The Comment Section with Drew Afualo
A FEAR DUMP Ft. Joel Kim Booster | Episode 166
Wed, 23 Apr 2025
The incredible and hilarious Joel Kim Booster is here this week!! Joel and Drew talk being labeled as an “alt comedian”, getting unsolicited notes on Fire Island, how Joel met his fiance on vacation, college quidditch teams, managing call centers, eating salad with confidence, Drew gets extremely jealous that Joel was on The Great American Baking Show, and so much more. Shop Billie in-store and at https://www.mybillie.com Joel IG: https://www.instagram.com/ihatejoelkim/?hl=en Joel Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joelkimbooster?lang=en Follow The Comment Section on IG! https://www.instagram.com/thecommentsection/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What do Joel Kim Booster and Drew discuss in this episode?
Like, guys, you're going to want to see this. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I see it now. It's perfect. The vision is so clear to me. Hey, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of The Comment Section Show. Starring me, your fave, everybody knows me. Who cares about me? On to the guests today. We have the iconic, the talented, the legendary Joel Kim Booster. Woo!
Thank you so much for having me.
Oh, my gosh. Thank you for coming to the show.
I'm so excited. I hope your listeners know that you do shoot in a haunted elementary school. Yeah, I do. Many different sets.
I'm a man of many hats. Yeah, exactly. I'm also the principal of a haunted school. So, you know, I'm so busy. I was like, that's why I moonlight as a TikToker. That's my main job. But I'm glad you said haunted elementary school because the last person who, every time they go look, they get scared over there because it's obviously scary. But one of my friends told me, she goes, it looks like porn.
wow that's a little fucked up that i went uh haunted elementary school and then some it's like a rorschach test you know like whatever you see is like what you are inside i guess yeah you found out enfj yeah over there well i'm so excited to have you i think you're an icon oh thank you so much and we i've been trying to nail you down for a while oh my gosh right i've been chasing joel for a minute i'm so honored i'm a little horny now
Nipples hard.
Love to hear that. Nailed down and chased. Period.
But obviously I know you as a very successful producer, writer, actor, obviously stand-up comedian. Speaking of a man of many hats. But I do, for people who are unfamiliar with your lore, I would like to know how you got into entertainment, how you got into show business in general.
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Chapter 2: How did Joel Kim Booster get into stand-up comedy?
Yeah, I mean, listen, I have always loved attention like we all do. Right. And I was like a little... ham as a kid and I remember seeing my sister in a school play and like I was like I don't know like six and I was just like I want to do that and literally from that point forward that was all I was ever wanted to do really like there was a brief moment where I wanted to be a youth pastor so
He said that was a brief. Don't know what that was. Yeah. And then I came out and quickly shift gears back over to wanting to be an actor. And like I went to theater school for performance, like musical theater. I did like one summer, a professional like summer stock musical theater and realized very quickly I did not like it enough to watch. to do it for the rest of my life.
Well, cause here's the thing. Like I realized like I'm a, I'm an okay actor. I was an okay singer. Could not dance to save my life. Physically dyslexic. Do not know left from right. And I was like, oh, I'm not good enough at this specific area. Like the thing is I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and like,
Broadway and like musical theater and like community theater like that kind of stuff was like my only access to that's like my only conception for how you would be an actor yeah like doing musicals and like doing that stuff and being on Broadway and I soon realized like oh I'm not good enough at this like I was good enough to get into the school and I was good enough to like you know get parts in high school and stuff like that but like on a
professional level, I was like, I'm not going to be competing with people who could actually blow the roof off this place. Yeah, you're like, this isn't my team. As a young person, as a 20-something and trying out for Broadway roles, you're only ever going to get cast in the ensemble. And that's if you can dance. And I was like, so I'm fucked. So I went back to school. Oh, drop that dream.
And so I went back to school and I, um, changed my major to playwriting.
Okay.
Um, because I was like, you know, I've always been interested in writing as well. And I, um, had started to write like, uh, plays that I would direct at school in the student theater. And that's, and it just felt more sort of, um, I don't know, gratifying to me in a lot of ways. Because I did my first one and everyone was like, wow, that was so great.
And no one had ever reacted to me that way after seeing a performance of mine.
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Chapter 3: What was the inspiration behind Fire Island?
Yeah.
Um, cause you weren't talking about hitting your wife. Yeah, no, I was referred to a lot as an all comedian and I came up with a lot of like true actual all comedians like Julio Torres and like people like that. And like, it was so funny cause like what Julio was and is doing is all like, it is very much left to center.
