Greer Barnes

Greer Barnes (born 1964) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Born in the South Bronx and raised on Manhattan's West Side, he is known for clever wordplay, observational humor, sketch comedy, mimicry, and energetic physical comedy. He has a Jewish stepfather and was bar mitzvahed at thirteen. A star athlete in high school, especially in baseball, he was invited at 19 to try out with the San Francisco Giants but was unable to afford the trip, and went into stand-up comedy instead, soon becoming well known in the New York scene.

Barnes regularly appears at The Comedy Cellar in New York City's West Village, and has also performed at Catch a Rising Star, Comic Strip Live, and Carolines on Broadway. His comic idols are the late Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy. He has performed at the Aspen, Montreal, Melbourne, and Edinburgh Comedy Festivals. Dave Chappelle has taken Barnes along as his opening act on international tours, and Greer performed at Madison Square Garden numerous times while opening for Louis CK. In 2014 he released his debut comedy album, See What I'm Saying.

Barnes has appeared frequently on television, including Late Night with David Letterman in July 1995 and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2017, and has been seen on MTV, BET, and HBO. In February 2009, he wrote and starred in a half-hour special on Comedy Central Presents. His film credits include For Love of the Game (1999), Top Five (2014), The Comedian (2016), Joker (2019), and Ezra (2023).