Entertainment
Sam Jay became a comedy master later in life. She explains how in “Masters of the Game”
Sam Jay is the very unlikely latest star in comedy. She began doing stand-up at 29, is a black lesbian from Boston, and is now a universally adored master of the art of stand-up. You can see it in the way she walks on stage and relaxes. You can see it in the way she exudes that factor. You can see it in the way she delivers her jokes like she’s throwing a game—calm but cocky, laid-back but deadly. She’s hysterical, and on several occasions she’s made me laugh so hard I physically hurt. She has one long line about playing around along with her fiancée, and no, I can’t even paraphrase that line. I’m just saying she’s really sharp at her craft. She told me she studied comedy and that’s why she’s a master of the game now. Don’t miss my hysterical interview along with her on “Masters of the Game,” now available on theGrio.
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Jay got into comedy late because that is how life dealt her. When Jay was a teenager in Boston, she was interested in comedy, but her mother was sick for years. She died when Jay was 19, after which Jay went through years of depression and illness. She immersed herself in comedy after which went back to normal life. But when she was 29, very late in her comedian life, she was living in Atlanta and dating the woman who’s now her fiancée. She was coming out of depression, becoming an open lesbian, and she or he was able to attack comedy. She tried it and realized that she desired to succeed there greater than the rest. She went to clubs and commenced studying, and a decade later she’s a star on the rise.
To hear Jay’s full story and her thoughts on what it takes to be a great comedian, take a look at our interview on Masters of the Game.