What I was doing was like standard, like storytelling, like, you know, observations about my life and the lives of others. And it was just happened because I was gay in Asia and people lumped me in with
the the brooklyn alt scene and they put you under other yeah well and the thing is is i i did feel more comfortable doing those rooms yeah totally for the audience for the audiences yeah you know because like it was like people who were like into comedy and like comedy nerds and like we're not like we're just interested in like are you funny and yeah not can you how bad can you punch down for 40 minutes straight yeah
um yeah and at one of those uh comedy festivals in portland i randomly that's where my eight my manager saw me for the first time at like performing a 10 minute spot at a gay bar in portland and like i got back to new york and he called me and he was like let's meet when i'm in new york and um i saw your set and i really enjoyed it and this is what i will always say to people yeah
who asked me like, what can I do to really like make it? Like, how did you get where you are? Like, how did you do it? And the thing is, I always say like, you cannot create the moment that the door opens for you. All you can do is be ready for when that moment happens and be prepared. Because when I sat down with that, my manager, who's still a manager to this day, he said the set was great.
Do you have a tape of you doing like 15 minutes? Do you have a spec script, like a writing sample? Do you have like X, Y, Z things? And I was able to say, like, no, no, truly. But like the thing was, is I was sitting at my day job on my lunch break writing that script. And like, you know, running around the city with like my my fucking digital camera, like making sure that I got those clips.
And I was able to say, like, when he when he sat down with me, like he was basically saying, like, are you ready to go? And I was able to say, yeah, like, let's do this. Like, here's all.
my my my multitudes in front of you yeah and um so like that was really and like everything else like just sort of like started to happen right after that yeah and so yeah it's just like you can't you have to be you know it's so random how it happened like you know of all the places for him to be hanging out that night like watching the show yeah and like Yeah. It's just like it's so random.
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Chapter 4: What are the challenges of stand-up comedy in the digital age?
Chapter 5: How do different audiences affect a comedian's performance?
no idea who I was you know and I would have to come out there every single night and like really prove myself and really like win them over you know by the first 10 minutes or I was screwed and like that made me such a strong writer and like such a like word economy and all these things and like getting to the punchline faster and like because you have to get to that punchline fast if they don't know who you are because like they're just sitting there waiting for you to make them laugh and like so you learn that
And then like now there are moments on stage where I'm like, that wasn't that funny. I don't trust you. I was like, you like me and that's good. But like, also I think you're being a little charitable.
You're so mean. You're so mean. You're like, that was mid at best. I don't know why you guys are laughing.
So I love doing like, my favorite thing to do is like a secret headlining spot at like the store or something like that where like nobody, everybody just shows up and has, and again, like it's like having these moments where like, Most of those people don't know who I am either. Like, they ain't watching Fire Island. I ain't showing up on their algorithm.
And so it's, like, really necessary for me to do that. Yeah, totally. Because, like, it really does pinpoint those spots where it's, like, oh, that was a fan. There was a gas leak in the audience. You guys are drunk. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm on at the end of the night. I opened first. I did my five. And then Chris Fleming was after me.
Oh, my God.
I know, for real. And then Caleb closed, obviously. And, like... For Chris, after I did my five, I was like so nervous when I got off the stage. I thought I did pretty well. And then Chris Fleming came up to me and he was like, this is the first time he and I had like ever met in person. And he was like, that's your first time ever? And I was like, yeah. Yeah. I was like, I hope it was okay.
And then he was like, I think you killed for your first time. That's awesome. Yeah. And I was like, oh, thank you.
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Chapter 6: What are common misconceptions about stand-up comedy?
And this is like before my first show, this guy's sitting at the bar, ordered a drink, looks at the tabletopper and turns to the bartender and goes, this guy isn't too much of a faggot, is he? And I'm sitting there and the bartender knew I was the replacement. And she was like,
oh well actually we have a different comedian than that one and like I was just like well here we go you said bad news for you to make matters worse the opener they had chosen for me his closer involved getting the audience to chant lock her up in unison with him and I was like, and of course he was one of these guys who's like, I think they're both bad.
I think they're both bad, but like, you know, he chose to end that way. And then I come on stage and they're like immediately like, you know, my entire person is politicized. Yeah.
And so they're just like sitting there and it was so rough, but like midway through that run of the, uh, of that week that I was there, I was like talking about, I have the joke about how I'm adopted, but my older brother who's biological to my family is also gay and, And we were, I was like talking about that. And I was talking about like, I guess it's nurture, you know?
And, um, that's my theory. This woman shouts out from the crowd. You wouldn't have been gay if you were breastfed. And I, I turned and what a gift because of all that entire week of bombing, this was the funniest. I was the entire week. The only time I ever got the crowd on my side. Cause I turned to her and I was like, I did not realize there was a scientist in the audience. And I was like,
Gotta talk to you. And I spent probably like 15 minutes interrogating this woman about where she was getting this and what is the science behind it and what is the belief system that led her to that. And again, even this conservative crowd that hated me hated her more. He said, got you, bitch. He said, I only needed to be one.
It was the only time I had ever gotten the audience that week on my side for that short 15 minutes. And then, of course, they went back to hating me once they got back to material.
like i like she i have a joke about her like that i you know right you know that ended up in my my first special and like again like i look back on that and i was like she was a gift sent to me from heaven because a reward yeah no truly for those six days um
And I still like man I have so many scars from Phoenix they tried to get me they did get me to go back a couple years later by like luring me in by being like oh no this one this shows in historic downtown Phoenix which is like the Brooklyn of Phoenix and let me be clear let me be clear.
