Jessie 'Jetski' Johnson blew an NAU trumpet scholarship. Now she's jazzing up stand-up comedy

Jessie Johnson is a stand-up comedian who grew up in the Valley, and she’s really starting to make a name for herself.

She recently toured the world with fellow stand-ups Andrew Santino and Bobby Lee, and she performs regularly at LA’s legendary Comedy Store, one of the premiere venues in the country.

But before all that, Jessie was on a very different journey. She grew up playing classical music on the trumpet. She went to Northern Arizona University on a trumpet scholarship, envisioning a life for herself as a touring musician.

But then, she told The Show, things took a turn.

Full conversation

JESSIE JOHNSON: To keep the scholarship I had — it was a full-ride scholarship — but to keep it, I was so overloaded with work. There was so many classes and requirements to keep. And I was also simultaneously doing a lot of drugs. Can I say that on here? [LAUGHS]

DINGMAN: Yeah, it’s fine.

JOHNSON: Psychedelics — like maybe I don’t name all of them. But that’s what I was taught in school. ... Not directly, but I was taught, like, if you want to play like the greats, live how they live their lives.

And a lot of musicians I looked up to, Miles Davis ... They all like experimented in drugs. So I was like, “Oh, I want to be great.” ... And so I was doing that, and then it just got me esoteric. And I ended up dropping out of school.

DINGMAN: Can I ask, did you feel like it helped your playing — the drugs?

JOHNSON: It didn’t. It completely ruined my life for a while. But I think, if I’m being completely honest, in hindsight, I am glad I did them. And I hesitate because I don’t like advocating for that.

DINGMAN: Sure.

JOHNSON: But I do enjoy my perspective on life, and I like my mind. And I don’t know if I would have gotten here without those experiences.

I ended up going back. It’s funny, I actually — I got another full-ride scholarship at Mesa Community College in trumpet paying. And then I quit that because I just — I think when you have a calling, somebody told me once that your calling, you don’t choose it, it chooses you, or your purpose.

And so I think as much as I had this trajectory towards music, something else was pulling me somewhere else. And eventually I went to Scottsdale Community College and simultaneously joined this sketch comedy group.

DINGMAN: And so when you joined the sketch group in Scottsdale —

JOHNSON: It felt like my life had been saved. ... Because I was in such a bad place. I mean, imagine you have like all this potential and everyone believes in you. Then you kind of just like, next thing you know, you don’t even know you did it, but it’s like gone. Just being part of a — like belonging somewhere, it like really helped me work towards something.

DINGMAN: So I kind of see a connection there between, if you’re a trumpeter, generally speaking, you’re playing in an ensemble. When you’re doing sketch, generally speaking, you’re part of an ensemble, right? At a certain point, you decided to get up there by yourself.

JOHNSON: Well, the first place I did stand-up was at the Ice House Tavern.

DINGMAN: Yes.

JOHNSON: You’ve been there?

DINGMAN: I have been there.

JOHNSON: That place rocks. It’s a little dive bar attached to a hockey rink behind a Walmart. And the whole wall behind the bar is a glass window to the rink. It seats like, what, 40? ... It’s tiny. And, yeah, we do open mics there.

It was a crazy experience because you’d be doing jokes, and then a fight would break out against the glass. You know, like, hockey pucks would hit this side. Crazy environment to start in, because you had all distractions.

DINGMAN: Right. Do you remember the jokes you did your first time up?

JOHNSON: So bad. Like, what kind of tea does a camel drink? Camel-meal. Like, cringeworthy.

DINGMAN: But at a certain point, I have to imagine people started reacting more to your jokes rather than, “I see you trying to do jokes.”

JOHNSON: Yeah, yeah.

DINGMAN: And they got to a place where they saw you executing jokes and were like, “Hey, that’s good. Hey, I like that.”

JOHNSON: Yeah.

DINGMAN: Do you remember any particular moment where that happened?

JOHNSON: Yeah, I do. Again, you might have to, like, bleep it out.

DINGMAN: That’s fine.

JOHNSON: But I remember the first joke I did that got a reaction that I was like shocked. I was like, “Whoa, I could get laughs like that?” I just walked out there and I was so much, so awkward and nervous. Like, way nervous on stage. And I just, the first thing I said was, [CENSORED].

And I got this, like, huge pop. Yeah. I remember just after I said it and be like, “Oh, now I know how to get the laugh.” Because I was thinking, "OK, when I go up there, what do people see? They see someone who looks really young. So I’m gonna acknowledge that."

It’s like, you want to kind of direct the thoughts and then take it somewhere that they don’t even see it coming. Like, it made me go, “Whoa.” So I was like, if it makes me think like that, it’s gonna make an audience freak out. That was that moment of, "OK, I could really play around with people’s expectations."

DINGMAN: Got it. I’m curious what you make of Phoenix audiences specifically. Having now moved to LA, done stand-up all over the place. What do you think characterizes Phoenix audiences? And I ask that because I have seen lots of comics who aren’t from here come through town, play venues like the Tempe Improv, Stand Up Live, and they really struggle.

JOHNSON: That’s interesting because my experience is it’s like the best crowds ever. ... But maybe I just relate better because I grew up in the desert. I know what it’s like. I know what the heat’s like. I know it’s like when we had the I-10 shooter and everyone just kept going to work. Like that’s a crazy place we live in. Like not a lot phases people out here.

You know, people die just from the heat every year. This is a tough town. It’s just decorated with grass and palm trees now. But it’s still like the West, you know?

DINGMAN: Yeah.

JOHNSON: I think people who live here for a long time, they just kind of have like a roughness to them where you gotta really like catch them off guard, maybe. Growing up, my parents were very hands-off, very Siddhartha. Like, make your own mistakes, learn from it. And boy did I.

DINGMAN: Very Siddhartha. That’s a good way to put it.

JOHNSON: So I don’t know, I’ve made so many mistakes. ... I think you hear a lot of stand-ups — more so in the ’70s than now. But as they get into stand-up, they get famous or whatever that is, and then they start doing drugs, and then they mess up their life. I luckily did that already.

DINGMAN: OK. Yeah, yeah. So one of the things about you that is true to you, that is still a part of your act, is your trumpet.

JOHNSON: Yes.

DINGMAN: And you have your trumpet with you today in the studio.

JOHNSON: I don’t know if it’s right, I don’t know if it’s funny, I don’t know if it’s comedy. But there’s something in it that is like pulling me towards it. And the latest is I’ve like started using pedals and mutes and like electronifying it.

DINGMAN: Cool. Well, that is what we have set up here in the studio. So if you wouldn’t mind, perhaps you could favor us with a little bit of pedal-infused trumpet.

JOHNSON: Yeah. Let me see if this is all — [PLAYS TRUMPET]

Yeah, I don’t know if this is comedy, but — it's something. [LAUGHS]

DINGMAN: Definitely makes me think about Miles Davis.

JOHNSON: Yeah. It’s just fun to like — [PLAYS TRUMPET].

But I feel like then almost anything you say after it, the tension’s already there of like, “What’s she gonna say?” So there’s something to it. I’m excited to explore it.

[PLAYS NOTES FROM "THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER"]

I don’t know, I could open my show like that. [LAUGHS]

DINGMAN: [LAUGHS] That’s so amazing.

JOHNSON: What’s up, Tempe? [LAUGHS]

DINGMAN: Well, those are the sweet trumpet sounds and the voice of my guest, Jessie Johnson. Jessie, thank you so much.

JOHNSON: Thank you so much for having me.