Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamie Black.
Hi Jamie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’ve been a fan of comedy since I was a kid. Carol Burnett was a huge influence! Flip Wilson. Laugh-In. Phyllis Diller. I know I’m really dating myself! But I just loved to laugh! I remember when I was about 13 and I was thinking of becoming a standup comedian, but I didn’t have confidence that I could make people that I don’t know, laugh. And I also didn’t think that I could be an actor because I forgot my lines in a play once so I thought that was it. I can’t be an actor either. Years go by and I eventually make my way back to acting. There was a nagging feeling that this is what I’m supposed to do. So I started acting, I moved to Chicago and also started doing improv and sketch comedy. Just like the Carol Burnett show! I did that for years and every now and then I’d tip toe into stand up. When I first started doing standup in Chicago, I was doing open mics with Kumail Nanjiani, Pete Holmes, TJ Miller, Kyle Kinane. And I had very little success, but that was OK because “I’m an actor!” But there was another nagging feeling that I should do standup. So I tried again a couple of times, I tried once when my marriage ended, but an acquaintance saw me and said, “That wasn’t good, dude!” And so once again, I thought, “I can’t do standup!” In the meantime, I wrote an award-winning, critically acclaimed solo show called It’s My Penis and I’ll Cry If I Want To which I performed both nationally and internationally until the pandemic. My friend Sommer had moved to LA and was doing Zoom comedy. And she told me that I should try and get on the show. So I did and they asked me back and I have never stopped! I ended up movig out to LA to do comedy with all of the people that I had met on Zoom and I couldn’t be happier! I am working on relaunching my solo show and developing a tv based on my solo show. I also have a script about Harold Washington in pre-production.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My self-esteem was a big obstacle. My lack of confidence. And I had to get comfortable in my skin as a transgender man. I didn’t want to do comedy as a woman and once I transitioned, I think I just needed to feel comfortable standing up in front of people as myself and telling jokes. It’s extremely vulnerable.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I have been blessed with an awesome job as a digital puppeteer. I get to help people every day learn how to have more empathetic conversations or how to teach a class of 1st graders through avatars! I love it!
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I don’t have any experience with trying to find a mentor. I do a lot of self-help books, research on the internet, classes, etc to help me improve
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jamieblack.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/btbphilosopher/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/funny.jamieblack
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@tamjam8
Image Credits
All photos are mine
