Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Sele.
Jessica, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was wearing miss-matched giant ski socks in Anaheim and pouring cheese powder into a pot of elbows thinking, someday I’ll show them, I’ll be famous. I’ll be like if Ginger Spice could sing like Barbra Streisand and skate like Tanya Harding. That’ll show Becky who told me she can’t be my friend anymore because I’m holding her back from popularity. That’ll show Chad who made a vomit gesture when I asked him to the dance.
Fast forward to 2020 and I’m 32, at a hot dog stand open mic, looking at my phone as my phone looks back at me. I’m reading about how we are in a mass extinction, Donald Trump is the president and Becky is very famous and married to Chad. Turns out she was right, I was holding her back.
To grow up in a neoliberal era obsessed with celebrity culture only to watch the empire collapse into madness led me to where I am today, a stand up comedian with a podcast about climate change. At this point, I hope I can help people process their giant piles of contradiction and shame and make them laugh.
Has it been a smooth road?
I have very common struggles for a comedian: mental health issues, addiction and financial issues. For mental health stuff, I have to be patient and not compare myself to other people. My healing journey is my own and it might make my life look different than other peoples sometimes. For addiction, it’s 12 step all day everyday! As for the financial aspect of my life, I usually take menial day jobs with bright eyed teenagers and scrape together enough to keep it up. I hope rich people stop being weird and start sharing. #notallrichpeople
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I’m a stand up comedian whose work weighs the strange inner workings of the human mind within the context of an exploited planet. I produce local “alternative” comedy shows such as Cult Comedy every Friday at Cafe Tropical and Giant Robot Comedy Night every first Thursday of the month at GR2 Gallery. I love providing positive spaces where people can go out, regardless of income, and have a fabulous night! I’m proud of how good my comedy can make people feel. What I try to get across is everybody is a surprise when you pay attention and that we’re all more connected than we pretend to be.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
The way the light hits the earth here is very gratifying. I love the hills and the ocean and the surprising food found in strip malls. It’s also a very motivating place to be a comedian. There’s so many amazing comedians here who work so hard, I can’t say that about every town I go to. I dislike the pollution and the oil drilling. Shout out to all of the people fighting to make LA more environmental, specifically an organization called STAND which stands for Stand Together Against Neighborhood Drilling. They are the heroes of this city.
Contact Info:
- Website: jessicasele.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @jessicasele
- Twitter: @jsele
- Other: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cult-comedy-stand-up-every-friday-at-cafe-tropical-tickets-87010487711?aff=erelexpmlt
Image Credit:
Kim Newmoney, Eric Sueyoshi
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