Remember that kid in school who would deliver on-point impersonations of teachers? The one who would run to the front of the class as soon as the teacher left the room and when the lookout gave the signal would race back to their seat in poised silence?
Well, that kid at Indian River High School in Virginia went on to become Jay Pharoah, one of the most compelling personalities in American show business.
As an actor, comedian, impressionist, and rapper, Pharoah’s résumé encompasses renowned impressions of Barack Obama, Kanye West and Eddie Murphy, a spot on Rolling Stone’s top SNL Cast Members list, film roles in Ride Along, Sing and Unsane, and a hosting slot at the American Music Awards with Gigi Hadid. He’s prolific, multidisciplinary, and funny as hell.
Jamie Foxx and Jay Pharoah impersonate Kanye:
This week, Pharaoh will embark on his first ever solo stand up tour of Australia. He’ll take in Sydney’s Factory Theatre as part of Sydney Comedy Festival on the 17th of May, followed by two shows at Melbourne’s only dedicated comedy venue The Comic’s Lounge on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th May.
There’s a reason why Jay Pharoah’s impersonations, social commentary and one-liners have the world bent over backwards in side-splitting fits of laughter: they’re ridiculously accurate and don’t press the wrong buttons in a society where comic taste is changing at a rapid pace.
Perhaps it’s best explained by Pharoah himself as he remembered the time he did his impression of Barack Obama for Obama.
“I was at an event. It was a secret Obama event,” he told Harry Connick, Jr. on his Harry talk show. “It was a charity dinner, and it was at a house and they said Jay show up and put this on, Obama’s going to be there.
“I’m like, ‘Oh snap.’ I don’t want to ruin this ‘cause he’s the most powerful man in the world and if I do mess up he’s just going to be like, ‘Off with his head’ and I don’t want that to happen. The fear I had doing Obama to Obama, the seething fear… there was bowel activity, almost.
“I do it, and I’m looking at him as I’m doing it and I hope I’m not messing up,” he continued. “He read me and I didn’t even have to say nothing, he was like ‘Nah, you’re doing pretty good’.”
Watch Pharaoh tell the story of when he did Barack Obama for Obama:
Jay Pharoah received the most press out of any Saturday Night Live cast member during his six-season run. And when he left the show in 2016, he used the ensuing platform to speak about racism in the entertainment industry and an incident where he refused to wear a dress for a skit.
“The dress thing is just an issue in the black community in general,” Pharoah told News Corp. “They always emasculate a black man and try and put him in a dress and that seems like the initiation for you kinda making it. But I feel like if you’re talented you don’t need to go that route.”
Don’t expect Jay Pharoah to just regurgitate the jokes that won America over with projects like the Jamie Foxx-produced White Famous TV series. Or the quips which landed him slots on Family Guy, BoJack Horseman, Robot Chicken and SuperMansion. Pharoah has actually been working hard on Australia-centric jokes especially curated for each location.
On his writing process, Pharaoh told The Brag. “I try to find what really makes me laugh uncontrollably – whether it’s a noise, a current event, or just me freestyle writing whatever comes to mind. Then I try to build the punches around the premise of the joke.”
WATCH: Jay Pharoah’s hilarious stand-up
Jay Pharoah may have been the class clown in suburban Virginia, but get to know him and he’s uncharacteristically studious. The way he crafts his comedy could be described as obsessional; the way he takes on performative roles, admirable. Before the year is out, Pharoah will have released four films, three of which he’s the lead role in.
Comic flair and mannerisms may have come naturally to Pharoah from a young age, and you’d be forgiven for thinking his current reputation wasn’t earned, but you’d also be wrong. Jay Pharoah mines his history and his life as a black man in America for material that would make you cry if he didn’t present it with his trademark wit.
Pharoah, along with his contemporaries like Kevin Hart, Michelle Wolf and Sonia Denis, ushers in a new age for stand-up comedy. Shows like Hannah Gadsby’s ‘Nanette’ are now creating long-lasting conversations around sexism, homophobia, and racism. We may be laughing, but we’re also paying attention.
“I’m ready for everything,” he told The Undefeated back in 2017. “I’ve seen this industry; I’ve seen what it entails. I know what to stay away from. I know what type of vibe I don’t click with. I get that now.
When Jay Pharoah delivers his own brand of life’s cold truths here in Australia – between the bouts of explosive laughter and screeching gasps – we’ll leave having taken a long hard look at ourselves, and the social discord ravaging the world.
Because in 2019, perhaps comedy is the best starting point for well-overdue conversations, and if anyone can ease us into these conversations it’s Jay Pharoah.
Jay Pharoah Australian Tour 2019
Friday, May 17th
Factory Theatre, Marrickville NSW
Saturday, May 18th
The Comic’s Lounge, North Melbourne, VIC
Sunday, May 19th
The Comic’s Lounge, North Melbourne, VIC
