Daily Inspiration: Meet Jimmy Draxler

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jimmy Draxler.

Hi Jimmy, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In high school I was an all-state basketball player in PA and talented enough to be recruited to play in college. My team ended up making the Division 3 national championship my freshman year. But turns out! The NBA isn’t in the market for a 6’2 white kid who can’t jump. Who knew…

I ended up transferring to the University of Miami (FL) as a sophomore. I was lost at life and passionless. I randomly took a screenwriting class. I never thought of myself as a creative person so it was widely out of my comfort zone. But that class ended up changing the trajectory of my life. My teacher told me I wrote the funniest script she had seen in her 20 years and encouraged me to continue writing. I continued my writing journey and received enough encouragement from my teachers to say fuck it and drive across the country to sunny LA after graduation. I had no job, no place to live, no money, and didn’t know a soul in LA.

I found work in the film industry as an assistant. The job kicked my ass but was just enough pay that I wasn’t living under an underpass. I wrote a script I believed was a future blockbuster but I had told my boss during the interview process that I wanted to be a producer like him to get the job. So I wrote a different name on my script and told my boss I came across this hilarious script and he should check it out. My boss found the script hilarious. And asked who wrote it. I revealed it was me. I was 23-years-old at the time and was about to have my first script sale… Hollywood is easy I thought…

Until my boss came back to me saying he had shown people, and although hilarious, it isn’t the type of comedy Hollywood is looking for at the moment. He then told me something that changed my life. He said he had repped standup comedians before and said he thinks I’d be really good at it bc of my comedic writing talent.

I’m an introverted kid from a small PA town. I never once raised my hand in class growing up. I feared public speaking. I could not imagine going on a stage having everyone expecting ME to make them laugh.

I bounced around Hollywood the next 3-4 years. Working various, always hellish, assistant jobs. I continued to write and continued to have close calls on script sales. Every time being told it’s too edgy for the climate. I was working an assistant job at one of the top management companies for actors – Which if you ever wanna make your life miserable go work for actors.

At that job I was so bored and frustrated so I decided to take my boss’ advice on comedy. I wrote jokes and studied comedy at my desk under the fluorescent lights. But I always kept getting too nervous to go to an open mic. Until one of my biggest role models in my life, my grandpa, passed away. I decided to try comedy for him.

I drove 3 hours to an open mic just to make sure I didn’t run into anyone I knew. I’ve never been more nervous for anything in my life, I was even more nervous than I was when my girlfriend thought she was pregnant. My heart pounded through my chest my entire set but most importantly I got laughs. The drive home was like a movie moment. I had found what I’m meant to be.

3 weeks later the world shut down for covid.

I spent covid writing comedy and collecting government checks. When things opened back up I was more driven than ever. I started producing my own shows. Including my highly successful show in West LA called GoodPeople Comedy Night which ended up being feature on the Jimmy Kimmel produced reality TV series “High Hopes”. There’s no other show like it in LA! I’ve performed all over LA and in the clubs as I continue my climb up the comedy ladder. I’ve performed in cities across the country. Every time I walk off the stage I’m thankful I went out of my comfort zone to find my dream.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My road has been filled with potholes and detours. The biggest challenge I’ve faced is being a comic who does a unique style of comedy – dark humor. Crowds have always loved me, which keeps me going. But the industry can be a hurdle. Many have a mindset of what is and isn’t comedy. My act proves you can joke about anything if you’re as talented a writer as me (come to a show of mine and you’ll see).

Social media is another struggle. At the end of the day comedy is about followings and putting butts into seats. Which many comedians have used social media successfully to do so. But doing dark humor has caused me many suspensions and shadow bans on platforms. A couple were deserved most were not.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Standup Comedy. I specialize in dark comedy and one-liners. My act is one of one. You’ll find yourself laughing at things you never thought you would.

I’m proud of my highly successful show in West LA called GoodPeople Comedy Night which ended up being feature on the Jimmy Kimmel produced reality TV series “High Hopes”. There’s no other show like it in LA! And having gone from not knowing a soul in comedy to being able to perform all over LA and in cities across the country.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I love the grind. It’s easy to be attracted to the potential lifestyle and fame of comedy. It’s the coolest job in the world. Traveling the world telling jokes while being adored by fans. But to get there you have to love the grind. Comedy isn’t for 99% of people. It’s for the 1% who are driven and crazy enough to go through the grind with a light barely flickering at the end of the tunnel. It’s a battle of will, want, and belief in oneself. The daily grind of comedy is not glitz and glamor. It’s hard and is meant to break you. You have to love the daily grind to make it. And I do. From writing to networking to promoting to bombing to crushing. I love it all. And ultimately my love for the game of comedy will make my big dreams of being the greatest of all time a reality.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/draxlerslair
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jimmy.draxler/
• Twitter: https://x.com/jimmydraxlerx
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEzURckRRqs&t=36s

Image Credits
Jimmy Draxler