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Chapter 1: What does being labeled as an 'alt comedian' mean?
And an action movie would be fun too. You know, I'd love to be in a big stupid, like I'd love to, actually, I really want to be like the tech hacker guy in the van while they're like doing the thing and be like, I'm in, you know? 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. Sorry, 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. 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. I do. Many different sets. I'm a man of many hats. Yeah. 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.
Yeah.
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 yeah
Nipples hard. Love to hear that. Nailed down and chased. Period.
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Chapter 2: How did Joel Kim Booster meet his fiancé on vacation?
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. 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 i remember um 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 You 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 of professional like summer stock musical theater and realized very quickly I did not like it enough to want to do it. Really? 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, um, 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 like blow the roof off this place yeah you're like this isn't my team like as an as a and like as a young person as a 20 something in like trying out for broadway roles you're only ever going to get cast in the ensemble and that's if you can dance you know and i was like i see so i'm so i went back to school
Oh, drop that dream. Yeah. And so I went back to school and I changed my major to playwriting. OK. Because I was like, you know, I've always been interested in writing as well. And I had started to write like plays that I would direct at school in the student theater. And that's and it just felt more sort of interesting. 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. The high I've been chasing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, honestly. And so for the rest of school, I was doing that. I was still taking performance and acting classes and stuff like that, but just sort of dropped the dance and the singing.
and was just writing. I moved to Chicago because my first full-length play right out of college was being produced as a part of the Fringe Festival out there, which was cool. And I just stayed. And there's a really vibrant storefront theater scene in Chicago. It's really amazing. And the more I got successful in the theater scene in Chicago...
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Chapter 3: What was Joel's experience on The Great American Baking Show?
I was like, I had no idea. And so I started doing it and doing well. And it slowly became like it started as this outlet for me to be like, get creative, get creative again and like sort of like, you know, feel like myself on stage. And then it just slowly took over and became way more interesting than anything else I was doing.
So I moved to New York like two years in to like really pursue it and like The way you've lived a thousand lives is crazy. Like you're just mastering talents and then moving on. No, I mean like you're mastering these skills and then you're like, well, I'm at the top and it's boring up here. It's time to find something else. I actually wasn't at the top when I moved to New York in Chicago.
In fact, a lot of people told me they were like, you're too green to go to New York yet. Like you haven't done XYZ show in Chicago. You haven't done this theater in Chicago, blah, blah, blah. And the thing about that for me was is I kind of like figured this but like I moved to Chicago or to New York with a bunch of like the top people in Chicago at the time like people many classes above me.
And the thing is no one gives a shit what you did in Chicago once you moved to New York. Yeah. You know, like we all started from zero. Yeah. And for me, I was a lot closer to zero than some of these other people I moved with. So it wasn't as big a blow to the ego. I was like, oh, I'm going last at the open mic. That's my life in Chicago, too. No, I love that about you. Yeah.
I love that you're like a deep end diver. Yeah. And I always tell people, move a little bit before you're ready. Yeah. Before the people, you know, above you say that you're ready or before you even feel ready. Right. I think it behooves you like, you know, to have like the base skill set. But like, you know, I no one thought I was ready to move to New York.
And I'm so glad I moved to New York because I got a lot better, a lot quicker. Yeah. And like really, you know, honed in on things. And yeah. And the rest is sort of history. Like I was in New York grinding it out, like doing a lot of open mics and just like slowly over time there. Yeah.
um started doing like festivals there was a time in comedy where every major city had a comedy festival yeah and like that was like a really exciting time in comedy i'm so lucky i came up when i did because it really did feel like the golden age of stand-up comedy and um so cool because like so many people were into it and like i don't know like there was the economy for every major city to have a comedy festival which is not the case anymore yeah and like
And it gives you the ability to kind of like even I feel like when you do comedy at the time that you were doing it was like it was coming out of this like Dane Cook like era where it's like all straight white guys. I fucking hate my wife type energy. And then you were right there where it's blossoming into so much more.
And like it's so funny because what I was doing back then in like 2014 was like considered alt comedy because I was like a marginalized identity talking about my life on stage.
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Chapter 4: What insights does Joel have about the comedy scene today?
What about it makes it special in this space, in front of a live audience? What can you do to work around that? And so it's different in that regard, but the fundamentals are the same in screenwriting and playwriting. So, and then first standup, you said you use it completely. Yeah.
Cause it's like, I go up and I like, I'm not somebody as a standup who like sits in a coffee shop and like writes down the jokes verbatim in my notebook and then goes on stage and says, you know, word for word from the notebook. Like I write down little like premises and ideas and thoughts and things like that. And then so much of my writing process as a comedian is about writing on stage.
Like I get up on stage and like, I have very little idea where I'm going when I'm working out new material. And so much of it is about like working in conversation with the audience and figuring out what the joke is and what the angle is and what the funny thing about whatever I'm talking about is. And like, I, it's just, I record every set and I listened to it back and I said, Oh, Hey, that hit.
