It’s been 15 years in the making, but 2021 has proven to be quite a year of creative fruition for Joyelle Nicole Johnson.
Following the Juneteenth release of her debut album earlier this year, the hard-grinding comedy vet also recently unleashed her first hour special, Love Joy, on Peacock. In her latest project, Johnson showcases the confident strut and brutal honesty that she’s acquired and honed over the course of a nearly two decade-long journey in the comedy game, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t feeling the butterflies leading up to the moment where she unleashed into the world. Regardless of the creative anxiety she experienced, Johnson is just ecstatic at the opportunity to quite literally deliver a dose of joy to the people, while celebrating the good times and cherishing the lessons learned during the rough times.
Vanyaland recently chatted with Johnson about the special, how it felt to have Jimmy Fallon show his unwavering support of her craft, and what the added element of recording the special on her fortieth birthday did for the already emotional and full-circle experience.
Check it out.
Jason Greenough: Hi, Joyelle! It hasn’t been too long since we last chatted, but I’m excited to see this special out there, and I’m glad we could connect for it.
Joyelle Nicole Johnson: Thank you so much! I appreciate that.
We’re here for a good reason, a celebratory one, in fact. You’ve got your debut special, Love Joy, out on Peacock. It’s been out for a minute, but how are you feeling about the special after it’s had a bit of time to be out there in the wild?
Absolutely relieved, and at the risk of sounding absolutely ridiculous and raunchy and inappropriate, it feels like I took a giant dump. It’s just coming out on the other side of that feeling when you just need to release something because of all the anxiety leading up to the release, and worrying about how it’s going to be received, and wondering if anyone is going t watch it, and all that crazy anxiety that goes through my head. But as soon as it came out, it was that feeling of ‘we did it, and it’s out there,’ so I am absolutely relieved, and frickin’ proud of myself, dammit.
And you have all the right to be. It seems like it’s been a pretty creatively fruitful year for you. Now, from what I remember, the material on the album you released earlier this year [Yell Joy], the material was a bit separated from the release date. With this special, how did the feeling different with having this material be newer and more upfront, without htat separation of time?
It’s interesting, because I’m big on asking people for advice, especially comics that have done what I want to do, who are people who have released an album and a special. I ask them about how it feels to have some of the same jokes, and one of friends, Jackie Kashian told me ‘do your greatest hits, because the people who listen to your album are still going to love to listen if you have some of the same jokes in there.’ A lot of comedians want to get rid of the time-tested jokes after it’s been put out in any way, shape or form, but the people who listen to the album may not be the people who watch the special, and she really assuaged my anxiety with that.
I’ve been working on this material for 15 years. It’s my first special, and the difference in it is just the amalgamation of having all together in one piece, where the album were the vignette and showcase sets, and the special is the headliner set. We do the 10 or 15 minute chunks in clubs around New York like The Comedy Cellar, but when I’m on the road, I’m doing full hours. So, it feels good to have those different types of material out there.
I definitely feel like it showcases the full spectrum of what you bring to the table, creatively. To have it happen all at once in the same year, it definitely speaks to your creative drive. Now, specials and albums are different beasts, but did the experience of putting out the album help relieve any sort of creative anxiety leading up to the release of the special?
Jason, if you know how to relieve creative anxiety, please let me know as soon as possible. Let me know if there’s a class I need to take or a masseuse or something, because it’s always going to be there. Just to put it in perspective, I did The Tonight Show for the second time this year, and my favorite takeaway from it was talking to Jimmy [Fallon] in the dressing room. He couldn’t come to my special because he had to do Madison Square Garden that night on September 12, but I had asked him how that show went for him , and he told me that he was so nervous, and that blew me away. I was just like ‘c’mon man, you were nervous?’ and he said he hadn’t done stand-up in so long, and it was just so interesting to me to see this person who has all the success talk about how nervous he was, and that made me realize that the creative anxiety is always going to be something I’ll have to work through.
Part of the relief for me, though, is that I’ve been in this game for 15 years, and now I just keep trying to tell myself to have fun because what I do is fun and there are so many people who wish they could do it, and there are so many people who don’t follow their dreams. I’m one of the people has been able to do that, and have a modicum with it, so those, for me, could be the potential quotes around anxiety relief.
