In examining the ratio of 'famous' individuals with bipolar disorder to those with schizophrenia, it is evident that the ratio greatly favors those with bipolar disorder, suggesting that schizophrenia somehow precludes expert performance or high-level accomplishment. Why might this be so? One possible explanation lies in neurocognitive findings. In this review, I suggest that patients with schizophrenia perform consistently worse than patients with bipolar disorder on a variety of higher level cognitive tasks (though bipolar patients themselves often evince impairment in comparison to healthy controls). Working memory, in particular, appears to discriminate between the groups. However, questions remain, including the effects of state and medications, and the conclusion that I reach does not exclude the possibility that the two disorders share some but not all etiologic or pathophysiologic features.