The following outline provides an overview of and topical guide to entertainment and the entertainment industry:

Entertainment is any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time, and may also provide fun, enjoyment, and laughter. People may create their own entertainment, such as when they spontaneously invent a game; participate actively in an activity they find entertaining, such as when they play sport as a hobby; or consume an entertainment product passively, such as when they attend a performance.

The entertainment industry (informally known as show business or show biz) is part of the tertiary sector of the economy and includes many sub-industries devoted to entertainment. However, the term is often used in the mass media to describe the mass media companies that control the distribution and manufacture of mass media entertainment. In the popular parlance, the term show biz in particular connotes the commercially popular performing arts, especially musical theatre, vaudeville, comedy, film, fun, and music. It applies to every aspect of entertainment including cinema, television, radio, theatre, and music.

Types of entertainment

Exhibition entertainment

• Amusement parks
• Art exhibits
• Fairs
• Festivals
• Museums
• Trade shows
• Traveling carnivals
• Travelling exhibition
• Vivariums
  • Aquariums
• Water parks
• Wax museums
• Zoos

Live entertainment

• Air shows
• Awards ceremony
• Banquet
• Burlesque
  • American burlesque
  • Neo-Burlesque
  • Victorian burlesque
• Cabaret
• Circus
  • Contemporary circus
• Comedy clubs
• Concerts
  • Concert residencies
  • Concert tours
• Ceremony
• Dance
• Discotheques
• Drag shows
• Drama
• Escape Rooms
• Fireworks
• Fashion shows
• Ice shows
• Improvisational theatre
• Magic
• Minstrel shows
• Music festivals
• Music hall
• Musical theatre
• Nightclubs
• Operas
• Parades
• Parties
• Performance art
• Performing arts
  • Marching arts
    • Color guard
    • Drum and bugle corps
    • Indoor percussion ensemble
    • Marching band
    • Pep band
    • Winter guard
• Professional wrestling/Sports entertainment
• Puppet shows
• Raves
• Revues
• Sideshows
• Spectator sports
• Stand-up comedy
• Street theatre
• Strip clubs
• Symphonies
• Theatre
• Variety show
• Vaudeville
• Ventriloquism
• Video art
• Wild West shows

Mass media entertainment industry

• Live entertainment
  • Musical theatre
  • Plays
  • Performance art
  • Comedy
  • Drama
  • Sports
• Film
  • Film studios
  • Movie theaters / cinemas
  • Film score
  • Film production
  • Acting
  • Pornography
• Broadcasting
  • Television
  • Television studio
    • Television programs
      • Reality television
  • Radio
    • Radio programs
    • Podcast
• Animation
  • Animation studio
• Music industry
  • Recording studio
  • Composers and songwriters
  • Singers and musicians
  • Choirs
  • Orchestras
  • Concert bands
  • Karaokes
  • Concert hall
• News media
  • Web television
  • News articles
• Fashion industry
  • Photographic studio
  • Modeling
• Literature

Digital Entertainment Industry

• Social media
  • Online video platform
• Digital music

Electronic entertainment

• SMS content
• Video game industry
  • Video games
• Toys

History of entertainment

Entertainment by historical period

• Entertainment in the 16th century
• Entertainment during the Great Depression

History by entertainment type

History of exhibition entertainment

• History of amusement parks
• History of art exhibitions
• History of fairs
• History of museums
• History of theme parks
• History of trade shows
• History of wax museums

History of live entertainment

• History of busking
• History of the circus
• History of comedy
• History of comedy clubs
• History of concerts
• History of dance
• History of fireworks
• History of musical theatre
• History of nightclubs
• History of discotheques
• History of opera
• History of parades
• History of performance art
• History of plays
• History of magic
• History of sports
• History of striptease
• History of lap dancing
• History of strip clubs
• History of theatre
• History of variety shows
• History of vaudeville

History of mass media entertainment

• History of animation
• History of film
• History of literature
• History of magazines
• History of the music industry
• History of new media
• History of radio
• History of radio programming
• History of sound recording
• History of television
• History of television programs
• History of video games

Entertainment law

• Entertainment law
  • Copyright Term Extension Act

General concepts

• Acrobatics
• Aerial acts
• Animal training
• Applause
• Beauty pageant
• Celebrity
• Chinese yo-yo
• Circus
• Circus skills
• Clown
• Comedian
• Comedy
• Contact juggling
• Contemporary circus
• Contortion
• Corde lisse
• Cyr wheel
• Devil sticks
• Diabolo
• Equilibristics
• Fire breathing
• Fire eating
• Geisha
• German wheel
• Hand-to-hand balancing
• Hula hoop
• Human cannonball
• Humor
• Horse riding
• Internet humor
• Ice skating
• Impalement arts
• Juggling
• Knife throwing
• List of beauty contests
• List of persons who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards
• Magic
• Mime
• New media
• Old time radio
• Performing arts
• Plate spinning
• Radio
• Radio programming
• Rock opera
• Rodeo clown
• Roller skating
• Sex industry
• Show business
• Showstopper
• Sideshow
• Spanish web
• Stiltwalking
• Sword swallowing
• Show jumping
• Teen idol
• Tightrope walking
• Trapeze
• Unicycle
• Ventriloquism

Notable entertainers

• List of circuses and circus owners
• List of clowns
• List of comedians
• List of film and television directors
• List of film score composers
• List of magicians
• List of professional wrestlers
• List of theatre directors
• Lists of actors
• Lists of entertainers
• Lists of musicians
• Lists of sportspeople
• List of entertainment industry dynasties