The subject is charmingly meek and modest about her accomplishments, even though it is clear that she is full of charisma and drive. She tends to speak in simple, concise sentences, revealing a deliberateness and delicacy to her thoughts that would not come across otherwise in her comedy. However, it is no surprise that this patient is more thoughtful and introspective than most—her brand of humor is honest, almost to the point of becoming absurdist. She is one of the few entertainers in New York who seeks to direct attention off of herself and onto other people; whether it is setting up romance, running game shows, or hosting variety shows for other comedians. Her fierce dedication to originality and whimsy makes her a unique talent in Brooklyn, a borough filled with attempts at singularity. But her effortlessness and humility truly make her a special person to have on my therapist’s couch this week. In talking with Jo Firestone, host of Punderdome 3000 (with her dad), Friends of Single People, Public Services with Jo Firestone, and more, I learned more than a few things about how to keep it simple and playful in a world saturated with cynical comedy.
When and how did you start performing comedy?
I started doing it in college with a sketch comedy group, and then one of the guys from the group, Dylan Marron, and I started a show together. Then he stopped going to school for a little bit, and we went on the road with it. And then we moved here.
Did you always know you wanted to be a comedian, or was it something you discovered in college?
I didn’t even know if I was even funny, so I don’t think I really thought about it. I don’t think I thought about what I wanted to be when I grew up.
Do you think your comedic style has changed since you’ve first started?
Yeah, I think so. Maybe a little less nervous, but maybe not, who knows? Hopefully a little less nervous, a little less timid.
What’s your favorite type of comedy to perform?
I don’t know if this is comedy, but I really like getting the audience all riled up. That’s my favorite thing.
Have you ever bombed on stage? How did that make you feel?
Yes! Horrible! But it happens. It doesn’t really feel like the end of the world, because even a bad comedy show is still a comedy show. It’s still a comedy show, and you’re still getting to do this in New York City, so it’s like, it feels bad, but you wake up in the morning and you still have all of these great things—a bed, and a house, and all of these things that aren’t the worst. You still got a lot. It feels bad, you consider quitting, you go to sleep, and you wake up the next day and you have another show.
What gave you the idea to do Punderdome 3000 with your dad?
I was working at a coffee shop at the time and my boss had spent some time in Austin, and she was telling me about the Pun-Off, and I was like, “We’ve gotta do a pun competition in Brooklyn, why isn’t there one of those here?” And I put on a lot of shows where I have an idea and I try to see if it’ll work or not by putting it on live, and so I called my dad, who loves game shows, like he’s got a game show set in his garage. He’s kind of like an amateur game show fan. And so I called him and asked, “How do I put on a pun competition?” And he was giving me all of this advice, and I was thinking, “Do you want to just come up here and do it?” And he did! And we did it once, and it got written up in a few places, and then ever since then, a lot of people have come to it, so that’s fun.
On that note, what does your family think of your comedy? Are there any jokes that you just can’t say in front of them?
Well, the great thing about the internet is that you kind of get to choose what you put on there, so they don’t have to know all of the jokes. Some of the jokes they probably wouldn’t feel comfortable with, but they’ll never have to know! It’s just a cool secret that happens in front of people.
What’s the most memorable pun you’ve heard during Punderdome?
At the very beginning, the topic was dating, and someone turned to the side, and they said “This is my online profile,” which I thought was a lot of fun.
You perform a lot in Brooklyn, which has its own budding comedy scene, but what city do you think has the best comedy scene in America?
I think it’s Brooklyn! I think it has the best comedy right now. It’s kind of crazy, and there’s a lot of really creative shows, and people are performing all the time, so people just get better relatively quickly. In other cities where I’ve lived, I’ve done comedy, but never this much; you can just do it so much here and you get better so quickly.
Do you think there are any specific characteristics of Brooklyn comedy that set it apart from everything else?
What tends to get a laugh in Brooklyn is honesty, and also, I think it’s really fun when people make themselves look like idiots. I think that’s very popular. There’s honesty, either to people’s characters, or people’s words. And maybe that’s comedy everywhere, but I’ve noticed that a lot in Brooklyn. That’s really fun to watch, and it’s happened a lot.
I think it’s really fun when people make themselves look like idiots.
Some of your shows, like Friends of Single People, try to bring people together. Do you think you’re a natural matchmaker?
No, I’m not a matchmaker. I think I can tell when people won’t get along, but I’ve never been able to tell when people will get along. Usually that show starts off pretty good; there’s been a few pretty good long term matches from that show, which is awesome, but it always happens at the beginning of the show, because by the end of the show, everyone is so blitzed that no one’s making any sense. Maybe people go home together, but that would be impressive to me, because everyone is just an idiot at the end. I like doing shows where people talk to each other, so in that way, I guess you could possibly find somebody at one of these shows. But, doubtful.
But there have been matches made from the show?
Yeah, there have been a couple of matches made—one of them, they’re moving in together! They were long distance for a while, he was just visiting here, and now they are gonna move in together. They just went to Paris, and they travel all over together, and they’re real sweet. It’s awesome! They’re like, super in love!
A lot of people say that comedians are depressed people, or that comedy comes from a place of depression. Do you think that’s true for you?
Yeah, I think so. I think a lot of what I perform is on the sad side for sure, and it definitely comes from a place of general anxiety and sadness, and kind of a disappointment in myself, and then churning that into something that can be digestible for other people. But I think what makes me laugh a lot is not the sadness aspect. I think what makes me laugh a lot is the chaos that can happen. And I think that can lead to sadness, because I like when stuff starts to get out of control. That’s what really makes me lose it.
[Comedy] is like an Adderall pill; you just have to focus on making whatever you’re doing work.
How has comedy affected your mental health?
I think being on stage has this really great effect, where you really don’t think about anything else that’s going on in your life when you’re on stage. It’s like an Adderall pill; you just have to focus on making whatever you’re doing work, and making the audience enjoy it. And then the second afterwards, the second you step off stage, you’re like, “Oh crap, I have bills to pay. Oh crap, I have a friend who’s mad at me. Let me check the news… Oh no!” But I think that comedy is great in that way. It’s like, you’re in this really great relationship, but the rest of your life is going to shit. When you’re with this person everything is so great, but you forget that everything else is bad. I think that comedy gives you a little respite, where you’re like, “This is the time I can really forget.” So in that way, I think it has been good for my mental health.
