Jake Cornell
Appearances
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Welcome to the shit show. Things are going to get weird. It's your fave villain, Kale Lowry. And you're listening to Barely Famous. All right, y'all, welcome back to another episode of Barely Famous. Today we have Jake Cornell, influencer, comedian, actor, all the things.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
So is that, like, a server or bartender or waitress's version of being, like, a fly on the wall? Like, people watching but in the restaurant industry?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Oh, we don't even have one of those. Our Red Robin just shut down. I'm devastated. But before they did that, they took the freaking baked potato soup off the menu.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
They also put in a mini Chili's like 40 minutes away. Why would you put in a mini Chili's? We literally don't have anything else and I don't have anywhere. I love Chili's.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Like can you sit? Like it's like half the size of a regular Chili's.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
It has the same menu. It's like mainly for to-go. And if you go inside, they want to flip the tables even faster than they would in a regular Chili's.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Yeah, like I need the triple dipper in the full chilies essence.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
get me yeah i feel seen i truly do actually like one of the guests that we had yesterday she was like um where should we go eat in time square and i said i'm pretty sure that's all chain restaurants pretty much in time square i mean you can get like the no it kind of is yeah
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
And I used to when I come to New York, I would just stay in Times Square because it was so centrally located to everywhere I needed to go. But being in Harlem has been really nice. A nice little change of pace. I actually love it here. Oh, my God. I got Indian food last night and I was so excited about it. We also had Peruvian food yesterday for lunch. And I'm like, Delaware could never.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
And I don't know about Rhode Island. Do they have good food there?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I've never been. Yeah. Did you go to school in Rhode Island or Vermont?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I went to school in Delaware. So it's just been sort of slow. The Amish built my house and I have a little farm. So it's just very different than New York.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Yeah. My kids don't help with the farm though. That's probably not cute.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Would you ever make a character based off my life with like a woman with seven kids?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
i could but i like you i don't have a i don't i'm not feeling a compulsion to like make fun of you in any way why i just i want someone to think i'm a big deal you are a big deal but i told the author yesterday she killed a plumber and one of a plumber that she had work for her um yeah she was like i hated him and i killed him in a book like i want that like kill me in a book name a character after me something that's amazing do you know what i mean yeah no i'm worthy yeah no you're good
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I'm trying. Okay. It keeps pulling up Rhode Island, but I need to see it on.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
If you bring me up in New York, just let me know. This is for you. And I'll be like, perfect. Actually, I'll just come to one. When's your next show?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Oh, I guess that's not the ambiance. That's not the vibe. Okay, fair. But next show, I would love to come. I think that would be so fun.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I've never been to a New York comedy show. I've been to comedy shows in LA. And then I went in Philly because it's so close to us. Okay, so talk about your shows in February.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
No, that'll be fun. I was going to go, but then I was like. They said it's not kid-friendly, so I was like, okay, never mind.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
We were just actually in New Orleans, and it was my first time there. I had never been to Bourbon Street.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
No, I was thoroughly impressed, and I wish that I had more time there, so that'll be great for you.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
So what does a day in the life look like for you going on a tour, like a tour date?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Okay, so where I thought Rhode Island was was like the little sort of island looking thing between- The upper peninsula of Michigan? Yes.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
But that's just like a hidden gem. I wouldn't have expected that.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
audience was like one of the best audiences i had like they were so fun like we had such a fun show so i was like riding high when i went out like it was just like a great makes a huge difference oh 100 um have you ever been to dallas like the the gay bars in dallas no the only i've only done austin in texas that's the only city i've done so far i actually loved some of the gay the uh i've heard that yeah i've heard that i was surprised i was impressed because i mean it's texas right like i just didn't expect it maybe in austin i would have
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Yeah. No, I had a great time. That was one of my favorite at Asbury. I'm trying to think of any other one. I have never done like a parade.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
All parades are shit shows, so I think that wouldn't even matter. But I've never done New York, and I'm here all the time, and it has never aligned. And I have another friend – also a gay male and he is like, I don't fucking want kids. And I was like, I understand.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Well, I was just telling you about the dad, the dad I follow on Tik TOK. He is a single gay dad. He chose to do it by himself. Like he doesn't have a partner. Great. Happy for you. You know what I mean? Like whatever you choose, but I also, um, I understand all of it and I don't, I don't fault anybody for any of that.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