So yes, I was super duper anxious, but I can now point to two cards that Jimmy Fallon held up, with one that has my album on it and the other that has my special cover on it. I can hang those on the wall now and say ‘you did it.’
Obviously, you were at the helm of this special, but Jimmy did serve as an executive producer. How did his partnership play into the outcome of the whole project?
It was one of those situations that makes you stand up straighter. When someone of that stature wants to put their name on something you’re doing, any of the imposter syndrome that I had in my head, or any of the little voices that were telling me that I wasn’t good or whatever, it’s just like ‘okay, Jimmy Fallon wanted to put his name on your special,’ so that must mean you’re doing something right. It was that dream of doing a late-night set and having the host tell me he wanted me to do a special.
I’m watching a docuseries about the history of late-night on HBO Max, and they’re talking about The Tonight Show, and all the greats like Ray Romano and George Lopez are talking about doing the show, and how it led to the next big thing, and that’s exactly what happened to me. To hear them talk about it and then realize that I’m in that class of people who have done The Tonight Show, it really doesn’t hurt to have someone like Jimmy Fallon in your corner.
I’ve met Jimmy a total of once, and just having his aura in the same vicinity of anything you’re doing, it’s gotta feel outstanding to have that around.
Absolutely. And we’re both virgos, so I’m not saying it definitely had anything to do with it, but we have similar energies when it comes to our zodiac energy.
Sure, having his name on something you’re doing is great, but at the base of it, it’s all you doing it, and everything that you’ve done that has brought you to this point. With that in mind, how do you feel this hour represents who you are as a comedian today after working toward this for fifteen years?
I think Sam Jay mentioned that to me. She told me it was just a representation of where my set is at this moment in life, and for me, I’ve been told that the jokes were good, the pacing was good, and that I looked professional. For me to even have the confidence to pace out a joke, and looking back on when I was young in comedy and just wanting to speed things up because I was nervous, but there were times [in the special] where I was able to just in a moment of silence after a bit landed or didn’t land as it has in the past, and have a level of confidence that has grown over the past 15 years. To be be completely honest, it’s grown over the last 40 years, so I am happy with the fact that I was able to do that, and now it’s all about figuring out what’s next and being even more confident, and digging deeper into personal stories and things that affect other people, like political messages that are important to me.
So, yeah, I think it’s a great representation of where I am right now as a stand-up comedian who is 15 years old.
There are a lot of elements at play that make this special so special. But what would you say was your favorite part of the experience?
Honestly, doing it on my 40th birthday. I went to college, studied communications, and I tried to get jobs in that field, and I decided to follow my heart and my drive to entertain people and make people happy that way. For it to come full circle on my fortieth birthday, and also have a big-ass party that upset an AirBnB host, that for me, was my favorite part of it. I love to be working on holidays and my birthday, because it makes me know I’m doing something good, and it makes me feel good to earn money on my birthday. That was just the best way to tape what I’ve been working on all this time.
I have friends who are successful lawyers and doing all these great things, and now I feel like I can stand next to them and know that I am successful in my career. My mom was nervous there for a while, I’m not going to front.
One of my favorite quotes was from my godfather, and when I would come home and tell him what I had done with comedy, his question was always ‘did they pay you?’ For a decade, the answer was no, but now the answer is hell yes.
Above all else, where this special definitely touches on a lot of personal stuff for you, what do you hope people take away from this batch of material?
My favorite part about stand-up when I was younger and watching people like George Carlin were the things that made me change my thought process. Carlin would shape my political views and ideas about religion and things like that, and other comedians like Maria Bamford let me know it’s okay to have mental struggles and depression, and when I watch her, that helps me feel seen and relatable for my struggles. So, for me, I just wanted to put out a message of therapy. I want everyone to get therapy and love themselves, because what I’ve realized in life is that only hurt people hurt people, and the world can be in a rough situation where people are hurting themselves. No happy people hurt people, and not many people are genuinely happy, and that’s what I want for people. I want them to be happy, love who they want to love, love themselves, love what they do, and love where they live. And when you say something like ‘Love Joy,’ you can’t help but smile, and that’s what I wanted to give out.