Jamie Loftus
{{Short description|American comedian and writer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox comedian
| name = Jamie Loftus
| image = Asperger's_Are_Us_and_Jamie_Loftus_(cropped).jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Jamie Loftus in 2017
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
| medium = Stand up, animation, television
| education =
| alma_mater = Emerson College
| years_active =
| genre = Alternative comedy
| website =
}}
Jamie Bethany Loftus is an American writer, stand up alternative comedian, animator, podcast co-host, and actor based in Los Angeles. She is known for her solo work, such as her one-woman shows I Lost My Virginity on August 15, 2010 and Boss, Whom is Girl.{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/rosaescandon/2018/09/07/25-year-old-jamie-loftus-is-bringing-fringe-comedy-to-the-mainstream/|title=25-Year-Old Jamie Loftus Is Bringing Fringe Comedy to the Mainstream|last=Escandon|first=Rosa|date=September 7, 2018|accessdate=August 16, 2019|website=Forbes}}{{cite web|url=https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/fringe-qa-jamie-loftus-reckons-comedy-festival-is-the-perfect-antidote-to-the-world-being-an-active-hell/|title=Fringe Q&A: Jamie Loftus reckons comedy festival is the perfect antidote to the world being an "active hell"|last=Crae|first=Ross|date=July 24, 2019|accessdate=August 16, 2019|website=The Sunday Post}} She has also written comedic articles, and written and starred in video content, for media sites such as Adult Swim, Comedy Central, Paste, and Super Deluxe. She was nominated for an Emmy for her work on Robot Chicken in 2020.{{Cite web|title=Jamie Loftus|url=https://www.emmys.com/bios/jamie-loftus|access-date=2020-12-08|website=Television Academy|language=en}}
Along with fellow comedian Caitlin Durante, she has co-hosted The Bechdel Cast, a weekly podcast about the representation of women in film since 2016.{{cite web|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theater/dance/2019/04/25/how-women-comedy-festival-inspired-new-wave-talent/99h95ak4NbaCb8ZEzOeS0O/story.html|title=How the Women in Comedy Festival inspired a new wave of talent|last=Zaino III|first=Nick A.|date=April 25, 2019|accessdate=August 16, 2019|website=Boston Globe}} She has also produced and hosted limited run podcasts for iHeartRadio: My Year in Mensa, Lolita Podcast, Aack Cast, and Ghost Church.{{Cite magazine|last=Zhang|first=Cat|title=Jamie Loftus, the Comedian Who Infiltrated Mensa|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/jamie-loftus-the-comedian-who-infiltrated-mensa|access-date=2021-02-28|magazine=The New Yorker|date=March 9, 2020|language=en-us}}{{Cite magazine|title=Lolita Podcast|url=https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/podcasts/lolita-podcast-12-28-20|access-date=2021-02-28|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en}}{{cite web|url=https://www.vulture.com/article/aack-cast-jamie-loftus-review.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210712214130/https://www.vulture.com/amp/article/aack-cast-jamie-loftus-review.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 12, 2021|date=12 July 2021|website=Vulture|first=Nicholas|last=Quah|accessdate=26 July 2021|title=In Aack Cast, Jamie Loftus Goes to Bat for 'Cathy'}}{{Cite magazine |title=Ghost Church |url=https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/podcasts/ghost-church-06-13-22 |access-date=2022-11-07 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en}}
Early life
Loftus grew up in Brockton, Massachusetts.{{citetweet|url=https://twitter.com/jamieloftusHELP/status/1592744977695932416|user=jamieloftusHELP|number=1592744977695932416|title=the menu was made for bad feral percect evil bitches from brockton massachusetts ONLY!!!!!!!}} Her father was a hockey reporter and her mother ran a daycare center.{{cite web|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90899446/jamie-loftus-raw-dog-book-iheart-podcasts-bechdel|title=Jamie Loftus has mastered the art of the messy deep dive|website=Fast Company|first=Joe|last=Berkowitz|date=23 May 2023}} She worked at a hot dog truck.{{Cite web |last=Rascoe |first=Ayesha |date=May 21, 2023 |title=Comedian Jamie Loftus's book 'Raw Dog' chronicles her hot-dog eating travels |website=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2023/05/21/1177391874/comedian-jamie-loftuss-book-raw-dog-chronicles-her-hot-dog-eating-travels}}
Career
