Entertainment
How Janelle James Became One of TV’s Most Impressive Breakout Stars
Janelle James settles comfortably onto the couch of her hotel room, looking relaxed and alert, despite having only recently woken up for our interview. Even with the lights down on the Warner Bros. sound stage during Abbott Elementary’s hiatus, James remains very much in the spotlight. When we spoke, the Emmy-nominated comedian was already back on the road for Janelle James On Tour, having performed for college students in Boston the night before.
James and I begin our conversation with something we have in common: a love of vinyl. We’re both collectors, and every so often, she shares current records she’s spinning or new finds on her Instagram stories. Her collection is vast – Billy Squier, Celia Cruz, and the entire discography of Björk. One of her favorites is a Womack & Womack record featuring “I Can Understand It.” “I’ve been looking for that forever, and I walked into this place randomly. It was a bookstore, but then they also had records, and then they had that there.”
In case anyone is keeping score, James is currently hunting for Stevie Wonder’s “Another Star,” which is only available as a 7-inch record. When I ask whether music connects to her work, James makes it clear that the two are separate for her. “I do like having my separate hobbies, [and] different interests and not bringing everything into the things that make me money in a way. The new thing of making everything you like into a venture of capitalism does not jive with me. It is just a separate thing I do.”
James Isn’t Ava Coleman, but the Separation Has Gotten Harder Over Time
It’s easy to look at James and assume she’s like Ava. She’s confident, charismatic, and unafraid to speak her mind. But to James and the people closest to her, there’s a clear difference between her and her Emmy-nominated character. “No one who really knows me thinks that I’m like Ava.” She does admit, though, that as the series has gone on, the line between character and performer has gotten blurrier. “I have added more of my personality into the character, and the writers have as well. Not only my personality [and] my interests, [but] even some of my jokes are in the show. It’s been harder to separate it.”
It would be easy for James to coast on that success playing Ava. “I know that I could, in fact, just go on the road as this character,” she admits. When you’re known for a standout role that’s resonated, there’s always some temptation to lean into it as much as possible. “We’ll see how my career goes,” she laughs, adding, “You’ll see me draped across a piano in Vegas as Ava Coleman.” Yet for James, at least right now, that separation remains valuable. “My own stubbornness and my desire to keep myself separate is what stops me from doing that, from appearing as her everywhere.”
But James understands that Ava Coleman has come to mean so much to so many. She’s a well-rounded character, someone with enough layers to feel both relatable and aspirational. “Black women in my age group love her because they see themselves in me — in her and me. Young adults see me, see her as aspirational. People who maybe feel like they’re lacking self-confidence like her because they’re like, ‘Oh, I love this person who’s displaying confidence and who speaks out in a way that I think I would love to be able to do, too.’ Other people love her because she’s so well-dressed and fashionable, and they love that about her. Other people love that she’s sarcastic, and they’re like, ‘That’s how I am.’” And to James’ credit, Ava never feels like a caricature. “That’s why people assume I’m her, because I’m doing a good job of bringing this character to life.”
James Isn’t Interested in Keeping Her Comedy the Same
Before acting entered the picture, James was first and foremost a comedian. When she first started, she was emulating the comics around her, most of whom were Midwestern white guys. Their style at the time was somber, which happened to line up with where she was in life 15 years ago. “I started at a very sad time in my life.” But being around those comedians made her realize she liked the challenge of it. “It’s a problem solving of how do I make this thing that isn’t on its face funny, funny? Oh, I’m feeling this way about something, or I see something that’s upsetting, or I feel like this is a common experience that people don’t talk about. How do I make that funny and put it into my acts? That’s what keeps me excited about comedy.”
Over the course of her stand-up career, her own personal style has evolved. In the beginning, she was emulating Todd Barry. “He does very deadpan. He doesn’t move around a lot, is monotone, no act out. He was one of the first comedians who did pure crowdwork material.” However, as she got more comfortable with her routine and came out of her own depression, she began to add more of herself into her style. “Oh, I’m not this deadpan in real life. I’m actually quite joyous. So I just started trying to add some of my joy back into this subject matter that I was doing.”
“I get bored easily. I never want to get bored of what I’m doing.”
From there, she would go on to open for Chris Rock during his 2017 Total Blackout tour, release her comedy album Black and Mild, and be featured in two Netflix comedy specials, The Comedy Lineup and The Standups. Even with Abbott’s success, she still finds joy in performing stand-up. “It’s such a niche form of entertainment. I always remember that people can go their whole life and never see a real stand-up comedy show. You really got to search it out. I always try to do a good job because if someone comes to a show, and they hate it, they will never check anyone out ever again.”
