As we grow older, we must all face questions about the direction our lives will take. For some, the answers may lead to building a family. For others, they could lead to comfort in pursuing what you really love doing. Only a remote few are able to find success in the world of comedy and engage their audiences with a unique style of therapeutic humor. Jen Kirkman–who will be appearing at the Arlington Cinema Drafthouse in Arlington, VA on Feb. 27 and 28–is among this number, and it has informed the approach she’s taken for several of the projects she’s worked on in recent years.
As we grow older, we must all face questions about the direction our lives will take. For some, the answers may lead to building a family. For others, they could lead to comfort in pursuing what you really love doing. Only a remote few are able to find success in the world of comedy and engage their audiences with a unique style of therapeutic humor. Jen Kirkman–who will be appearing at the Arlington Cinema Drafthouse in Arlington, VA on Feb. 27 and 28–is among this number, and it has informed the approach she’s taken for several of the projects she’s worked on in recent years.
Kirkman has been a part of the comedy community for close to two decades. Her two stand-up records, Self Help and Hail to the Freaks, have received widespread acclaim, and she is set to release her first one-hour comedy special, entitled I’m Gonna Die Alone (And I Feel Fine), at some point this year.
Kirkman shot the special at The North Door in Austin, Texas with the help of filmmaker Lance Bangs. “We did two shows and I felt like the audience for the second show weren’t laughing as much. It might be all in my head, but it felt like the first show was a bit stronger,” Kirkman recalls. For her, a big part of doing this special was to more or less retire some material that had been part of her set for a while. “There are bits that I have been working on for the past five years. Some that even appeared on the records, but I feel a lot better about them now. Once you put them into a special, that’s pretty much a way of saying goodbye to that material,” Kirkman says. “Once on tape, it’s put to rest.”
Her current tour has allowed her to work on new material that she is excited to share with audiences around the globe. She’s particularly excited to return to Northern Virginia. “The last time I visited Arlington, it was on my book tour,” she says. “This time around, it will be all new stuff that I have worked on. I’m excited to have this material that I can tour on.”
Outside of working on new material and filming this special, Kirkman hosts a weekly podcast entitled I Seem Fun: The Diary of Jen Kirkman Podcast. Each episode features Kirkman’s stream of consciousness as she describes what’s going on in her life at length, and at times will communicate directly with fans that write to her with questions. “The thing about the podcast is that it gives fans a bit more of an insight into who I am off-stage,” she says. “There are still those moments where after a show someone will ask if I want to go grab a drink and I have to explain that I’m off and tired and would rather just go back to my hotel. The person I am on stage is different than the person I am off.”
As the podcast grows in popularity, she has noticed a bit of a change in the dynamics of certain audiences. “One of my favorite moments was when an audience member mentioned that from listening to my podcast, she would watch one of my sets and observe the audience throughout. Whenever I would receive a huge laugh, she would be really excited for me,” Kirkman relates. “That to me was the most wonderful thing that I could imagine sharing with anyone who enjoys what I do.” At the same time, she does see how content in the podcast might be difficult fodder to develop for the stage. “Back in September, I did a show in Brooklyn where I was working through a good amount of material,” Kirkman says. “I started listening back to old episodes to see if there was anything I could pull from. I was surprised to see that there really wasn’t much.” Nonetheless, the podcast continues to acquire new listeners and has even developed into a live show from time to time.
A huge factor in Kirkman’s rise in popularity may be her book I Can Barely Take Care Of Myself: Tales From A Happy Life Without Kids. The 2013 book relates her experiences with telling people that she has never felt a desire to have children, and the way some people have reacted as if she was insane. She has been steadily working on a follow-up that she just recently submitted a first draft of to her publishers. “The book I am currently working on is covering the past few years of my life, and not a lot of it seems like it could work on stage,” Kirkman explains. “There was one bit that ended up in the special. At first, I wanted to hold on to it but it seemed to fit the vibe of the show that I decided to include it. Everything else would probably work better in some other narrative form like television or film.”
This year, Kirkman will be performing a one-woman show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Her appearance will span the course of three weeks and be a variation of the special she just filmed. “I’ll be doing I’m Gonna Die Alone (And I Feel Fine) for those audiences, but I might include a ten minute story that I might not feel as comfortable doing in a comedy club,” she says. She feels this approach will work better in a comedy festival setting. “That’s the great thing about the audiences there, where you can go up and do Mitch Hedberg one liners, or work in stories,” she epxlains. “The audiences are incredibly respectful and receptive of either approach.”
Kirkman is careful to keep the material she works on original, and not infringe on territory covered by other comedians. In a new bit she had been working on, she discusses her feelings about customer service. “I really despise small talk. If you get into a cab and the driver asks what you’re in town for. I’d almost rather have big talk and ask questions like how do you think you’re going to die,” she says, by way of explanation. “After I started working on that, someone mentioned to me that there was [a similar bit] on Curb Your Enthusiasm, where he wonders what the cab driver’s ‘medium talk’ would be. I could probably put a different spin on it, but I think it’s better to be aware of those similarities and move towards other material.”
Despite setbacks like this, Kirkman continues to win over audiences all across the globe. The fact that she can draw a loyal audience familiar with her work is something she cherishes. “If a comedy fan listens to my podcast and attends one of my shows, it seems like a dream audience to me,” she explains. “Just due to the fact that they get what I’m doing and they have a little more insight into who I am, as opposed to me being in a situation where I might have to kick drunk people out of a show. It’s always the worst because it makes me wonder how much value they can get out of the show if they are in that state of mind. Thankfully, I find myself with audiences that seem to get a lot out of the shows and that’s what it’s really all about.”
I’m Gonna Die Alone (And I Feel Fine) will be another big achievement in Kirkman’s already spectacular career. In a recent episode of I Seem Fun, she explained that the special’s title is an examination of the circumstances of mortality: after all, even with a loved one beside us, it’s not as if anyone can accompany us once we venture into the afterlife. With that in mind, she continues to seek and find comfort in what life has in store for all of us. Between the comedy special, a new book, a non-stop touring agenda, and regularly posted episodes of her podcast, Kirkman is becoming more and more recognized for her spectacular brand of comedy–and the world is all the better for it.
Jen Kirkman will appear at the Arlington Cinema Drafthouse on Friday, February 27 and Saturday, February 28, for one show on Friday and two shows on Saturday. Tickets for each show are $22 in advance, and can be purchased HERE.
