Jessica Kirson
Currently: Winning laughs with her bawdy stand-up routine in the off-Broadway comedy The J.A.P. Show.
Hometown: South Orange, NJ. "I loved growing up there. It was always hip and artsy, with such a mix of people. I'm moving back to that area because I love it so much." Fun fact: When Kirson was a teen, her mother married Zach Braff's father. "He's very, very sweet," she says of the Scrubs star, "and he and my other stepbrothers are very funny. We all laugh a lot together."
On the Couch: As a child, the now-gregarious Kirson suffered such severe stage fright in school plays that her therapist mom sent her to an anxiety specialist. Jessica later studied to become a therapist herself, first at the University of Maryland and then in NYU's graduate program in social work. "I came very close to finishing my master's," she says now, "but it just got too depressing. Part of what helps me as a comic is that I can pick up on people's energy and emotions. It's also my downfall—if I'm around a lot of depressed people, I get depressed, so being a therapist was not the right path for me."
Comedy Is Not Pretty: In addition to their own stand-up routines, the stars of The J.A.P. Show salute "queens of comedy" from the 1950s such as Totie Fields, Jean Carroll and Betty Walker. "They had to have such guts to do comedy at that time," Kirson says. "It's 100 times easier than it used to be, but comedy is still very much male-dominated. You have to be able to deal with a lot of craziness—drunk crowds, men who don't have boundaries, plus traveling all over the country alone. You have to be a very strong woman to sustain a career and also have a life."
Role Models: Asked about her comic influences, Kirson says, "It's more personalities than comics—I was obsessed with Jerry Lewis, Carol Burnett and a lot of the old Saturday Night Live cast, like Gilda Radner. A lot of stand-up comics are not that interesting to me. But I love Chris Rock, Gilbert Gottfried, John Pinette, people like that." In her act, Kirson makes a joke about being mistaken for Rosie O'Donnell, "which is just about having dark hair and being heavy. Rosie has been amazingly supportive and helpful to me." Kirson was a headliner on O'Donnell's most recent R Family Cruise for gay and lesbian families, and the former talk-show host gave the comic a shout-out on her video blog. "Our humor is not similar," says Kirson, "but I respect her because she takes huge risks and speaks her mind."
Make 'Em Laugh: Although she doesn't consider her act overly raunchy, Kirson admits to toning things down a bit for off-Broadway audiences who tend to be a couple of decades older than a club crowd. Still, she manages to unleash zingers about marijuana, the "Happy Birthday" song, various ethnic groups including, of course, Jews and her own love of eating. "I do a lot of self-deprecating humor," she says, "and I love to interact with the audience. It's almost like a conversation."
The Freelance Life: These days, Kirson juggles four shows a week of The J.A.P. Show with club and college gigs, corporate events, and a daily stint warming up the crowd at Fox's Morning Show with Mike and Juliet. "I get up at six o'clock every morning, which is very hard [for a comic] but I have to make a living," she says. "A lot of people have seen my path as being on a sketch show like Saturday Night Live, but it hasn't happened yet. I would love to do a talk show; I would love to do a sitcom; I'd love to host a reality show. When you're in comedy, you're not on a salary so you need to get your hands into all kinds of things."