Comedian's payment is docked (3)
I believe the answer is:
wag
'comedian's' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'payment is docked' is the wordplay.
'payment' becomes 'wage' (wage is a kind of payment).
'is docked' means to remove the last letter (to dock can mean to remove the tail of an animal).
'wage' with its final letter taken off is 'WAG'.
(Other definitions for wag that I've seen before include "Joker; move tail" , "Move briskly from side to side like tail" , "Person fond of tricks and playing jokes" , "Shake" , "Move briskly like dog's tail" .)