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Chapter 7: What feedback did Joel receive about Fire Island?
That's exactly what Caleb's told me.
Yeah. And it's so frustrating because like you do that obvious punchline of the joke you wrote and people are like, oh, that's from the meme. And you're like, no, it's not, bitch. It's from my stand up. It's from me. I'm going to kill myself. No, literally.
And like, it's not always super helpful because if you're performing for a comedy audience that has seen like maybe one or two comedy shows in their entire life, they don't even know what the obvious punchline is yet. So if you're trying to go to step two and stay ahead of it,
yeah you just left them behind and they're confused you know and so i prefer to perform for crowds that have seen a lot of comedy and love comedy and like have a lot of context for it yeah um and then like you know you do have to sort of like um when i'm performing here in la especially at some of these clubs where it's a lot of tourists and it's a lot of people who've never seen comedy before yeah i do have to like stay cognizant of that and they may be like i don't change the joke too much i just maybe like will um
stop a little bit before it gets to step two you know yeah there's like certain parts you can leave out yeah you're like they only need the top stuff they don't need the the underbelly exactly but that's what makes comedy the best yeah in my opinion i think uh so i want to pivot to fire island okay i would love to talk about fire island and just like how that how it came to be that project and how it like kind of got off the ground and then obviously the reception of it
Yeah, I mean, it started as like we would go to Fire Island and I would I remember the first trip to Fire Island. I brought Pride and Prejudice with me and I would be reading it on the beach and like kind of look up and be like, wow, this is like really similar to what we're dealing with this week. And everyone was and it started as a bit.
I was like, I'm going to write like a gay Pride and Prejudice set on Fire Island. And they were like throwing shit at me like boo. Like, no, that's a dumb idea. And I every year we would go every summer we would go. I would read a different Jane Austen book.
It was like my like tradition and like I just like it got in my head more and more and it was like I'm gonna do this eventually and so it was sort of a dare like my friends were like okay to do it and I wrote like a 30-minute pilot spec script that was loosely the same story that would end up in the movie and it was just like you know it was gonna be seven episodes and every episode would be a day on the island and
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Chapter 8: How does Joel balance personal life and career?
And I took that out and no one wanted to buy it. No one was interested. Again, we were talking before we got on mic a little bit about people being like, this is a little niche. And it's like, okay, I know what you really want to say. And it's a slur. Yeah. But then, you know, I met with Quibi.
r.i.p quibi and say what you will about quibi they were taking some big swings and i was one of those swings and they were like actually though can you make this into like a movie that we can then cut down into 10 quick bites and so i developed it there at quibi got the green light there and we're supposed to start shooting summer of 2020.
and yeah and we were like in pre-pro we were like trying and there was like a moment before we really knew what deep shit we were in as a country um like we were like maybe we shoot it in north carolina and like shoot it like cheat it for fire island like you know go to one place where that's open and like it quickly became apparent that it was just not gonna happen and then quibi shut down in december and we were like well shit
um but they were very kind they gave us the script back right away like they reverted the rights back to me oh that's really nice because they were like we believe in this and we want it to happen if it's not going to happen here and so um we took it out and searchlight was pretty quick to like scoop it up and and um and i really didn't have to make i didn't make that many changes from quibi to searchlight it was like a pretty completed package already um
And of course, like little like edits here and there as we started to cast and like, you know, originally Margaret Cho's character was like an older gay man. I love Margaret here. It was like, I think I can say this. It was supposed to be Alan Cumming, but then he had to drop because he had to shoot something in Scotland. Damn. We realize now.
was traitors and I was like oh it all worked out exactly as it was supposed to work out because it was like Alan would have been amazing but like Margaret was made it so much her own and we like it was so funny she reached out to um Andrew and I and our people and the studio and her reps were like she would love to be a cameo in this movie she would like you know this was right after it was announced with me and Bowen starring she was like she would love to and we and we just found out we needed to replace this part and we were like oh like
this could be really easily rewritten. I wouldn't have to change that much at all to make this fit Margaret. And so we met with her and like rewrote, you know, the part to fit her. And, um, yeah. And we did that with a lot of the people that we cast.
Like once we, once we had like certain people on board, like, um, you know, we rewrote a lot of it for them to be specific and it was a really wonderful process. And, um, a really quick process, which is not normal because they needed to thank God for Bowen being the busiest man in Hollywood. I have to say, because that made it so like, they were like, we got to rush this through.
We got to get this shot before Bowen goes back to SNL. Yeah. And so I'm very lucky in that regard. The best thing, experience filming in my life, like just getting to make something with my best friends. Yeah. And like all of these wonderful people, very like low budget. So we were like making a lot of concessions. Like, let me tell you, that rain scene.
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