How Jordan Firstman Became The Funniest Man On The Internet – British Vogue

It was back in mid-May, during what he now calls banana bread week, that Jordan Firstmans fortunes changed. LA had been in lockdown for almost two months, and the writer and comedian, (Firstman has written for shows including Search Party) alone in his apartment and recuperating from a break-up, had been filling his time filming himself doing impressions and uploading them to Instagram. A cult following was forming then he posted his impression of banana breads publicist and everything blew up.

You should know, if you arent familiar with his work, that Firstman is no mimic he doesnt do famous people (despite the many messages he receives from confused people requesting impersonations of Donald Trump). Which isnt to say he doesnt do impressions of recognisable characters we all very much know the person he based his impression of someone getting nominated for an Instagram challenge on.

Everyday objects, mundane situations and abstract concepts are Firstmans fodder. His impressions are wonderfully silly, painfully accurate and crucially very, very funny. Mother nature, social media posts, haircuts, neglected clothes all have received the Firstman treatment. (One that a lot of women related to was my impression of truffle oil, he says.) He is now on season 15 of Impressions, has well over half a million followers and a growing celebrity fan club, which currently numbers Ariana Grande, Jennifer Aniston, Chrissy Teigen, Katy Perry and Sarah Jessica Parker. The last sent Firstman a really nice long DM that made me cry.

We are, naturally, speaking over Zoom. (So good is Firstman at lockdown that he actually invested in Zoom and Peloton the first day of quarantine. I think Ive made $67 so far.) He is in the midst of a break-up redesign and has painted the walls of his apartment with Dali-esque clouds against a sky-blue backdrop. His accent is pure LA millennial, an upward inflection turning every sentence into a question littered with likes a habit he is trying to kick. Im trying really hard to cut back on my like usage, so forgive me for the likes, Im working on it, he says shyly. It should be an impression, I suggest. Yeah, my impression of how shameful it is to be the word like.

Its a prime example of how Firstmans mind works, and where he finds inspiration. Im obsessed with subtext and I feel like I have a pretty good eye to know what someone means when theyre speaking. I write the thing that theyre thinking.

Sometimes its a little too relatable. The impression that people felt the most personally attacked by was his impression of someone doing the work.That one got reposted a lot. Sometimes Ill check what people are saying and there was a lot of Oh my God, thats me, he says, with mock horror in his voice. A certain demographic (read: white women who like coffee and yoga) will recognise themselves more than others. There are definitely a lot of LA stereotypes, he admits. Is anything off limits? I dont want to make fun of people that are already taken to task in the world, he says. I will continue to make fun of privilege.

Now that lockdown has eased and we are allowed beyond our four walls, is he getting recognised out in public? Um, yeah, he says coyly. Its very weird. I was out sitting in the park drinking wine by myself and someone was like, Are you Justin? And I was like, Its JORDAN. I was being funny but that may have been misinterpreted. But being stopped on a camping trip in Lake Tahoe was by far the craziest thing to happen to me. Crazier than DMing SJP? Yes! Ill say it again: I was in the middle of the wild-er-ness.

Firstman had the most 90s upbringing in suburban Long Island, the son of parents who both worked for a newspaper. As a teenager, he discovered Stephen Sondheims Company, which fully changed my entire life. At 21, he moved to LA and started forging a career in film and TV. Now, thanks in part to the widespread success of Impressions, he is working on three new projects and we may or may not be seeing him on screen more, too. Im open to a reality where that happens, he says, but my only true acting aspirations are doing Sondheim on stage.

Having Hollywood tell him hes funny has been, in some ways, surprising. Ive been told my whole career that Im niche, which in Hollywood is code for too gay, he says. So when this happened I was like, I knew it, I knew I wasnt niche. You fuckers lied to me!

TV shows like Fleabag and I May Destroy You have been monumental for young creators like myself to see that this kind of work can be done, he continues. Watching Michaela [Coel, who wrote and starred in the latter] and her creative evolution is just so inspiring. I would love to feel that way about a gay person. Hopefully Ill be that to somebody.I have no doubt he will be.

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How Jordan Firstman Became The Funniest Man On The Internet - British Vogue