Janelle James on Fifth Emmy Nomination for Abbott Elementary, Comedy Idols & Dealing with Hecklers

To make it morning announcements over a glitchy PA system She stars as principal Ava Coleman on Abbott Elementary Ava the teachers and I Appreciate you're doing something innovative, but this no homework thing is proving to be detrimental to how we do our job Seems effective to me Now that the students aren't always talking about homework. Maybe we could get a d1 athlete from here I'm so happy to meet you excited to meet you. First of all, congratulations on your fifth Emmy nomination How do you get it you get excited, I mean it's like every year you get nominated every year I get nominated and And and you know, it's an honor it's an honor Yes, indeed, and you to be nominated for this role, but you know, my finest performance usually happens when I lose Oh, really? Can you show me a little what that looks like? Sure. It might be practicing. Who knows? Okay. All right Okay, you want to be announcement? Yes. Okay, and the winner is not Janelle James Yeah, do you are you friends with any of the other nominees yes, yes Yeah, you know that right exactly. Yeah showbiz so happy happy for them, right? Now you were doing stand-up yeah a long time Yes, 15 years good for you. And did you start out in the little dinky clubs all over the head all the chuckle? huh, yes, haha lounge and right Midwest and so Vfw's and I know you started the same way And did you have the comedy condo where you had to stay with the other comics? I never stayed with the other comics But I what I would do is I would get a room but I would sleep with my my back up against the door like sitting Yeah, I've done that. Yeah, because then you would have a roommate If you didn't do it, yeah, yeah, who did you admire stand-up wise when you were never starting now? Definitely Richard Pryor was for sure And then not stand up but just comedically I love and still love loose little ball like that Yeah, and when you got this gig, you know, they sent you scripts and you were auditioning or not you yeah I auditioned during a pandemic By zoom I did three different auditions and and I got a book the pilot I came out I did it But it was like such a whirlwind. I just went back home like that was cool Yeah, and then they're like, oh we're gonna shoot a season and I did that and I went back home like that was cool And then it came out and it was just such a success and then I'm at the Emmys and I'm pointing it You know Dustin Hoffman like right in his face Yeah, it's been it's been it's been wild Yeah I was reading that you got a lot of help from a lot of comedians who took you on the road when you were sort of so many sort of New like give us a shout out the first. Oh, he's gonna love this Todd Berry is the first person I don't know if you guys know he's the first comedian to take me on the road. I've toured Rami Schumer Chris Rock David Cross Rob Odenkirk Eugene Merman, ah, so many people and yeah, I mean comedians. We're not the most mentally well, but we But we do we do help each other out, yeah Yeah, totally have you how do you deal with hecklers because I have always found like it's the worst part of doing stand-up Well, yeah, well, that's what fame has come in handy. I don't get too many hecklers now I'm a little further away, right? But oh man, especially when I was doing a small small towns, I would get hecklers. I have like so many horrible stories I know one time I was in The home of Ronald Reagan, I forget what town that is Dixon, Illinois Yeah, and I was doing a comedy contest it was me the local radio host who was doing an Elvis impersonation and a juggler in the final three and And I'm doing my set and this woman she's talking and talking and I said, what's your name? She said Tammy and I said Tammy. Is that your husband sitting next to you? She said, yeah I said tell me if you don't stop talking. I'm gonna be a husband And then he said keep talking Tammy. I Came in second to the Elvis impersonator. Oh, you did that must have hurt, but you recently just filmed your Netflix special Team your specials. Do you like try to get an overriding con? I do so this one is a hilarious subject matter murder Seriously murder murder. Yeah, and you can make that funny. Yes So tune in this fall when that comes out and yeah, I'm not joking That's the that's the that's the through line for this mess. Is it like true crime people or crime? familiar side domestic murders I wouldn't have thought of that. Remember your first time you went on stage. I do it was at a biker bar Wow open mic and I remember I got my first laugh I did three minutes and I got my first laugh and I was like, oh, this is what I do now Was it the same for you? Well the first time I went on stage. I stole Jerry Seinfeld's material Oh, I didn't know that you had to write your own. Oh, I didn't know I was like 16 Yeah, I was 16 years old. I saw him on Merv Griffin and I went up and not only did I steal his lines I stole his cadence. I was like, I'm thinking Like I actually talk like it But I did really well the first night because it was Jerry Seinfeld's material then the next night I came back and I died a Horrible death, but that's that's what usually happens. Yes with comedians We go in we do well or we get a couple laughs and we're like, oh, I'm Seinfeld. That's what you think exactly and then you go back you bomb but they say that's the the mark of a true comedian if you can bomb and feel that awful pain and continue to do and still do it because it was like the best night of my life and then the worst night of my life and Exactly. Yeah now your cast seems to get along So well, everyone you can tell when you watch a show that the people really like each other Yeah, and isn't that a wonderful work environment is cuz I've heard yeah, it's not It's not always that yeah, I've heard so I feel super like lucky and yeah Like you said you can see it and we just dealt like immediately Like I said, even from the pilot it was like, oh, this is something like you can feel it Yeah, I've known Shirley Ralph for a long time. I mean, she's a Highlander. She sure is. She's she's she's everywhere You know, I watch a show and she pops up and she knows everyone like everyone. So yeah, she was in the Flintstone She gave me Bam Bam when I adopted Yes But I also knew her from Broadway, of course, yeah, yeah, you ever do any theater you ever well No, but I feel like stand-up is like doing a one-woman show. It totally is every night that I've written, you know Well, exactly. Listen, I think you're gonna win this year the fifth time's a charm So get your speech ready