Loftus's first job out of college was at The Boston Globe. She was fired from the role when she tweeted after a standup set, "crushing so hard at an open mic that I cum bloods." A local radio show referenced this as "the end of journalism."{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/jamie-loftus-the-comedian-who-infiltrated-mensa|title=Jamie Loftus, the Comedian Who Infiltrated Mensa|last=Zhang|first=Cat|magazine=New Yorker|date=9 March 2020}}
Her often absurdist humor, sometimes bordering on performance art and documented for websites such as Paste, has included pretending to date an American Girl doll, joining Mensa as a joke, selling "Shrek nudes" with her body painted green to raise money for Planned Parenthood, and attempting to eat a copy of David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest.{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/woman-spends-year-eating-copy-infinite-jest-david-foster-wallace/|title=Woman spends year eating copy of Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace|last=Boult|first=Adam|date=June 15, 2017|accessdate=August 18, 2019|website=The Daily Telegraph}}
She has written and performed several one-woman live shows. One is called I Lost My Virginity on August 15, 2010. Another show, Boss, Whom is Girl, was workshopped at the Lyric Hyperion Theatre in Los Angeles. It was then brought to the United Kingdom with shows in London and at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe. Its run at the Fringe was recommended by newspapers such as The Guardian, The Sunday Times, and The Daily Express.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/aug/12/edinburgh-festival-fringe-2019-recommended-shows-start-time|title=Edinburgh festival 2019: the shows we recommend|last=Logan|first=Brian|date=August 12, 2019|accessdate=August 18, 2019|website=The Guardian}}{{cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/the-best-of-whats-on-at-the-edinburgh-festival-b9kpr2fmg|title=The best of what's on at the Edinburgh festival|date=August 18, 2019|access-date=August 18, 2019|website=The Times}}{{cite web|url=https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/theatre/1156894/Edinburgh-Fringe-2019-tips-comedy-recommendations-theatre-Festival|title=Edinburgh Fringe 2019: 37 unmissable shows at this year's festival|last=Kitchener|first=Shaun|date=July 23, 2019|accessdate=August 18, 2019|website=Daily Express}}
In April 2018, a three-part web series she wrote and starred in, Irrational Fears was released on Comedy Central Digital.
In summer 2018, she was hired as a writer for the Adult Swim show Robot Chicken.
She is also a canvasser for the Democratic Socialists of America.{{cite tweet|number=1518289417646919680|user=DemSocialists|title=THIS AFTERNOON.Join @BillFletcherJr @bell4ky @ZohranKMamdani @jamieloftusHELP and many more as we Meet the Moment as Socialists with DSA's Recommitment Drive launch call at 1 PT/3 CT/4 ET.|date=April 24, 2022}}{{cite tweet|number=1388272313871765504|user=pghDSA|title=Our comedy show tonight features abortion media experts @jamieloftusHELP and @GraceGFreud. We've raised $12K for our local abortion fund so far, but we can go higher|date=April 30, 2021}}
=Podcasting=
Since November 2016 she has she has co-hosted The Bechdel Cast with Caitlin Durante, a weekly podcast about the representation of women in film.
On January 1, 2020, Loftus released a four-part podcast entitled My Year in Mensa that chronicles the events surrounding her applying to join Mensa for the purpose of writing a series of humorous articles for Paste.{{cite web|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2019/12/mensa-annual-gathering-jamie-loftus.html|title=Jamie Loftus's Year in Mensa Ends at the Mensa Annual Gathering|last=Loftus|first=Jamie |date=December 31, 2019|accessdate=January 31, 2020|website=Paste Magazine}}{{cite web|url=https://www.vulture.com/2020/01/this-week-in-comedy-podcasts-jamie-loftus-year-in-mensa.html|title=This Week in Comedy Podcasts: Jamie Loftus's Year in Mensa|date=January 2, 2020|accessdate=January 31, 2020|website=Vulture}}
On November 23, 2020, Loftus began releasing a new 10-part podcast entitled Lolita Podcast about the pop cultural imprint, misinterpretations, and adaptations of Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita.{{cite web|url=https://www.avclub.com/jamie-loftus-new-podcast-unpacks-how-nabokov-s-lolita-h-1845742446|title=Jamie Loftus' new podcast unpacks how Nabokov's Lolita has been "twisted" over the years|first=Randall|last=Coburn|website=The A.V. Club|date=23 November 2020|access-date=26 November 2020|archive-date=November 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201123215302/https://news.avclub.com/jamie-loftus-new-podcast-unpacks-how-nabokov-s-lolita-h-1845742446|url-status=live}}
On June 28, 2021, she began releasing another podcast series, this time about the comic Cathy, titled Aack Cast.
