Jessica Williams delivers night of political comedy

On Monday night, the USC Speakers Committee and Political Student Assembly joined forces to promote political awareness and civic engagement through an inspiring night of political comedy starring Jessica Williams.

Williams was a former correspondent on The Daily Show and is currently a co-host of the podcast 2 Dope Queens. She also starred in the 2017 Netflix movie The Incredible Jessica James.

Though the night promised to address its political undertones, Williams kicked off her set with an icebreaker stand-up routine. She disclosed how she was rejected from USC and spoke at length about a bizarre experience en route to her show at a college in Ohio — an experience that began and ended with a white guy in Jordans offering her marijuana. The anecdote quickly landed at Williams’ stance on recreational drugs: an anxious sputter of “I’d rather not” concerning weed and a wink at something else.

“My life’s mission is to have things not be weird, awkward and sh-tty,” she said, summoning a series of affirmative snaps from the audience.

Williams went on to talk about where she cultivated her sense of humor — an amalgamation of politically charged anger and her grandmother’s terrific taste in television. Her grandmother introduced her to comedic classics like Saturday Night Live and South Park, a stark change of pace from her Christian upbringing. She described her grandmother as a woman watching television with “her hand under her breasts,” drinking a Colt 45. It was through these experiences that Williams realized she wanted to make people laugh.

Her political anger — a valid and necessary anger, as she assured the audience — stemmed partly from the outdated practices of the Christian church. Williams recounted a purity ceremony she attended, in which about 20 girls in white gowns pledged their virginity until marriage. Explaining the historic ties of Christianity to African American culture, Williams said she felt that she owed her purity to the community around her.

“I found that I’ve always fallen short of what a black woman is supposed to be,” Williams said. “What is beauty in this country?”

Finding that her grades were suffering due to an unshakable feeling of inferiority, Williams’ mother offered her a piece of advice that she said awakened her consciousness to the illegitimate and unjust social hierarchies of the world.

“[My mother said], ‘You can never be average because you look like me and your skin is mine, and because you look like me, you will always have to work 10 times harder,’” Williams said.

Williams closed her set with the uplifting story of how she got hired as a full-time correspondent on The Daily Show. The anecdote began with television host Jon Stewart walking into her studio reading and singing and ended with how her self-proclaimed “black female anger rock” allowed her to find her voice on the show. The latter, in even more of a dreamscape, led Williams to a five hour “friendship-romantic” dinner with J.K. Rowling.

After wishing the audience good luck with midterms, Williams stayed for an intimate round of questions, the crux of which circled back to her timeless message regarding the political frustrations of the audience.

“We’re all going through a lot of stuff and we carry that around, but now is a good time to be a person of color, queer, Muslim … because people want to hear what you have to say,” Williams said. “If you feel something, that’s where all the good stuff is. Do something.”