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Some major TV competition shows that shall not be named make it seem as if humans are born inherently talented, as talented as they’ll ever be and burst onto the scene out of nowhere. All they must do is showcase, one time. But, that’s rarely true. What actually happens – particularly for comedians – involves many years (think seven to 20) of open mics in the backs of bookstores, unpaid bar shows, under-the-radar comedy festivals, followed by an underwhelming amount of bookings, followed by despair.
Any standup comedian who really does it definitely gets the idea. Tiffany Haddish won a 2021 Grammy for Best Comedy Album for Black Mitzvah, but that came 15 years after her first break on Bill Bellamy’s Who’s Got Jokes? The journey is long.
Like Haddish, many of other Black comediennes are just that committed. Here are seven Los Angeles comics to look out for as they grind their way to the top. They’ve each combined inherent talent plus years of hard work to become comedic forces with which to be reckoned.
Jil Chrissie, IG: @JilChrissie
I remember the first time I saw Chrissie, I was struck by the juxtaposition of her sweet voice and bubbly disposition, combined with her hard-hitting truths and personal revelations about mental health. Chrissie says, “I think confidence is one of those things where you can fake it til you make it. Ladies…I don’t care if you got a bald spot on your head b*tch. If you’re confident walking into a room, you know what those people are going to say?….’Damn. That b*tch got a bald spot on her head.’ …But it’s not about them. It’s about you.” In 2018, Chrissie wrote, produced, and starred in her one-woman show “Comedy Hoe,” which eventually made it onto the festival circuit and won Chrissie an Encore Producer’s award.
Katrina Davis, IG: @Katrinasivad
Davis’s comedy is part personal, part observational, and you’re going to love the specific lens through which she sees life. She does this impression of how her dad puts on chapstick by holding the stick still and moving his mouth against it that will make you fall over. She can pull the uproarious humor out of simple moments like that. She has an infectious smile and you can tell she just loves to be on stage. In one bit, Davis talks about how she struggles to know how to be “Instagram Hot,” and when her friend pulled up her camera in her car to take a picture of the two, stating ‘Get ready for the ‘Gram,” Davis…put on her seatbelt. “I didn’t check my lipstick or anything I was just like, safety, got it….is that not what guys like? 10 and 2 let’s get these dicks wet.” Davis just filmed a special with Comedy Dynamics at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival, so keep an eye out for that.
Felicia Folkes, IG: @FelFatale
Try not to love Folkes – I dare you. She’s raw emotion, and so authentic. It never feels like she’s performing – she’s sharing. She’s letting you in. She self describes as, “”A young black women trapped in an Auntie’s body.” But, to be honest, she seems to have the wisdom of an auntie, too, which is hilarious set against some of the awkward social situations she describes getting into on stage. In one bit, Folkes talks about how a friend gave her flirting advice, telling her to make eye contact with a man she likes. But she doesn’t like eye contact. “Don’t look at my eyes…my SOUL is in there. My DAD is in there! You want to talk to him?” But she did try the trick, and describes, in one of my favorite stories of her, exchanging glances with a guy…who eventually thought she wanted to fight him. If you had no idea that bit was going there that’s because Folkes isn’t like anybody else and nobody is like her. Bless her for it.
Kristal Adams, IG: @TheDarkKristal
I got to know Adams through a small open mic she hosted at a grocery store/coffee shop in Los Angeles. I was instantly in awe at how she took her time on stage. No rush – and she doesn’t need to rush. The punch line is always worth the wait. Even though her career has since moved her onto bigger and better things (she was a Consulting Producer on Netflix’s recent season of “The Circle,”) Adams talks of her time driving Lyft for a living. She admits she purchased and bought adult diapers because there’s nowhere to stop and pee as a Lyft driver. She says she bought the diapers, “Because I have something called courage…I’m a bad*ss. Do you understand the balls it takes to be actively peeing and look a passenger in her eyes? Like, ‘Hop on Judy, I’m peeing in here.’” Adams hosts the podcast “Black Rehab,” a comedy podcast about Black pop culture.
Ketra Long, IG: @KetraLong
Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Long brings a no holds barred, endearingly unedited voice to the LA community. An observational/personal comic, she’s just as quick to make fun of others as she is herself, admitting that, due to her height, kids in her neighborhood named her “Little man.” Some years ago, Long battled and beat breast cancer. She jokes on stage that her first thought when diagnosed was, “How am I going to have breast cancer if I ain’t got no breasts?” She has great material about her family, too. “My dad tried to out-cancer me…I was two weeks out of remission. My dad called me and said, ‘Baby girl, they said I got the cancer too…they said I got it from you…’ I said, ‘What kind of cancer you got?’ He said, ‘Uh…ovarian.’” Long has appeared on Amazon Prime’s “Laugh After Dark,” and will soon release the web series she created called “Bearded.”
Dicey, IG: @DiceyApproved
Dicey’s disarmingly relaxed energy will make you feel like she’s just your friend hanging out on your couch. You’ve never seen anybody so comfortable on stage. You’d swear she was in her own living room. She works sharply-written jokes into a conversational tone – a skill she likely learned through her Creative Writing Minor while getting her Bachelor’s degree in Theatre from the University of Houston. Dicey jokes, “So white people think racism in America is over because we have a black president…and a black Bachelorette. And little white kids be dabbin’ on Instagram…and we got black emojis now. But the default emojis are still white. Just like the default settings of America.” In addition to a standup comedian, Dicey is also a writer and celebrity nail artist.
Lexie Grace, IG: @SmileLexie
Grace isn’t just impressively talented and comfortable on stage for a fresher face on the scene, but she’s also good for the scene – and arguably the world. Grace is all about spreading positivity. Every Wednesday on Instagram she releases one of her #AwwWednesday videos where she shares something that inspires her, and you can tell she genuinely wants her peers to succeed. In a sea of depression and dick material, Grace’s upbeat and clean material is a breath of fresh air. She’s such good vibes, one of my favorite bits of hers goes: “I recently discovered, because I smile a lot, a lot of people think I’m an idiot…” She has a way of removing the tension from otherwise tough topics, too. Grace jokes, “I know that racism exists but sometimes I think I’m so adorable I can avoid it…”
