We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jamar Taylor a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jamar, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I believe as a creative, it’s important to be well rounded, it will take you places you never imagined. Despite that belief, the opportunity to produce and headline 2 sold out shows, open up for AFRAM, perform and produce for Baltimore Comedy Festival in addition to hosting an open mic on the other side of the world were the last things I expected to be apart of my journey. I guess life can be funny like that sometimes (upon rereading this, that pun was NOT intentional). There I was, October 4th, 2021, waiting in the wings of Magooby’s (one of Maryland’s more prevalent comedy clubs) with palms so sweaty that Eminem would be proud. Overzealous, I’d invited over 20 people I knew for my comedy debut. I knew that whether I failed or succeeded, I would never forgive myself for never taking my shot at stand up and with a deployment in the cards less than a year later, I may never get the chance again.

Everything leading up to that moment was a blur, I remember seeing various acts that ranged from a Michael Jackson impersonator to a now friend and mentor of mine talking about charging her s*x toy on her son’s video game console. As I watched in wait, I remember thinking to myself “This is supposed to be amateur night, these motherf*ckers are hilarious”. I had always been drawn to comedy, but to see how meticulous but effortless those comedians made it seem was nothing short of magical. I still feel it to this day, watching comedians navigate through bits and stories like driving on a curvy backroad, finding the nuances in certain moments or deliveries.

That night, I felt as if I was in a trance, filled with laughter and smiles. The only thing that snapped me out of it was a tap on the shoulder from that night’s host and my friend, Matt Brown. “You’re up after the next act” seemed to reverberate in my ear in slow motion as the realization came to me that it was my turn to make that crowd laugh. Fear washed over me as I remembered from all the people I invited, half of them actually showed up. If I went up on this stage and bombed in front of my family and friends, I would move to the mid west with a new identity.

As I stepped on stage, scattered applause and blinding lights swallowed the room. I took a deep breath and said the boldest line I’ve probably ever said on as a comedian by far. “Hello, my name is Jamar Taylor, this is my first time doing standup. I just want to say this before I start. Babe, if I win this competition tonight, I better be getting the best p*ssy of my life after this.” The crowd went BONKERS. I let a small smirk slip as the realization dawned that I was doing something right.

Getting the crowd on your side is half the fight. The other half is keeping them there. After such a bold opening, I quickly found I had to keep that energy to keep the crowd’s attention. I talked about drug addicts doing the crate challenge (if you haven’t seen it, please do yourself a favor and YouTube that shit), drug dealers van of choice and a myriad of other things before I realized I forgot the rest of my set. I took a pause and thought about what drew me to comedy, the raw truth. With my note cards in my back pocket, I came clean. “I’m not going to lie, I forgot what I was about to say.” In what seemed like an eternity but actually was less than a second, the house went into an uproar of laughter. I finished strong and regardless of a win or not, I was proud to do what I set out to.

That night changed my life forever. When I think about the risk I took, making a room full of people who didn’t know me laugh and where its taken me, I think of a quote from comedian Lunelle, “If you don’t have to do comedy to survive, you won’t make it.” That night, I made the decision to do comedy with all my being and let everybody know who Jamar Taylor is.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m unsure of how to start this…. Hello, my name is Jamar Taylor. I’m a comedian from Baltimore and welcome to my TEDTalk? I had a very unique upbringing. As a child, as outgoing as I was, my interests never aligned with those of my peers and it made me a bit of a loner. I could understand why my classmates weren’t too keen of me either. I was never in to being on the basketball or skipping class. My mother was my 5th grade teacher. Even to adult me now, what I’m describing sounds like a volunteer hall monitor. There are multiple points in my life that pushed me to comedy but aside from trying comedy a sleep away camp when I was ten (you can read about that riot house at: https://voyagebaltimore.com/interview/rising-stars-meet-jamar-taylor-of-baltimore/ ), the first big one came at the age of 12. My life drastically changed when I moved to Shanghai, China with my mom.

