Did Shakespeare influence Seinfeld?

This article investigates the influence network among contemporary American stand-up comedians by quantitatively modeling artistic influence as a social network based on data primarily sourced from Wikipedia. Focusing on the most popular American stand-ups as of 2023, the study identifies key direct influencers such as Richard Pryor and George Carlin, and reveals that most direct influences occur within two generations (50 years). Extending to indirect influences, the network shows a pronounced Pareto distribution with a small group of historical figures, including Mort Sahl and Charlie Chaplin, exerting substantial impact across multiple centuries. The influence network exhibits characteristics of a small-world network, featuring short average path lengths and high clustering, indicating tightly connected influence patterns among comedians. This approach offers a novel quantitative perspective on the lineage and transmission of comedic styles and themes in American stand-up comedy.