Even though it’s taken her a decade to find her style, don’t expect James to stop evolving or simply incorporate Ava Coleman into her routine. “I get bored easily. I never want to get bored of what I’m doing.” She still enjoys tackling depression and other dark subject matter in her act, but it’s the craft of her comedy that keeps things interesting for her. “Once I master a new craft — the last few years I’ve been trying to do more physical things on stage — I’m like, okay, I got that.” James has done deadpan and physical work. What’s the new thing she’s trying to master? Riffing, thanks to Rory Scovel. “He does a lot of riffing and has fun on stage, and so that’s my new goal for myself as a stand-up. I think I’ll just continue to evolve my style.”
James Doesn’t Think ‘Abbott Elementary’ Should Be the Only Reason We Care About Teachers
Abbott Elementary is a love letter to teachers, inspired by Quinta Brunson’s mom and her 40+ year career as a public school teacher. For all the ways the elementary school in the series is underfunded, there’s still a palpable sense of support for the students. When James reflects on her time in school, it’s the strictest teachers who had the greatest impact on her. “It was always the teachers I thought were too tough.” In particular, she had a speech teacher who helped pave the way for her future career. “I thought it was gonna be just a blow it off, easy [class]. ‘I know how to talk. I’m gonna ace this.’ He was so strict, and then years later, I realized taking that class is what helped me become a stand-up, to become comfortable speaking in front of a crowd.”
Working on Abbott and being a mother herself, the lack of support teachers receive bothers her. “It’s sad because we’re a society that says we care about children. We say we care about education. We say that we’re a great country. It’s not shown in any way towards these people that spend most of their time and most of our kids’ time with them.” In her eyes, as a person in the world, the sacrifices these dedicated educators make are obvious. “Why do we have to keep having this conversation that should be on its face to know how important these people are to our society?”
James knows the impact Abbott can have in highlighting the systemic brokenness in American education. It’s a topic that’s been around since she was a child, and it shouldn’t take a TV show to celebrate the hard work and dedication of teachers. “It should be icing on the cake. They should already be so lauded and everything.” Despite this, she’s proud that Abbott exists to keep the spotlight where it belongs. “I’m glad we exist to open our own way. I’m against the entertainment as a news thing that happens, but if it helps, then great. But it shouldn’t be on the comedy show’s back for people to realize how much sacrifice teachers are making.”
‘Abbott Elementary’ Season 5 Is About Ava Coleman Stepping Up as Principal
Ava Coleman has come a long way since Abbott’s first season in 2021. She began as the zany, uninvolved principal who got the job only after blackmailing the superintendent. While much of her personality has remained just as outgoing and magnetic, her connections to her job and her coworkers, including Janine, have deepened. Season 4 is what James calls the “Ava season.” Audiences met Ava’s father, played by the legendary Keith David, and the strained relationship she has with him. Plus, Ava took the fall for the bribery scandal with the new golf course and was briefly fired. For Season 5, it’s about Ava stepping up even more seriously into her role, which includes a brief relocation to an abandoned mall. “Seeing her step up to the plate and taking responsibility for things that she hasn’t even done or even been responsible for is a very non-Ava thing to do. The challenge of this season or the new exciting thing of this season is to see her show that professional side that she hasn’t done before.”
In addition to her professional side, Ava’s relationships continue to expand, like her romantic relationship with O’Shon (Matthew Law) and her working relationship with Dia (Pam Trotter), the school’s secretary. Both O’Shon and Dia, in their own way, expose a softer side to Ava, one that doesn’t want to lose those she’s come to rely on. Even though the season places more emphasis on her school life than her backstory, Season 5 still highlights James’ favorite aspect of Ava – her lack of vulnerability. “I understand it, and I love how it’s being peeled back.”
Over the past five seasons, Ava Coleman has transformed from a disinterested principal into the right leader for what Abbott Elementary needs. This is in no small part due to the writing of the series and James’ own created backstory for the educator. “What I’ve built as her backstory is that she’s somebody who grew up in the same environment that she’s now working in. She totally understands that these kids don’t have what they need. Things don’t work how they’re supposed to, and doing things in the correct way doesn’t always yield the best results. She knows how to hustle.” It’s that hustle and drive that keep the school running, and the school is better for it.
James Loves All Her ‘Abbott’ Co-Stars, but Her Favorite Scene Partner Is Her Boss
What makes Abbott Elementary special for audiences is the synergy of the cast. Within five seasons, Abbott has become one of the best modern sitcom ensembles, and James recognizes that. “Every once in a while, I’ll be on set, mostly in the teacher’s lounge, and we’ll be doing a group scene. Those are the moments where sometimes I don’t have a lot of lines, or I’ve already said my line, and my brain will shift and I’ll be just looking around and I’ll be like… ‘I’m on a sitcom.’”