But so when you, you're my age, you're 32 and you said you have a six year old sibling. Mm hmm. That is so crazy to me because I think about my oldest and my youngest, right, 15 and 1. He'll graduate high school, and the year later, my 1-year-old will go to kindergarten. But yours is an even bigger gap. Yeah, we're 27 years apart. that's the craziest thing I've ever heard.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Okay. So you started comedy and just everything in Rhode Island.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
the dynamic of the relationship, I think it probably looks more like uncle, uncle, niece, you know, it just gives me perspective though, because I did grow up an only child and I have seven kids that there are gaps between them. So it's giving me perspective. Um, I don't know what to expect from siblings. Like I have no idea. I think what you said about what,
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
relationship that you have or the the same dynamic that you have with your sister who's two and a half years younger than you is sort of what I expected when I had siblings but it doesn't always play out that way right like sometimes you could be a year apart and you're just not close oh I mean but that's the other thing me and my sister hated each other growing up childhood fought like cats in boxes like absolutely never got along and I remember like I remember I went to
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Was your sexuality ever a point of contention in your relationship with your sister or in your family?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
What do you think the change was? What do you think the flip was?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
as far as I know, it's the same sort of experience. Um, I have an uncle who we grew up in a really small town, like super small. Um, and we just, nobody questioned him. It was like, he brought a man home and it was just like, you don't have to, you don't come out as straight. So we're not going to ask you if you're getting, which we just knew. Um, but I didn't have that same experience.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I had, um, after I had my first son, I think before my second son, um, I had said to my mom and I don't have a good relationship with my mom. So I don't even know what propelled me or what made me say anything to her specifically. But I was like, I think I'm gay. And she was like, I never went through that phase.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
And that was the last conversation I ever had surrounding the topic of being, you know, part of the queer community or anything related to that. I just never said anything again. I was just like, okay. And just acted like it didn't happen.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I remember walking into my uncle's house one time. He had gotten a new house and I was so young that I still didn't, like, I knew what being gay meant, but I also, like, didn't put two and two together yet. And I walked in and he's showing us his room and, like, the whole house. It was stunning. And I go, why do you guys have two alarm clocks?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
And my mom looks at me and she goes, they wake up at different times. And I just didn't... I still didn't compute. And then, like, later on, like, weeks later, I was like, wait, oh, he's gay. Like, I get it. And I just, like, didn't care.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
They slept in the same bed. They woke up at two different times.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
But I, like, knew that they were together, but I didn't know it was a romantic... Like, I don't... I don't think it... It just... They've been together as long as I've been alive.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I think my mom was just, for my experience with my mom, my mom's an asshole, right? Like we don't have a good relationship, but she's not homophobic. I think it was just like, I look back and I'm like, yikes, but also her brother's gay. Do you know what I mean? And so it's just like, and I just didn't, it didn't compute to me. It wasn't a big deal.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
And so I've just been raised around it my whole life. And I think also just being around it was really, in my opinion, was helpful because it's just like, I think the people that are super, super homophobic are, Might be gay.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Or you weren't willing to or you felt peer pressured. Yeah, same thing. No, I would wholeheartedly agree with you. Are you uncomfortable with doing some takes on unpopular opinions?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Main character energy is a cute way of saying attention whore.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
That's like, you know, am I a narcissist? You're probably not. If you're questioning, you have that self-awareness.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I have a, my seven year old is, and if you ever do a deep dive in my social media, like he is true main character energy. And he says to me all the time, he's going to be in movies one day. And I believe him. He is main character, but he's seven years old. He doesn't know what an attention whore is. So in that way, I do also think that like, it depends on the situation.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Like you, because you knew, you know, you knew. Are you here for the Nepo babies or you're not here for the Nepo babies?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Let me look up the definition because like, are my kids, are they like B-list nepo babies?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
This says a person who gains success or opportunities through familial connections. So it's not the trust fund. It's not the money. It's the connections. It's not what you know.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I mean, I feel, and I don't know if I'm biased because my son is just amazing, but he is fluent in ASL and I feel like he's using that and he goes on his Instagram and he's doing reels for, you know, speaking in sign language and doing things like that. I feel like that to me, he's using it for good.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I mean, you're self-taught, you are taking classes at the school for the deaf and things like that. So to me, I feel like that's,
