June 21, 2021 • 15 mins
Today we’d like to introduce you to Jess Wood.
Jess, before we jump into specific questions about your work, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was born to hippies in Topanga Canyon, CA and was raised by gangs in Santa Monica. My humor helped me survive being a vegan on welfare with my mom, being shot in a drive-by as a teenager and finally finding my way out of heroin by trying stand up comedy. My first laughs were better than the high I’d been chasing. I won a contest at New York Comedy Club called ‘The Best African American Comedy Contest’ and ended up winning. Within a year, I was invited to do Def Comedy Jam, where everyone was confused and my host Cedric the Entertainer, introduced me by saying, “Keep an open mind!” Def Jam didn’t know how to showcase me because I was doing non-white characters and no other white chick comic was doing that at the time.
We parted ways and I went on to do sketch comedy and one-woman shows in the Lower East Side of NYC. While making a documentary about sex ed, I interviewed a woman who turned my questions on me and when I told her my story, she convinced me to start writing it. After a few pieces of writing she had me submit a story to the NY Press. They published it! A story about my time interviewing as a dominatrix. This gave me confidence and since then, I’ve written a memoir that is being shopped around right now. Back living in LA, I performed my new one-woman show to a sold-out audience in September and you can catch me doing stand up all over town.
Jess, before we jump into specific questions about your work, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was born to hippies in Topanga Canyon, CA and was raised by gangs in Santa Monica. My humor helped me survive being a vegan on welfare with my mom, being shot in a drive-by as a teenager and finally finding my way out of heroin by trying stand up comedy. My first laughs were better than the high I’d been chasing. I won a contest at New York Comedy Club called ‘The Best African American Comedy Contest’ and ended up winning. Within a year, I was invited to do Def Comedy Jam, where everyone was confused and my host Cedric the Entertainer, introduced me by saying, “Keep an open mind!” Def Jam didn’t know how to showcase me because I was doing non-white characters and no other white chick comic was doing that at the time.
We parted ways and I went on to do sketch comedy and one-woman shows in the Lower East Side of NYC. While making a documentary about sex ed, I interviewed a woman who turned my questions on me and when I told her my story, she convinced me to start writing it. After a few pieces of writing she had me submit a story to the NY Press. They published it! A story about my time interviewing as a dominatrix. This gave me confidence and since then, I’ve written a memoir that is being shopped around right now. Back living in LA, I performed my new one-woman show to a sold-out audience in September and you can catch me doing stand up all over town.
Mark as Played
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