Welcome to the inaugural Trivia Club Comedy 100, a crowd-sourced, community-voted list that looks to rank funny people from the last calendar year on their merits as performers in the world of comedy.

Comedy is subjective, different things are funny to different people. I want to see where the similarities and differences lie and where it all might intersect. And I don’t think I’m the only one!

This past year in the pages of GQ, the magazine put out their annual comedy issue, highlighting the 15 funniest people. Now as a fan of lists and a champion for the undervaluing of comedy as an art form (looking at you, Academy Awards) I was looking forward to what Gentlemen's Quarterly had to offer! As it turns out... not as much as I hoped. Sure, Louis CK got that deserved #1 spot (I will not be the only person who thinks this, natch, but I'm excited to see who DISAGREES) and Amy Schumer got her appropriate praise for one hell of a year... but a lot of my gripes have to do with even calling it a ranked list. If you're going to involve the cast of Silicon Valley, and use up five spots, have the gall to rank ‘em at least, editors of GQ!

All that said, GQ is still one of the good guys, they're putting comedy on a national pedestal, giving it the kind of ink that a cultural cornerstone deserves! With GQ's Comedy Issue as inspiration, and with the comedy intelligentsia I've come to know in Toronto being the fire lit under my butt (heh, butt), let's work together to make a list that hyper-aware, over-specific, pop culture savants such as myself will spend hours picking apart in minutia! Oh and of course, thank you to TH over at TWB on influencing the structure of the TCC 100 (read his blog, he’s on pare with Shoemaker and Stroud)!

Participation in this list will be open to anyone who wants to join in on the fun. How does one participate in generating the final list? Thanks for asking:

•  The TCC 100 is based solely on comedic PERFORMANCE. There are a lot of hilarious writers, directors, and producers, but this list looks to celebrate the performance aspect of comedy. Performers include those in improv, sketch, stand-up, stage, song, film, television, and podcasts. Yes, all comedic performances across all audio and video formats, live or recorded. So yes, this includes Vine and other social media video but does NOT include twitter and other social media writing. They can also be local AND international, since the concept of the TCC 100 is in its infancy, DIVERSITY in ballots is a WELCOME sight. Though one more time, try your best to keep your ballot filled with comedy performers.
• Since this is the first run for the TCC 100, what’s in consideration for any given comedian’s output can be a bit more bendable then it will be on future editions of the TCC 100. Suffice to say we’ll be looking at the funny from the start of October 1^st, 2013 to the end of October 31^th, 2014.
• Ballots shall have a minimum of 25 comedians named in order and a maximum of 100 comedians named in order. Ballots between those two numbers inclusive will be accepted with no questions, as long as they are ranked in order. Ballots with 24 or fewer and unordered ballots will be thrown out. Ballots with 101 or more will be pared down to 100.
• If you want to list a comedic duo, troop, cast, you must list the individual members and NOT the collective. So, if you want to include Broad City, then list Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer as separate entities. Not “Broad City” as one entry. All entries for a collective of comedians will be ignored on said ballot (or at the very least, you will be e-mailed for clarification).
• No eligibility requirements for submission of a ballot are in place. As long as the submitter likes and has watched comedy in 2013/2014, they're allowed to submit. The final list will be disseminated via slow release on the Trivia Club blog, through the facebook page, and potentially on our podcast network, with blurbs written by ballot submitters. If you are interested in writing for the release, please let me know with your ballot. Your blurbs should be at least one paragraph explaining why you voted for that particular comedian.

So yes, send those ballots to russelharder AT gmail DOT com or facebook message either Russel or Trivia Club!

The DEADLINE for BALLOTS is NOVEMBER 1^st, 2014!

Remember if there are no right or wrong answers, comedy more then any other art is a form of personal taste. Or so they say, even though I know what’s funny is what’s REALLY funny!

Submit your ballots, share the TCC 100 with your comedy world, let’s make some controversial choices people!