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
To what you're saying. You know what I mean? Okay. I'm not a fan despite whatever people are saying. Contrary to popular belief is a better way to put it. I don't use filters on my pictures. I just prefer not to. I just feel like if you're going to meet me in person, I'd rather you love me or hate me in person.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I don't want you to see a filter on my face and then see me in person and be like, oh, yikes. Are we here for the filters? Are we not here for the filters?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Now I will say that if I roll out of bed and, Right. And I look crazy. I'll throw a filter on that filters the entire mainly on like Instagram story where it's like a filter, like a sepia sepia situation.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
But if we're talking about like Facetune, I've never I'm not using Facetune on my face. I've seen makeup artists who do my makeup and they'll Facetune the makeup they did on my face and then they'll post it.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
No, that should be illegal because now you're selling services that don't exist.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
No, for sure. I mean is my tummy tuck false advertising if I'm like, oh, I'm skinny?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Okay, perfect. Do we like dancing videos on social media like TikTok, Instagram, things like that? Or how do we feel about those?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I wish I could dance. And one time... pretty recently, it was like three years ago, I like tried to do this transition with like a dance and people were like, you thought you ate. I will never, I will never in my life even try.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I'll be honest with you. I don't know a single Charli XCX song.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Okay. I love this. Wait, is this like rave music? Or like, remember Panic at the Disco? Like that sort of vibe? Is that the vibe?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
That's the next band. They're going to make a full 360 comeback.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Well, you're teaching me new things and I'm going to go back to my house and just show my kids that I'm the cool mom.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Well, so, okay. A couple weeks ago, I was in the car on my way to Philly and the camera person that I know and love and I use him for a lot of stuff was like, oh, I could see you doing this to hot to go. And I said, excuse me. And he said, kill Hot To Go. Like, it's an old trend.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Truly, I do listen to music. But I think I'm just not listening to... Are you more, like, listening to country? No. I think I'm... Because I'm listening to 90s and early 2000s still.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Yeah. So when he told me about Hot To Go, and I'm like... I don't know what's going on. And so I learned it that night at my live show. Like I just learned how to go, but I didn't know what was going on. Having kids keeps me young. Maybe I should keep having them.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Is there anything else I should know? Like trending? I know Heidi Montag's song. I'll do it.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I feel like she came out of nowhere. Just like Bobby Altoff.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Are you a Drake fan? I'm like hit or miss. It's like, I don't care.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I was so taken aback because I've had podcast guests on here that are so completely different than who they are online. And I think that comes with the territory, right? Because so many people, they gain fame and notoriety on social media without even trying. From the time that you walked in the door here until you're sitting here right now, I'm like, you're the same person online.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Yep. I'm a big postie fan. I think that's also just different genres. So Charlie XCX and Chapel Roan are, would they be like considered pop?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Ella Mai is slept on. Like, I know she's getting... Ella Mai is slept on, for sure.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I think it's a love story to Puerto Rico. Yeah, that's what I've heard. So it's not like what he's typically has done in the past, but I respect it. I think that that's great. How do we feel about people canceling plans? Rude, not rude, self-care? How do you feel?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I have gone back and forth with this because I have, I feel like I fell into the trap from social media specifically where it's like, Oh, canceling plans is self care, but like it's not always self care.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I like a little bit of like in a 30 days month. Right. I'll make plans like two days out of the month. Like I don't want to do it all the time. But I think the happy balance of like pouring into myself, also my kids, also my partner. I want to make sure that I do have friends. But I the friends thing right now in my life is small doses. Also, I work with my best friends.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I just love it. And I was cracking up. First of all, how old are you? 32. Okay, so we're the same age. So while you were, like, taking off on your career, I was, like, giving birth. You know what I mean? So he was like, oh, is, you know, I was telling him about Isaac, who's 15. You know, the listeners, my listeners already know, but your audience might not know. Completely different audiences.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Well, that's part of it, which is weird for a lot of people because a lot of people can't work. Like, I love Alessandra so much. I have an assistant that I was my best friend before she worked for me.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
So in a way, I'm sort of getting the best of both worlds. And I think that there is a happy medium. You have to be careful and tread that that line sort of lightly. You know what I mean?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
