Janelle James Is All Ideas

Thanks to the coronavirus, comedians are now trapped at home like the rest of us, so we decided that while we’re all self-isolating, we’d do something a little different from our usual “Follow Friday� column. Instead of interviewing up-and-coming comedians we love on Twitter, we’re going live on Instagram every week to check in on some of our favorite people in comedy and get a firsthand look at how they’re handling the pandemic. So welcome to our new version of the column, now titled “Follow (From a Safe Distance) Friday.�

This week, I faced a years-old embarrassing moment and sat down with an absolutely glowing Janelle James (Black Monday, You in Danger Gurl, touring with Chris Rock and shit) for a virtual chat about how she’s holding up almost a year into the pandemic. She weighed the merits of virtual writers’ rooms, scolded me for my very limited understanding of Bobby Brown, and gave some excellent advice on making it in the industry by being kind to everyone and finding your crew of weirdos. She also shared one of her ideas for a potential but as-of-yet unmade podcast: “Me and my friend Santana had this thing just talking about dicks. I don’t know how long that woulda went. [Laughs.] I don’t know how long that would’ve gone on, but the same thing was said about [her podcast about] erotic thrillers: People were like, ‘You’re gonna run outta movies.’ But we haven’t yet, and I doubt we would’ve run out of dicks, so maybe I’ll bring that back.�

You can find Janelle on Twitter at @janellejcomedy and on Instagram at @janellejamescomedy.