And then I write it down, you know? And then I like start to like craft it.
a little bit more so it's a little bit less precise than i think like yeah there's like a little bit more script writing is yeah improv yeah kind of oh that's so interesting because i do anybody who's seen my show like i do a lot of crowd work yeah um which is my one of my favorite things to do i've seen a lot of your crowd work on tiktok yeah and it wasn't posted by you someone else was clipping it well i love to hear that because i don't know how yeah
And yeah. And I think like the thing is about like this is like we are living in the moment where every comedian is posting crowd work clips like everybody's got to. And I understand that like it's a necessity.
I'm very lucky that I did not come up in an age where I had to post content of myself doing stand up, whether it be a joke that you're burning for the Internet or crowd work that you're posting because you have to put out like a new clip every week and you don't want to burn that material. But I see a lot of crowd work where I'm like,
okay if the audience member that you're talking to is getting the bigger laugh and is being funnier than you are then you're posting an l on your timeline right now like even when i'm doing crowd work like i am in control i make sure that i'm saying the funny thing right you know in response to whatever they're saying exactly not like letting them be the interesting you working me at my show yeah no it's like and i like listen that has happened to me before too but i don't post it online
Nobody needs to know.
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Chapter 5: How did Joel transition from theater to stand-up comedy?
And then it's just a tragedy. It is. And it's just like, it's a different thing. I know people who do both, but they will cop to this. They use different skill sets to do both. Exactly, yeah. And so, yeah, I feel bad. I think it's happening less now. I'm seeing it less. Because it's been so public before. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. But yeah, it is interesting. No, you're so real to that.
It feels like a whole different world. And I think it's okay that we see them that way.
yeah yeah I agree and there's also no shame in it either like being a tiktoker like and it's funny you say that because I I have been sprinting away from stand-up for so long because I'm so afraid to find out I'm not good like I'm so afraid because I I love stand-up so much and I was like I don't want to do that and bombing live would kill me right and I've toured live I've toured live many times but that's like my podcast with my sister so it's all improv there's no like planned anything um we take audience submission things and then we
make jokes about them on the fly and then do crowd work too it's like a kind of a twofer so i've done that multiple times but i the only thing i've ever done um is five minutes for caleb i opened for caleb but um he he was like please do it please do it for me like please like i'll help you i'll help you write it so he like helped me so much um and i think it went pretty well for my first five but i was so i tell everyone when i tell them about that i'm like
I never get nervous. I never get nervous doing this. I never get nervous talking on stage, performing live. That was the most nervous I have ever fucking been. I read it a thousand times. I was like sick to my stomach, had fear dump right before. A mess. That will follow you when you've been doing it for 14 years. But like it is. I mean, if Caleb was helping you, I'm sure it was great.
Yeah, I know. And in his crowd, too. Right. When I told Sabrina that she goes, oh, I bet he was a tough critic. And I was like, oh, yeah, there were some jokes I told him where he literally was like. Anything else? And I was like, I got so many other jokes. Yeah, of course. I mean, but like you were smart starting with five. Like this poor kid, like starting at 15, 20.
I was like, I, you know, it's a, you really do not realize how long five minutes is. No, for real. You're up there. I agree. Like, and it's like, whoa, this is, this is a long time.
you're like yeah you're talking so fast and you look and it's like a minute 40 and you're like right so I have 4 minutes and 15 seconds left okay and I remember too when I when Caleb asked me he's like do you want me to add you to the poster and like all that stuff I was like honestly no if you're cool leaving me off because it was just Caleb and friends I was like because I want to find out if I'm good I feel like if I my fans will come and I love them and I know I believe them that they think I'm funny but I was like but I want to perform in front of people that are not my audience I just want to see like if I'm good it
is like that's so real because like quite honestly like post movie post like special and stuff like that like it's i came up when i started touring and headlining in 2016 it was based off of like my one appearance on conan and that was pretty much it
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Chapter 6: What is the significance of representation in comedy?
You're like that was made 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 that night. 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. And I was like, listen, etched in the it's literally I play it like I'm one of the all time greats. Like for real, it makes me believe that stand up can be funny and interesting. You know, you're so me like he literally I put it we're just talking about Chris Fleming.
I put a bit of his that he posted about, but he called he was talking about SNL 50 and he called Jimmy Fallon this me to Lorne Michaels Captain Hook. And then he said Stephen Cool Bear was up there like, here's Jelly Roll. Like, he's just so ashamed. Dude. He's one of the funniest people. I literally said, I want to study you like Jane Goodall.
