Anthony Jeselnik

This week I will be talking, possibly even raving about one of my favorite comics ever. He is the most dark and offensive comic I’ve ever listen to. His comedy is the type that I can never get tired of listening to and look forward to every show he creates. I am talking about Anthony Jeselnik.

Biography:

Anthony Jeselnik was born in 1978 in Pittsburgh PA. He went to school in Upper St. Clair High School and developed his jokester qualities quite early on. Many times he apparently was one to interrupt the whole class, including his teacher, just to tell a joke. He states in this interview with Mojo.com that his was inspired initially from Saturday Night Live. He describes that the show was very off limits to him as child, and although he didn’t even understand much of what was going on in the show at such a young age, when he would sneakily watch it he still knew it was inappropriate. This ultimately made comedy as whole — in his mind — off limits and inappropriate, which can explain how his sense of humor developed. He also mentions that while he learned and enjoyed all comics alike, Steven Wright was one who he admired very much. He enjoyed how his act was oriented around jokes that came out of left field and are hilariously put together even in their condensed nature. After his passion for comedy ignited, he went to Tulane University, and received a bachelor’s degree in English Literature. After graduating he then went to Los Angeles where he hustled quite a bit, working his day job as an accounting clerk and performing in clubs at night. According to this site, Jeselnik was named one of Variety’s 10 Comics to Watch in the year 2008 and then in 2009 was named as one of Comedy Central’s Hot Comics. Then in 2009 he was hired as one of the first writers for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. This gave him the boost he needed in which afterwards the gigs started to roll in. He appeared on numerous talk shows, many Comedy Central performances (most importantly his performances on the Roast of Donald Trump and Charlie Sheen), and even had his own show for two seasons called The Jeselnik Offensive. Throughout all this he also released live albums Shakespeare and Caligula in 2010 and 2013, respectively. Then in 2015 he released his stand-up comedy special titled Thoughts and Prayers which is now on Netflix. Currently he is touring for his (hopefully) new special which seems to be titled Funny Games — as that is the name of the tour itself. He is also working on a Comedy Central podcast titled “The Jeselnik and Rosenthal Vanity Project”.

*Jeselnik during his Netflix special ‘Thoughts and Prayers’.*

Review:

Every time I listen to or see Anthony Jeselnik I fangirl… I’m not going to lie in the slightest. Not only is he an attractive man but he is insanely funny and charming (especially when being himself and not performing his vulgar sets). Whenever I watch interviews with him talking about his work I am always captivated by his love for what he does. It is fascinating when he talks about why he takes on the role of being that offensive comedian. He finds it to be a challenge and thinks only a very skilled comic can talk about something incredibly serious, upsetting, and hurtful and still make people laugh with it. In an interview with Larry King (which you can find here), Jeselnik states that every topic is on the table for him to joke about. He states that if he thought of an idea for a joke but then thought it was too much or too offensive, he would make it his “life’s mission” to make a successful joke out of it. He reinstates that his goal is always to make his audience laugh at his dark content, but sometimes upsetting the crowd is just a side effect. Besides his behind the scenes, Jeselnik’s comedy is the most offensive comedy I have ever heard. When looking back and watching him on Comedy Central’s Roast episodes I notice he always went for the jugular and never took any of it back. I respect it a lot because the repercussions of what he says could be career ending if he doesn’t say them right. However, he has a cleverness and arrogance that successfully ties together all of his bits. Overall I don’t recommend Jeselnik’s material to people often unless I know they have the same sense of humor as me or if they frequently watch comedy. This is because you have to be able to keep up with his wit and also just the fact that his jokes can’t go any further from PC than they already are. As I normally do, I will link a few of my favorites from him below. I highly recommend watching the Larry King interview mentioned above afterwards though so that 1. You don’t hate him as a human being (which can be easy to do) and 2. appreciate his approach to comedy as much as I do. As conceited and dark as he may initially come off, he will really make you… laugh it up!