when I worked at the dentist office, yeah, they were my friends at work, but they weren't my friends outside of work. A hundred percent. Where this, I would hang out with Alessandra. I mean, we went to Barnes and Noble last night, you know, like I'd hang out with her. We also have common interests. So I think that plays a factor too. So it's just a little bit different.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
And then last one, New York city gays are better than LA gays.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
gays from DC it's like Jesus you know what I mean wait can you do the trend have you seen the trend this is completely unrelated where the gay guys are like going I'm gonna talk to my mom in my in my deep voice and she goes what the fuck are you doing why are you talking like that well you know I have a bit about this online no I didn't know that okay so something really crazy that happens all the time
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
For sure. And Jake was like, oh, is he your only? And I said, I have seven kids. And you're like, no.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
that's really mom where's my charger and she goes why the fuck are you talking like that and i was cracking up because i was like you just as a mom you want your kids to be who they are but i love that okay before we go tell us um where can people find your tour dates first of all so you can follow me if you follow me on instagram jake w cornell you can i post about everything there and then i also all my dates are on a website called punch up dot live
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Like I was giving birth and you're like launching your entire career. And I'm like, how the fuck do I get this?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
So did your TikTok take off sort of just on its own? Like just naturally then?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
So what does that mean for you and the TikTok ban? Like, how do you feel about it? Are you going to be super affected? Are you upset? Do you not necessarily care? Like where, where are you at with it?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
That's really, you're walking to the gym. So you already worked out on the way to the gym. So do you really have to go to the gym? That's like two workouts in one day.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Right. But we also can recognize that this is, you know, not this TikTok is a place where people are You know, funding their entire lifestyles and also taking care of their families with the funds from TikTok.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
We're fortunate that we have other places, but some people don't. And I do feel like that is so sad for – and I want to advocate and give a voice to the people who are making their income on TikTok. Because, I mean, for the people that say it's not a real job, they're paying in real money.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
argument it's weird right like it is a weird place to be and i can understand you know where people are like oh that's not a real job but it is and i do get upset for the people who are like oh i can't wait for the tiktok ban so you can go get a real job but at the end of the day like tiktok is putting so much so why is that more of a real job than answering emails all day like we're like a call center like i just don't it's never made sense to me um i understand like
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Yeah. No, I agree with everything you're saying. Um, do you see yourself being in New York for the long haul?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
You're an East coaster. I am too. Just like born and raised on the East coast. I like to go to LA in very small increments of time, but I'm just not a West coast girly.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Yeah, absolutely. So I first came across you on TikTok for being funny and being a comedian, and I love that. Thank you. But where did you start before TikTok and before comedy in general? Were you always funny or did you sort of like learn to be funny?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I'm about three hours from New York and I'm here so much. And I really hated it at first because I didn't, I don't know.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I will say that people that I've encountered in New York, not people I know, but just like random people on the street are very different than the people that I have encountered in LA just on a regular day.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
In terms of, you know, social media and being a comedian and an actor, do you feel like anyone has ever not given you a chance or not taken you seriously because of sort of how you came into comedy and becoming an actor?
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
I'm burnt out. I canceled all my tours for the first half of this year because I'm burnt the fuck out.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Oh, we can talk about that. I've had, I was telling Jake off camera, I was saying like, I've had podcast guests that it's, some of them are really difficult sometimes because you see them on social media and then they don't translate the same way on the podcast.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
And so I do, I do want to have TikTokers on, right? People who are doing so well on TikTok, I would love to have a conversation with them, but sometimes they don't know how to answer a question or they're not giving me energy and I have to feed off of their energy. It's the same way I would imagine with,
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
for comedy and crowd work or anything like that, if you're not having a good audience, that is going to directly impact the energy that you have and the jokes that you tell or whatever that looks like.
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
fun that it's a surprise for some people but i would like to eventually get to be known for that side more because it's what i care about more yeah absolutely and i think well there's a lot to be said for the people who might have come across you on their for you page or something and they see you there first and so they don't know what to expect when they get to a live show versus your fan base that you had prior to tiktok or socials that have seen you live and then follow you on socials yeah and i think now it's kind of a bit both where like people see me live and join in or they're
Barely Famous
Hey Big Guy: Jake Cornell
Let me pull up a map really quick. And what's crazy is that, like, I'm not dumb. So hold on a second.