In 2022 Jamie released a nine episode podcast series Ghost Church, where she explores the history and current state of the Spiritualist religion in the United States.
In May 2024 she began a new weekly podcast for Cool Zone Media titled Sixteenth Minute (of Fame), in which she talks to and about "internet main characters" who have achieved some level of brief notoriety online.{{cite web|url=https://www.vulture.com/article/jamie-loftus-sixteenth-minute-podcast.html|title=Jamie Loftus's Main Characters|website=Vulture|first=Nicholas|last=Quah|date=16 May 2024|accessdate=15 July 2024}}
=''Raw Dog''=
In May 2023 Loftus released the book Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs, published by Macmillan.{{cite web |title=Raw Dog – The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs Author: Jamie Loftus |url=https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250847751/raw-dog |accessdate=4 October 2022 |publisher=Macmillan Publishers}} In the book, Loftus tells of her varied experiences of hot dogs in the United States while explaining hot dogs' rise to popularity in the United States during the Great Depression thanks to Greek, Polish and German immigrants.
Credits
=Live credits=
- Death Wish – Writer/Performer/Director (2014)
- Basketball City – Writer (2015)
- Bad Art – Writer/Performer (2015)
- I Lost My Virginity on August 15, 2010 – Writer/Performer (2017)
- The Hacker Who Codes – Writer/Performer (2018)
- Boss, Whom is Girl – Writer/Performer (2019)
- Jamie Loftus, Jamie Loftus – Writer/Performer (2020)
- Mrs. Joey Chestnut America USA - Writer/Performer (2021-2023)
- The Tiny Man is Trying to Kill Me - Writer/Performer (2024)
=Film and television credits=
- Boston PD: Zamboni Crimes Division – Writer/Animator/Voice Actor (2016)
- Rat Teens – Writer/Animator/Voice Actor (2017)
- Funny or Die Presents – Actor (2017)
- Super Deluxe – Writer/Actor (2017–18)
- Irrational Fears – Writer/Actor (2018)
- Robot Chicken – Writer/Voice Actor (2018-2021)
- All About Nina – Comedy Consultant/Actor (2018)
- Human Kind Of – Writer/Voice Actor (2018)
- The New Negroes – Actor (2019)
- Magical Girl Friendship Squad - Writer/Voice Actor (2020)
- Teenage Euthanasia - Writer (2021-2023)
- Star Trek: Lower Decks - Writer/Co-Producer (2023)
- StuGo - Writer (2025)
Weekly podcasts
- The Bechdel Cast - Co-hosted with Caitlin Durante (since 2016)
- We the Unhoused - Executive Producer (since 2023)
- Sixteenth Minute (of Fame) (since 2024)
Limited series podcasts
- My Year in Mensa (2020)
- Little Fires Everywhere: The Official Podcast (2020) (host only)
- Lolita Podcast (2020)
- Aack Cast (2021)
- Ghost Church (2022)
- The Legend of Swordquest (2024) (host only)
Bibliography
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{official website}}
- [https://www.bechdelcast.com/ The Bechdel Cast website]
{{authority control}}
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Category:Comedians from California
Category:Comedians from Boston
Category:American women television writers
Category:American women comedians
Category:American television writers
Category:Members of the Democratic Socialists of America from California
Category:Members of the Democratic Socialists of America from Massachusetts
Category:Massachusetts socialists
Category:21st-century American women
Category:American film and television podcasters
Category:American women non-fiction writers