Here's How Much Cedric The Entertainer Is Really Worth

It seems that Cedric the Entertainer has picked the perfect all-encompassing stage name for himself because there are multiple ways he can please a crowd. Whether it's on the big screen, the small screen, or the comedy stage, he's been entertaining audiences for over three decades. Plus, he's kept a smile on his face while doing it. One might guess that the smile comes from a deep inner joy that Cedric possesses, but it could also come from all the loot he's made. Celebrity Net Worth shows his net worth is $25 million, an amount of money most people won't see in three lifetimes. 

Long before the dough started rolling in, the comedian was born Cedric Antonio Kyles in Jefferson City, Missouri, on April 24, 1964. His family moved after his middle school years, and he graduated from Berkeley High School in Berkeley, Missouri. "My mother was a schoolteacher, single-parent household. She raised my younger sister and myself," he told CBS This Morning in September 2021. "We were a very aspirational household." He then went off to Southeast Missouri State University to earn a degree in mass communication, but you can safely assume that his riches didn't come from that degree. So, where did they come from? To find out, we've put our noses to the dirt and sniffed around some, and here's what we found.

Paying dues in small clubs, low pay, and dealing with boisterous, sometimes mean audiences: These are just some of the things that stand-up comedians who are just starting out have to deal with, so it's a lifestyle for a very particular breed. Some might say there's no question that comedy was the perfect career fit for the always jovial Cedric the Entertainer. 

According to CBS News, the first paycheck he received for being funny was the $500 he earned during a stand-up competition. In 1992, he brought his comedic stylings to the syndicated series "Showtime at the Apollo," per The History Makers. Exactly how much Cedric made for that first TV appearance is unknown, but considering he didn't have a big name back then, there probably weren't a lot of zeros on that first paycheck. However, it didn't take long for bigger jobs to come. From 1993 to 1994, Cedric hosted BET's ComicView. He parlayed that into a hosting job at Def Comedy Jam one year later, so he knew regular checks were coming from early on. 

But Cedric didn't just stick to hosting comedy shows; he continued to wow audiences with his own routines, eventually embarking on the legendary "The Original Kings of Comedy" tour in the late '90s. From there, he starred in his own comedy specials, like 2006's "Cedric the Entertainer: Taking You Higher" and "Live from the Ville" in 2016. So he's been able to cash in on his joke-telling ability big time. 

Out of all the comedians around the world, only some break into acting, and an even smaller percentage become famous for it like Cedric the Entertainer. In 1996, just four years after his first TV appearance, the famed funnyman co-starred in "The Steve Harvey Show" as the character Cedric Jackie Robinson. Tons of other acting gigs followed before Cedric finally got his own series, which is probably an acting comedian's dream. He appeared in "The Soul Man" from 2012-2016 and began starring in CBS' "The Neighborhood" in 2018. He told Watch that he felt "pressure" to make his CBS series a success. "If you hit it out of the box, there's an opportunity to have a long run," he said. The sitcom has been on for four seasons as of 2021, so that paycheck has been a steady one. In 2017, Deadline reported that Cedric inked a major deal with CBS to develop "multiple" scripts for himself, which meant even more money coming in. 

As for the big screen, Cedric's first role was in 1998's "Ride." Since then, the films have just kept coming, including "Barbershop" in 2002, "Cadillac Records" in 2008, and "Haunted House" in 2013. He's also voiced animated characters in big-time movies like "Ice Age," "Charlotte's Web," and the "Madagascar" films. Of course, how much an actor receives for a TV or film project is often kept a secret, but there's no doubt that Cedric didn't have to rely solely on stand-up money for some time.

For all of the movies and TV shows that Cedric the Entertainer has starred in, a lot of people know him from a slew of hilarious Bud Light commercials that aired in the early 2000s. In the first one, the comedian entertains a woman in his bachelor pad, doing his best to come off as a super cool, smooth guy. But it all goes awry after he opens a bottle and accidentally sprays beer all over her face. In another TV spot, Cedric takes a lady on a romantic picnic, only to have ants attack his body, which makes him dance like a combination of James Brown and John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever."

One has to assume that Cedric made a nice piece of change from Anheuser-Busch with the ads, especially since he was a regular spokesperson for the company. Plus, the commercials shot the Missouri native to another level of fame. "[The Bud Light commercials] made me more famous than any TV show or movie," Cedric told Variety in 2021. That same year, he was tapped to be in another Bud Light commercial with musician Post Malone and other past Bud Light commercial stars. The ad aired during Super Bowl LV. "We had such a great, successful run doing commercials all those years," Cedric told Forbes about reuniting with Anheuser-Busch. "It was like getting back in the family." Yeah, if family helped you get rich and famous.

If you've ever watched CNBC's "The Profit," then you've seen its star Marcus Lemonis teach business owners how to maximize their sales with items they already have. For example, if one owns a smoothie shop, Lemonis might suggest that the owner also sell fresh fruit. Or maybe he'll tell a cake seller to put their frosting in cans and head to retail. You get it: The basic concept is for business owners to always keep their eyes peeled for other money-making opportunities. One way to do that in acting is to also work behind the scenes, and that's exactly what Cedric the Entertainer did by becoming a producer. According to IMDb, he has 19 producing credits under his belt, including 2004's "Johnson Family Vacation," 2005's "The Honeymooners," and 2007's "Code Name: The Cleaner."

