |  Julie VickHumor Me |
7,754 | ? | |
| 35 | new |  Shelby ChambersFranchement |
5,173 | ? | |
| 36 | new |  Michele L@michelel280718 |
6 | ? | |
| 37 | new |  Peter MooreRoad2Elsewhere by Peter Moore |
20,994 | ? | |
| 38 | new |  Lukas RamonasRamono Substack'as |
4,316 | 15 | |
| 39 | new |  Dave HolmesCOCKSURE |
1,134 | ? | |
| 40 | ▼11 |  sophie cat blakeclub cinnamon |
3,801 | 27 | |
| 41 | new |  Alex FriedmanHot Tip |
9,172 | ? | |
| 42 | new |  Uberboyo@uberboyo |
8,253 | ? | |
| 43 | ▲16 |  Melissa KiteMelissa Life |
275 | 3 +3 | |
| 44 | new |  Bobby SmileySILVER CORD STORIES |
1,638 | 15 +2 | |
| 45 | new |  Gare JoyceHow to Succeed in Sportswriting (without Really Trying) |
3,449 | ? | |
| 46 | new |  Claire RigbySo Good |
1,421 | 5 | |
| 47 | new |  Kathy Griffin@kathygriffin |
29,387 | ? | |
| 48 | new |  saltmite#mitelife |
574 | ? | |
| 49 | ▼4 |  Amy White | Light on FactsAmy White |
212 | 1 | |
| 50 | new |  Bob WelchBob Welch: Heart, Humor & Hope |
3,519 | 35 | |
| 51 | new |  Frank FranklyFrank Takes by Frank Frankly |
2,095 | ? | |
| 52 | new | Rowan ThambarCool Story Ro |
pending | ? | |
| 53 | new |  Richard GoodmanRichard Goodman's Newsletter |
pending | ? | |
| 54 | ▼42 |  Hilde von BingenHilde's Visions |
2,002 | 12 +7 | |
| 55 | new |  Georgie JonesGrowing Pains |
4,380 | 23 | |
| 56 | ▼9 |  Candy DownsJoint Custody |
1,707 | 37 +1 | |
| 57 | ▲3 |  Elissa BassistTragedy Plus Time |
6,401 | 52 +2 | |
| 58 | new |  Alex Dobrenko`Both Are True |
pending | ? | |
| 59 | new |  Grace McClureBack to Shameless |
2,598 | 31 +2 | |
| 60 | new |  WORD CRISIS@robertjtoth |
pending | ? | |
| 61 | ▼31 |  Yuri Bezmenov How To Subvert Subversion with Yuri Bezmenov |
52,597 | 58 | |
| 62 | new |  Alex BaiaComedy Bizarre |
6,994 | 51 | |
| 63 | new |  Fever Dream x Victoria Masters@feverdreamsub |
pending | ? | |
| 64 | new |  Samantha MattForever Millennials |
pending | ? | |
| 65 | new |  Bill Maher@billmaher |
252,225 | 52 +6 | |
| 66 | new |  Jenn Mattern@jennmattern |
452 | 4 | |
| 67 | ▼28 |  Freedom To OffendFreedom to Offend |
3,651 | 50 | |
| 68 | new |  TofuCat@tofucatcat |
pending | ? | |
| 69 | new |  Party Line Show@partylineshow |
pending | ? | |
| 70 | new |  Let’s Not Make This PoliticalLet's Not Make This Political |
pending | ? | |
| 71 | new |  Lise & Sarah@liseandsarah |
pending | ? | |
| 72 | new |  Jane AdlerJane’s Says... |
pending | ? | |
| 73 | ▼50 |  Eileen O'ConnorLife Behind Bars |
1,452 | 5 | |
| 74 | ▼56 |  Ariel EhrlichGaytiquette |
2,004 | 5 | |
| 75 | new |  Chaz HuttonOutlined |
pending | ? | |
| 76 | new |  Bella youngerThe Pug's Ear |
5,925 | 17 | |
| 77 | ▼68 |  Gene WeingartenThe Gene Pool |
21,650 | 59 +5 | |
| 78 | new |  The Real Sarah Miller@therealsarahmiller |
