comedian vs performing artist

comedian and performing artist both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
comedian	Yes	No	No	No
performing artist	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, performing artist is a hypernym of comedian; that is, performing artist is a word with a broader meaning than comedian:

comedian: a professional performer who tells jokes and performs comical acts
performing artist: an entertainer who performs a dramatic or musical work for an audience

Other hypernyms of comedian include performer.

comedian (noun)	performing artist (noun)
a professional performer who tells jokes and performs comical acts	an entertainer who performs a dramatic or musical work for an audience
an actor in a comedy