Jes Tom is sharing their unique queer perspective, helping us all feel “less lonely”
Jes Tom is known for their biting wit and assured onstage persona, delivering unflinchingly honest jokes about the trans experience and their gender identity with a wink. (And a loaded cannon of more where that came from.) Still, they weren’t above a moment of reflection back in March.
On a massive billboard in the middle of Times Square, there was Tom’s face (and cute “little mustache”) in an advertisement for Netflix‘s first-ever genderqueer comedy special Gender Agenda. “I used to walk down [MacDougal Street] dreaming of seeing my pic on comedy posters,” Tom wrote. “Now I’m posting empire state of mind in earnest!!!!”And if a cosign from Hannah Gadsby wasn’t enough, the New York-based comic had another huge accomplishment under their belt: a recently-wrapped Off-Broadway run of their candid solo show Less Lonely, presented by Elliot Page.
The rare feeling of finding resonance hasn’t been lost on the 33-year-old. As they told Interview Magazine, “Having all these different experiences that are my normal … It feels a little magic to be telling this story to people who maybe haven’t thought of things this way.”Subscribe to our newsletter for a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.A post shared by jes tom (@jesthekid)To engage with Tom’s work is to engross yourself in their unique queer perspective –– or at least how they’re feeling right now.
Like any great artist, the Smith College grad admits their opinions are subject to change, as their comedy has.“I’m a fifth-generation Asian American, I’m multiethnic, I’m transmasculine, I go by ‘they’ pronouns, I was a lesbian, now I’m gay,” they told our sister site INTO.