25,693 | 57 +1 | |
| 79 | new |  Beth StellingBeth’s Substack |
pending | ? | |
| 80 | new | stef dagthe next great american substack with stef dag |
pending | ? | |
| 81 | ▼66 |  Katie ClaphamReceipt from the Bookshop |
26,774 | 69 +3 | |
| 82 | new |  Mark ScheibeSonntagskind – wöchentliche Kolumne von Mark Scheibe |
pending | ? | |
| 83 | new | MonkeyMeatThe Art of Appearances |
pending | ? | |
| 84 | new |  Budd DavissonBudd Davisson: Thinking Out Loud |
pending | ? | |
| 85 | new |  HarperTheFoxHarperTheFox: Dirty Folk |
pending | ? | |
| 86 | new |  Muffs to Muffins@muffstomuffins |
pending | ? | |
| 87 | new |  DAD JOKES CHANNELDAD’s Substack |
pending | ? | |
| 88 | new |  Not A Mediocre MomElizabeth Exposed |
12 | 0 | |
| 89 | new |  BLACK MASS CONFESSIONS@blackmassconfessions |
pending | ? | |
| 90 | new |  Stéphanie ForcierParenthèses |
pending | ? | |
| 91 | new |  Faye Treacy@fayetreacy |
pending | ? | |
| 92 | new |  The Sister Project@thesisterproject |
pending | ? | |
| 93 | new |  Cat SimsNot So Smug Now |
12,640 | 32 | |
| 94 | new | Larry The Cat@larrythecatno10 |
pending | ? | |
| 95 | ▼57 |  Jason ChatfieldNew York Cartoons |
78,539 | 79 +2 | |
| 96 | ▼61 |  Lisandra Vazquez@lisandravcomedy |
24,275 | 25 | |
| 97 | new | DarlingAll My Darlings |
pending | ? | |
| 98 | new |  Ideas Guy@ideasguy |
pending | ? | |
| 99 | new |  John DeBellisRealm of the Absurd |
pending | ? | |
| 100 | new |  Freya BennettParasocial |
pending | ? |
The top 20 on every read
Rank on each read of the Rising board. Darker is higher. A gap means the writer was outside the top 100 on that read.
| Writer | Oct 3107:00 | Oct 3113:00 | Oct 3119:47 | Nov 621:50 | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Babylon Bee | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Charlie Craggs | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Bess Kalb | 3 | new | |||
| Day | 8 | 8 | 4 | ▲4 | |
| God | 7 | 7 | 5 | ▲2 | |
| Lyndsay Rush | 12 | 6 | 6 | 6 | ▲6 |
| The Halfway Cafe | 7 | new | |||
| Political Humor | 21 | 46 | 46 | 8 | ▲13 |
| Onwards and Sideways | 9 | new | |||
| James Lileks | 10 | new | |||
| No Wire Hangers 2.0 | 11 | new | |||
| Count Binface | 13 | 5 | 5 | 12 | ▲1 |
| Angie Bailey | 13 | new | |||
| Emma Golden Miller | 14 | new | |||
| RAYGUN | 46 | 13 | 13 | 15 | ▲31 |
| The Old Grey Thinker | 58 | 14 | 14 | 16 | ▲42 |
| Kelly | 24 | 51 | 51 | 17 | ▲7 |
| Bronze Age Pervert | 72 | 18 | ▲54 | ||
| Robin Wilding | 19 | new | |||
| Tibi Codorean | 20 | new |
History starts on Oct 31, 2026. Each day adds a column.
Who recommends Humor writers
Publications with the most live recommendations pointing at writers whose main category is Humor. If you write in this category, these are the readers' lists worth being on.