When asked about her cast, she has nothing but praise for each of them. For Chris Perfetti, she hangs out with him the most off-set. “Chris [Perfetti] is my homie.” James has a good time in her scenes with Lisa Ann Walter, another stand-up comedian. With Tyler James Williams, his professionalism and time in the industry challenge her to step up. “I feel like he makes me better.” James also admits that she likes looking at Sheryl Lee Ralph‘s face and her sparkly eyes (which, honestly, who wouldn’t).
As for her favorite scene partner, there was no hesitation for James – her boss and co-star, Quinta Brunson. “We just have a good banter. I like that big sister-little sister relationship that Ava and Janine have. We have a similar sense of humor.” With Quinta in charge, there’s an ease to everything and an instant reinforcement. “She’s right there, so I could pitch to her without having to go through another channel to get the joke to her.”
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Even though she has direct access to Quinta, it doesn’t mean James knows everything about what’s coming for Ava in the future. “Quinta [Brunson] doesn’t tell us anything. [Laughs] Rightly so, you see how much I talk.” Something James wants to explore more is Ava’s backstory, like the whereabouts of Ava’s mom. “I’m not hoping for anything, but I’m wondering, is she alive? What’s the deal with that? Maybe it’ll be said and not shown.” More than her mom, James wants to unpack what happened to nerdy, younger Ava that made her harden up. “Part of my backstory is that she’s more like Janine than she lets on. It’s shown here and there in her nerdy interests and aspects… Maybe before that happened, she was more bright-eyed and hopeful in a way in a Janine way. We don’t really do flashbacks, but it would be cool.” If they were ever to do flashbacks, she trusts their casting department to bring in new talent to play a younger Ava Coleman. “Our casting has been so spot-on, not only for my dad, all our parents, all our siblings, everybody. I think it would be a new person that kills it.”
James Isn’t Just Interested in Talking About Deep Subjects – She’s Contemplating Them
Throughout our time together, James interjects that she talks too much, which, to me, isn’t a problem. There’s a reason why she’s captivated so many through Abbott and her stand-up. I’m trying to capture every word and piece together who the real Janelle James is. When our conversation turns to success, the timing feels apt. After all, Abbott Elementary has been renewed for its sixth season, which means the series will cross the 100-episode threshold and hit syndication status. At a time of shortened series and streaming dominance, this 2020s sitcom has entered a rare yet revered benchmark. “Already?”
When I ask what this benchmark means to her, she admits that it’s not something she thinks about every day. “We shoot a lot of episodes, 22 in a season, so we’re like a machine. Sometimes you’re in it, but you don’t have time to take it in… It just passes through because I’m on my way to work.”
Just as Abbott Elementary has earned widespread recognition and success, so has James. She’s a four-time Emmy nominee touring a new stand-up routine and evolving as a comedian. This level of success means that she can take care of her family and the people in her life. However, the success and money she’s gained mean she can buy something you’d probably not expect — time for contemplation. “Another reason I’m a comedian, I’m a big ruminator. I think money buys you time for true rumination. Now I don’t have to do it in the middle of the night when I should be sleeping,” she laughs. “I can carve off time to contemplate existence and all the thoughts that I have in my head, which then come out in even more jokes.”
“I think people are missing out on a whole chunk of the human existence.”
With the state of the world, there are plenty of topics to ruminate on. For James, she’s thinking about everything from the future that will exist for her children to the repercussions of the pandemic. She’s also questioning this societal stepping back from community, especially when it comes to dating. “I think people are missing out on a whole chunk of the human existence. I ruminate on that and why that exists, why that’s being seemingly pushed so much. What is the product that’s being sold on the other end of that for us to become very individualistic and always in the house?”
James is a big thinker, and it’s these thoughtful meditations that become material for her stand-up. “Those are all things that I try to turn into jokes. Sometimes successfully and sometimes not.” This isn’t a stretch considering her early material focused on depression and somber comedy. No longer having to carve out time in the middle of the night, success has meant she gets to slow down and turn these deep questions into something that makes you laugh. That’s worth more to her than stuff. “I always say people think money is stuff. For me, it’s time. It’s an experience and being able to slow down and realize we’re all on this planet… That’s the true blessing to me.”
Photographer: Madi Atkins | Hair: Joy Johnson | Makeup: Carla Rosso-Neal | Nails: Nails by Aran | Clothes: Veronica Beard
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