In China, I had to learn a sense of independence. Going from a child who was scared to take the city bus because of stranger danger to being homeschooled and learning the intricate subway system (Shanghai’s subway system is as complex as New York’s) will change anyone’s outlook on life. With this independence came the opportunity to discover how cheap pirated DVDs are in Shanghai. Why my mother consistently funded this DVD addiction is beyond me. To get a rough idea of how bad it had gotten, by the time I was 13, I had watched the ENTIRETY of the series ‘Lost’ 3 times (which I just googled is 90 hours long and funny enough, saw the suggestion “Is Lost appropriate for 12 year olds?”, to which the answer is yes so big ups to you Mom). One day on my prowl for my next movie, I discovered Donald Glover: Weirdo (yes, Childish Gambino has a stand up special).

Now in my middle school fed days, I utilized Pandora’s comedy stations and promptly used all 6 skips in search of more content from a comedian if I liked them but as for watching comedians and not using my 12 year old imagination, I was highly inexperienced (aside from anything Kevin Hart or Fluffy). Although there’s a clear age difference between me and Donald Glover, I could relate to him a bit more than the grown people talking about grown experiences I had ZERO idea about at the time. Another thing that stood out to me was his quirkiness, at that point of my adolescence, I thought of my eccentric nature as a weakness and here I was, eyes glued to the screen, watching someone successfully make it a strength and fearless claiming it.

I still hold those values to this day. Not taking anything away from comedians/social media stars who assume a personality or persona when performing, it’s just not for me. Going back to a point I made in the story of my amateur night, what drew me and continues to draw me to comedy is truth. Yes, some details may be stretched or dramatized but the perspective is what will constantly ring true. What sets me apart from other entertainers is my experience grouped with my perspective. Although I’ve lived in Shanghai, went to an arts high school (with no sports, WOOT WOOT) and am currently deployed in the Middle East, I’ve also had some dark experiences and have been places you wouldn’t expect to see someone like me be. What makes me proud of the work that I’ve done boils down to what I learned from watching Donald Glover that day: There’s a ASL word for niglet, any joke about p*op is funny and to fearlessly claim who you are, good or bad.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I think a story that best illustrates my resiliency is still being written as we speak. A comedians journey already a difficult journey. As an artist in general, you may have a goal you want to reach but speaking for a lot of creatives, a great part of it is being flexible. When it does come time to meet a certain goal (like seeing if you can pull of a self produced show or headline for the first time), either you succeed and think of the next ceiling to break or you don’t and figure out how to improve and try again.

Breaking the next ceiling is hard enough. There’s always the desire to go bigger and better. But to try and break the mold from over 6.000 miles away is an entire different level. That’s my current life. With a successful series of sold out shows, I made the decision to not look at my deployment as time away from my craft, but a different approach.

I knew it’d be difficult, but there are some things you just simply cannot prepare for. The time difference is a big part of it. When everyone is turning in for the night or already sleep, I’m waking up and getting my day started. It makes you feel disconnected from a world you were once so familiar with. Correspondence with other artists or businesses that should take days turn into weeks. It can sometimes drive you a bit mad, lying in wait for a response.

Another thing is trusting others with your vision. I set out to complete the preparation for my biggest self produced production by far in order to start executing the necessary steps upon my return. What I didn’t consider was how much not being there in person to meet the faces or see the spaces you see potential in impacts the creative process. My curation style is always centered around a set of question that reflect how something or someone makes me feel. There’s a disconnect when you have to look at a 2 dimensional version of those questions, whether it’s judging a potential artist off their social media presence (which to me does not determine someone’s prowess in their field but that’s a story for a different day) or a google images picture of a venue.

With all that being said, I don’t regret going through this unique trial, I feel as though it’s made me a stronger leader and showed me who I can trust to delegate certain moves on my behalf. And I look forward to see my hard work pay off. Keeping my self motivation up was hard at time but the culmination of nearly a year’s work will show Mar & Friends 3 on September 2nd, 6PM at Baltimore Theater Project! (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mar-friends-3-live-at-baltimore-theater-project-tickets-676049009787)

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Something I’d like to tell “non-creatives” is that creatives come in all types of forms. I don’t mean the philosophical “all shapes and sizes” spiel but I mean the lives they lead. I’m in the US Army, a comedian, a freelance creative director, a producer with an certification in security + in information technology. I grew up under the notion that you were either left brained or right. Analytic or creative. Life is what you make it. And just because you may consider yourself left brained, doesn’t mean you can’t tap in to that right side every once in a while.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/bmorefunnymar?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Bmorefunnymar