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She Showed Up for a Speed Date — It Was an Open Mic | Jessi Sisson
Jessi Sisson didn't plan to do comedy. She signed up for a speed dating event in Columbus, never saw the email saying it was canceled, and walked in to find an open mic instead. Five years of jokes had been sitting in her phone since one improv class back in Philly — so she went up last, read them off the screen, then ran straight to her car. That was the fall of 2022.
Since then she's bought an amp to start her own mic in the corner of a German Village garage, made the finals of Funniest Person in Columbus a few months in, lost her corporate job, and turned a severance and eight months of unemployment into doing comedy every single day.
In this one, Jessi and Ira get into falling into comedy completely by accident, why Columbus might be the most underrated launchpad in the Midwest, the lifelong trauma of being serenaded with "Country Roads" in every Irish pub on Earth, the time she had to convince a guy from Seattle that West Virginia is in fact a state, and how she keeps accidentally going viral on Threads talking about Bad Bunny and gay hockey instead of, you know, comedy.
Recorded at Rehab Tavern in Franklinton. 456 West Town Street — come hang.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Take a shot every time you hear "West Virginia"
00:43 The speed date that turned into an open mic
03:09 Buy an amp, start your own mic in the corner
03:50 Laid off, a two-month bender, and going all in
05:08 Ask forgiveness, not permission
06:50 A new city every year of her 20s
07:20 What actually brought her to Columbus
10:34 The "aggressive friendliness" of the Midwest
13:33 Why Columbus is geographically perfect
15:43 Appalachian roads: the earth is trying to kill you
18:02 "Country Roads," and is West Virginia even a state?
21:43 Advice for new comics: just do it, one thing at a time
25:39 Favorite Columbus comic: Dan Sebree (in a minion costume)
28:18 Best open mic in the city
29:49 How to handle a heckler
31:03 TikTok, Threads, and going viral by accident
35:00 Where to find Jessi
36:12 Rehab Tavern + outro
FOLLOW JESSI
Instagram: @jessisisson
Threads: @jessisisson
TikTok: @jessisisson6
ABOUT FIRST MIC
We talk to comics about their first time on stage.
Hosted by Ira Cross. Recorded at Rehab Tavern, Columbus, OH.
New episodes weekly.
#FirstMic #ColumbusComedy #StandUpComedy #OpenMic #ComedyPodcast #WestVirginia #ColumbusOhio
View all episodes
By Ira CrossJessi Sisson didn't plan to do comedy. She signed up for a speed dating event in Columbus, never saw the email saying it was canceled, and walked in to find an open mic instead. Five years of jokes had been sitting in her phone since one improv class back in Philly — so she went up last, read them off the screen, then ran straight to her car. That was the fall of 2022.
Since then she's bought an amp to start her own mic in the corner of a German Village garage, made the finals of Funniest Person in Columbus a few months in, lost her corporate job, and turned a severance and eight months of unemployment into doing comedy every single day.
In this one, Jessi and Ira get into falling into comedy completely by accident, why Columbus might be the most underrated launchpad in the Midwest, the lifelong trauma of being serenaded with "Country Roads" in every Irish pub on Earth, the time she had to convince a guy from Seattle that West Virginia is in fact a state, and how she keeps accidentally going viral on Threads talking about Bad Bunny and gay hockey instead of, you know, comedy.
Recorded at Rehab Tavern in Franklinton. 456 West Town Street — come hang.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Take a shot every time you hear "West Virginia"
00:43 The speed date that turned into an open mic
03:09 Buy an amp, start your own mic in the corner
03:50 Laid off, a two-month bender, and going all in
05:08 Ask forgiveness, not permission
06:50 A new city every year of her 20s
07:20 What actually brought her to Columbus
10:34 The "aggressive friendliness" of the Midwest
13:33 Why Columbus is geographically perfect
15:43 Appalachian roads: the earth is trying to kill you
18:02 "Country Roads," and is West Virginia even a state?
21:43 Advice for new comics: just do it, one thing at a time
25:39 Favorite Columbus comic: Dan Sebree (in a minion costume)
28:18 Best open mic in the city
29:49 How to handle a heckler
31:03 TikTok, Threads, and going viral by accident
35:00 Where to find Jessi
36:12 Rehab Tavern + outro
FOLLOW JESSI
Instagram: @jessisisson
Threads: @jessisisson
TikTok: @jessisisson6
ABOUT FIRST MIC
We talk to comics about their first time on stage.
Hosted by Ira Cross. Recorded at Rehab Tavern, Columbus, OH.
New episodes weekly.
#FirstMic #ColumbusComedy #StandUpComedy #OpenMic #ComedyPodcast #WestVirginia #ColumbusOhio