Cedric also wears an executive producer hat for his CBS sitcom "The Neighborhood." "I'm making sure the show has a voice, making sure the episodes aren't limiting and putting us in a box," he told The Hollywood Reporter in September 2021. He executive produced his "Cedric the Entertainer: Live from the Ville" comedy special as well. 

To put his money as a producer into proper context, The Houston Chronicle reports that a freelance film producer makes around $52.63 an hour. Taking into consideration Cedric's big name and lengthy resume, one has to assume he was paid just a wee bit more. If Lemonis is watching Cedric from afar, he's probably impressed.

Okay, so let's run down what seem to be Cedric the Entertainer's strong points as an entertainer. Obviously, the humor is there, duh. Plus, he has a likable public persona and the gift of gab. Undoubtedly, all of those qualities make for an ideal TV host, which producers have clearly taken note of — on top of acting in films and on television, Cedric is also a veteran host, racking up multiple TV hosting jobs.

One of his earliest was the very first BET Awards, which Cedric co-hosted with Steve Harvey in 2001. He then followed that up by hosting the Billboard Music Awards one year later. He'd continue his hosting run from there, and he even landed a gig hosting the Emmys in 2021. It was a challenge due to the pandemic, but he was up for it. "I'm still just going to have fun," he told CBS News ahead of the event. "Television got us through this last year ... It's a thing that we trusted, so I think that's why we should honor this night." Just think: Cedric has been making money as a host since shortly after he started on television, which means he was aware of the various money-making avenues he could stroll down early on.

After working all of his jobs, Cedric the Entertainer comes home to a swanky-looking house in Chatsworth, California. Per Virtual Globetrotting, his five-bedroom abode is 9,727 square feet. It boasts seven bathrooms and a pool big enough for even Olympic swimmers to tire themselves in. Cedric reportedly bought the luxury home in 2004 for a cool $2.95 million. 

He also owns a large house in Florissant, Missouri that could easily be considered a mansion. That home has a gigantic pool in the backyard and is situated on a huge piece of property. In regards to the California home, Cedric claimed that it lost some value due to a perpetual gas leak caused by Southern California Gas Co. Moreover, the comedian alleged that the leak made him and his family sick, so in 2017, he and his wife Lorna Wells sued the gas company and its parent company, Sempra, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

Cedric also has an impressive classic car collection. During a CBS This Morning interview, he showed off a few of his pricey purchases, including a 1960 Thunderbird he calls "Lovey" and a custom 1941 Ford truck. "I love the lines of the 40 trucks," he said. 

Cedric the Entertainer hasn't kept all of his acting and hosting money to himself — he's been giving back in a major way. The website Look To the Stars shows that he's supported 11 charities and foundations throughout his career, including the American Heart Association, the American Stroke Association, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. He also talked to the Salvation Army about the importance of giving, especially during the holiday season. "If ever you have the opportunity to give and be a part of it in any kind of way, it's a celebratory thing," he said.

Plus, Cedric has shown plenty of altruism through his Cedric the Entertainer Foundation by giving yearly academic scholarships to prospective college students. On UNCF's website, it shows that scholarships have been created to "Financially support high school seniors attending a public or private school in [the] St. Louis, MO. metro area." The comedian may have a soft spot in his heart for high school students since he was a substitute high school teacher before being a full-time comedian, as his website shows. His mother Rosetta Kyles was also a teacher. On top of that, Cedric's charitable work was highlighted after he received a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame in 2008. "Reaching Out...Giving Back," is his foundation's mission statement, which Cedric has proven aren't just words for him.

Cedric the Entertainer could be called Cedric the Stylish since he's often seen in nice-looking suits. But what he's more known for are the many hats he wears, whether it's a fedora, a trilby, or a boater hat. According to his website, he began wearing them when he was younger to hide a rash on his head. Now, keeping up with Cedric's hat count is probably impossible since it seems he's constantly updating his collection. But in 2014, he told "Power 106 Los Angeles" that he had an entire room for his hats and had "easily over 200" back then.

In fact, Cedric loves hats so much that he's made money off of them. In 2011, he started his own hat line called Who Ced. "It's a very St. Louis thing," he told Variety in 2018. "There were a group of guys in high school who were the dressers, they had style. And they would wear these hats. Me and my friends wanted to be those guys, so that became a thing." He also explained why he kept dressing sharp when he embarked on his comedy career. "If you wanted to represent yourself as a stylish male, you wore nice clothes and hats were a part of it," he said. "Coming out of the Midwest, trying to make a name for myself, the hat became part of who I am and where I'm from."

"Have something to fall back on." That seems to be the first piece of advice that's given to dreamers: You know, those people who not only envision reaching whatever lofty goal they've set for themselves, but also take actual steps to get there. But what happens after they've secured that stable career and their passion to be in entertainment still burns? Some might do both things by working a 9-to-5 job, then resume chasing their dreams at 6. Others, however — like Cedric the Entertainer — leave their day jobs altogether and forge toward the unknown. 

For Cedric, he quit his job as a claims adjuster for State Farm, where he etched out a decent living for himself. Ironically, it was that same level of comfort that scared him and pushed him to resign. "You're a young man, you're about to start getting trapped making $60, $70,000 a year," he said in a February 2020 interview on "Money Making Conversations." "If I start making this money, I'll never go for my dreams." 

Cedric also sold electronics for Best Buy before his comedy career took off and had a paper route, slinging ink for the Wall Street Journal at age 27. During a 2019 visit to "The Kelly Clarkson Show," he called the latter the job that he was "most embarrassed" by.