I just want to live amongst the apes for a little bit. You know what I mean? Just hang out. See how they interact and pick ticks out of each other's hair. That's how I feel watching your crowd work, honestly. Your crowd work is some of the best I've ever seen. Thank you. Which is so funny. And I'd love to know, do you have a favorite crowd work story?
um yeah actually i do it's um so one of the when again going back to 2016 when i first started touring the only time i've ever done a comedy club and bombed pretty much all six shows for an hour straight every night was phoenix arizona the week before the 2016 election and um
who hates you that puts you up right there I was doing this club and I was the last minute replacement for the comic who was supposed to be headlining that week and I was sitting there and like all the old comics like table toppers and poster was still up and I was sitting at the bar before my first show there and this is like before my first show this guy's sitting at the bar ordered a drink looks at the table topper 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 that 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.
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Chapter 7: What advice does Joel offer to aspiring artists?
Yeah, I will say like Tempe, pretty cool, you know. But Shant be going back to Phoenix pretty soon.
Yeah, I shall not.
I ordered a Greek salad at a restaurant in Phoenix. And you know what they brought me out? A bowl that was like a third full of tzatziki, then cucumbers, and then feta on top of that, and then more tzatziki on top of that. And I was like, this is disgusting. This is all the same. It's a bowl of sour cream. Yeah. I was like, yeah, you gave me soup. Like, this is not a salad.
What do you think a salad is? You said racism. Yeah. Fucked up Greek salads. Can you believe it? Yeah. Yeah. Don't go to Phoenix. That's all they have there. I can't recommend. So sorry to disrespect anybody who lives there currently or is from there who loves it. But it's, you know, not every city is for everybody, you know? No, you're right. You're right.
Have you noticed any, I love asking people who have done, who are standups, like successful standups, if they have like a, a joke that they notice hits in every city or like just a general theme and ones that never hit or you found out only hit in certain cities. Uh, yeah. I mean, like I will say like, I haven't really bombed since Phoenix. Thankfully. Thankfully. You're too good.
And so like most of the material and I don't change the material really for audiences. I never have even. And like, I'm very proud of that. I've gotten some really nasty, like very specific to me jokes like to hit and land. But you do have to like really like get them on your side first and sort of like get them to trust you. And then you can do the weirder shit.
and that's the stuff that like right now especially i love to do the most and like i have a joke right now that like is the build-up to it is that like i am in love with a horse and you know bestiality is tough especially in this climate and um judgment yeah yeah and that joke um unfortunately is You know, it really does hit with some of them.
If I'm performing for like an alt comedy crowd, you know, who expects it to be weird. And it's like, again, like I think like there's a difference in a crowd that's like comedy literate because they already know what the obvious punchline is. to a joke is so like we're all trying to stay ahead.
And like, honestly, the Internet has made it really hard because like you like tweet out a joke and it becomes a meme and it becomes disseminated around and everyone no one knows who started. That's exactly what Caleb told me. Yeah. Yeah. It's so frustrating because you do that obvious punchline of the joke you wrote and you're like, oh, that's for the meme. And you're like, no, it's not, bitch.
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Chapter 8: What can we expect from Joel's new show, Love Hotel?
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 and like all of these wonderful people, very like low budget. Um, so we were like making a lot of concessions. Like, let me tell you that rain scene was,
When Keira Knightley shot her rain scene in Pride and Prejudice, I bet the water was heated. And I can tell you... Because she has money like that. Yeah. It was not heated. And it was September. It was the middle of the... It was like 2 a.m. in September in New York. So it was like 40 degrees outside. And we were walking through this freezing cold rain.
And at one point, the medic... We were sitting in this warming van in between takes. And the medic came to take my temperature. And he was like...
we have to take a longer break because this temperature is so low it does not register on this digital thermometer and so his lips are blue he's hypothermic like in the like fema like tinfoil blankets like shivering and so like poor andrew like had a lot of different shots planned for that scene and they were like you're gonna have to get it in like a couple yeah and um so let's bring them back to living body but even like moments like that i was like i
you know yeah um so it was really it was really exciting and i'm i'm you know really grateful to the response to it too you know yeah i was gonna say what was that like seeing the response to it it's i mean it's crazy listen not everybody loved it and that's fine but it is like i mean talk about the comment section i like i was in the comment section for a while and it's so funny because my my partner and my now fiance then boyfriend was like he's gotten so good like now even i'll be sitting on the couch and he just can tell from my face he'll be like
put it away get off get out of the comments oh my god me too that's crazy you say that same yeah and he's just like no no no you don't need to be reading whatever you're reading right now yeah um it's not important and um but for the most part we need that i saw a lot no we trust me i do that yeah i like for the most part like people were really you know positive about it i will say like no one is more willing to give me a note on that movie than a drunk gay guy at a gay bar
um the way they love to come up to me and say i have some notes yeah no and i'm like okay while it's in the can i'm not contacting hulu to like cut the movie wait let's let's edit the movie actually um what's the most common piece of advice you get for it um i think like people don't like that like um bowen ends up with james like people don't like that like he gets a happy ending
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