I first found out about Jay Jurden from his appearance on the X of Words podcast, where he was talking about X-Men. Jay’s passion and social commentary on the X-Men let me know that this man is a top tier nerd. I then found out that they were also a comedian. So I followed their social media. Glad to say, it’s one of the best choices I’ve made. It’s one thing to give social commentary on the X-Men through a Black queer lens but to be able to do that on stage nightly in New York’s comedy scene, on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, writing for The Problem with John Stewart, and Marvel is a whole other thing to have accomplished. Jay Jurden been out here workin’, and now we get to see him work his debut comedy special Yes Ma’am.
Jay Jurden opens his set by talking the blue dot cities he’s stopped in for the comedy tour so far. Then, he informs the crowd on what a blue dot is. “It’s a liberal city inside of a conservative state. So a fun place, inside of a not so fun place. It’s, just think, a prostate becaaaaaaause what is America but a prostate? And I believe that’s a poem by Langston Hughes.” We see Jay temp check the crowd with that joke, and realizing that it’s his type of crowd he then talks about meeting the best people that reside in blue dots. “They’re kind of backwoods but also kind of progressive. So they say things like, ‘My gun is non-binary *cocks shotgun* is non-binary, and it’s also polyamorous so both of y’all can get it. And y’all, that was my experience in Austin [Texas].”
And there, just that quickly, Jay Jurden hits the audience with two jokes like jabs to leave them reeling. It feels almost ‘blink and you’ll miss it,’ but what I love about Jay Jurden’s comedy is not only the speed and rhythm of his performance, but the complexities he stitches them with seamlessly. Jurden checked the audience with jokes mixing in the social climate at the moment, Black literature, and then maneuvering progressive stances from ignorant people’s point of view. To me, that’s how you fucking comedy. With just the opening lines, Jay Jurden let’s the viewer know he’s not just a seasoned veteran but a master of his craft. Watching Jay Jurden perform, he has this uncanny ability to switch the point of view depending on the topic. He’s able to work a crowd as a narrator, a storyteller, or a conversational friend. I know that may seem like what all comedians do but I’d argue, some can only do one of three and that the best have mastered all three. Jay Jurden is without a doubt a grandmaster and innovator of captivation.
I’m always invested and interested in how performers move on stage. My go-to comparison would be that of a fighter. Some comedians pace back and forth, like the audience is an opponent they need to hunt down. Others are completely still, as if they’re a counter puncher. Allowing the audience to get close to them so they can strike a joke from an angle the audience isn’t expecting. Watching Jay Jurden perform, you realize, he doesn’t move like a fighter. He moves like a gunslinger, and not only that, he’s the quickest draw this side of Mississippi. I don’t mean like ten paces, I mean this walking the crowd down shooting from the hip. Jay Jurden’s pace is the perfect amount of fast. My favorite line was when he said, “Homophobia is real. I recently had to deal with homophobia and by that I mean I did not get my way. So, I was walking in Harlem. Imma be honest, I was prancing.” I fucking lost it. Jay Jurden’s set makes you feel like you’re watching him in the wild west, stand in the middle of a shoot out at the center of town, and just nail every single shot with no fear or hesitation.
This man is a sharpshooter. The pace and cadence feel like he’s nailing so many targets with a single joke or theme. But when he stays on a theme, it’s like he’s emptying the clip into a specific target. Perhaps a better way to put it would be like as my friend and fellow poet Caroline Rothstein once said, “You use the stage like an instrument.” Watching Jay Jurden move not only physically on stage during his Yes Ma’am special, but weave through different themes, he picks different topics and plays them masterfully. This makes me think of him in this instance as more as a maestro. He’s taking all these themes, topics, social commentary, and jokes and puts them together into one large orchestra.
For me, the biggest take away during this comedy special: it felt like Jay Jurden was giving a blueprint on comedy. Jay is very vocal on the craft online which I appreciate. In an era where we see comedians online relying heavily on punching down and saying they’re censored, Jay Jurden’s Yes Ma’am serves as a beautiful reminder that comedy isn’t making fun of people. It’s making light of the situation that people go through or experience and finding a way to uplift the oppressed. It’s being able to find silver lining. Jay talked about himself being bi, about his husband, then about the queer community. He doesn’t do it by punching down. He literally says, “I will never make fun of anyone who currently has it worse than me politically or socially. So per that logic, I don’t make fun of lesbians because lesbians can fight. Oh, my god! You ever been kicked by a pair of Doc Martens? You make that mistake once.”
Jay Jurden makes light of situations and cirumstances in a way that uplifts people that are being shitted on constantly by society. It really seems like a majority of comedians have forgotten how to do that part of the art form. I’m always glad to see Jay online calling out comedians on this, and then in his comedy special, he is showing motherfuckers how real comedy is done.
You can see Jay Jurden’s comedy special Yes Ma’am streaming now on Hulu.
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