Anjelah Johnson-Reyes didn’t plan on making a career out of comedy. The California native dreamed of being an actress, never expecting that in pursuit of that goal, which included being a cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders, she would find her place as one of the country’s most sought-after comedians.
“The reason why I even tried out to be a cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders is because I wanted to be an actress,” Johnson-Reyes tells Everything Nash. “I wanted to go into the entertainment industry, but I didn’t know how, and I didn’t know if it was for me. So I kind of used this as my sign from God. I was like, ‘Okay, God, if I make this squad, then I’ll do it for one year and then I’ll move to Hollywood, and I will try to pursue my dreams and be an actress.’ So I tried out for the Oakland Raiders.
“I made it; we went to the Super Bowl that year. It was the best year to pick to be a cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders,” she adds with a laugh. “And then I came home from the Super Bowl the very next weekend. I moved to Hollywood and I started from the ground up as an extra on the show Friends. And then I just kind of worked my way up.”
Johnson-Reyes started doing stand-up comedy, which she admits was even a surprise to her. But once she did, her career took off, and she never looked back.
“I had no idea I was gonna be doing stand-up comedy,” Johnson-Reyes concedes. “That was a surprise to me. And stand-up is what took over my life, and that’s what I’ve been doing for the past 15 years.”
Once Johson-Reyes started performing comedy, it didn’t long for people to catch on, with one hilarious Nail Salon video garnering more than 100 million views across multiple platforms. It’s an unexpected chapter in her life that she is embracing wholeheartedly.
“I remember when things first started taking off for me. I was doing shows here and there, and there was this one show that I got booked for,” Johnson-Reyes recalls. “I remember I got paid $600, and it was the most money I had ever made in one day in my life. I couldn’t believe that I got $600 for telling jokes. And it was in that moment that I was like, ‘Whoa, I can make $600 telling jokes. I better write some more jokes.’ And that’s how it happened.”
Although being a comedian wasn’t Johnson-Reyes’ original plan, she quickly realized that she was both passionate about what she did, and very good at it as well, largely because she didn’t mind being transparent about her personal life.
“I love to connect with people on a human level, and I love when I’m sharing the stories of my life and I can see people in the audience relating and connecting to what I’m saying, because they experience it in their own lives,” Johnson-Reyes shares. “Whether it’s something like the way my husband and I argue, or whether it’s my relationship with my sister and how I bug her when I call her five times a day. And I love looking in the audience and seeing the other sisters, pointing at each other and the husbands or the wives saying, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re talking about my wife. You’re talking about my husband.’ When I see people relating and connecting to what I’m saying, that’s where I draw my material from.”
Johnson-Reyes now divides her time between Los Angeles and Nashville. She will bring her comedy to Music City on October 1, when she performs at the Ryman Auditorium. While performing in front of a hometown crowd can be jarring for even the most seasoned performers, Johnson-Reyes is eager and excited to bring her routine to the historic venue.
“I love to have people that I know in the audience, as long as I don’t see them,” she says. “If I can see their faces, then forget it. I get in my head. But I love to have my friends there as long as they’re out of eyesight. And then afterward, then I can ask, and be like, ‘What did you like? What was your favorite part? What made you laugh?'”
Although she loves both cities she now calls home, Johnson-Reyes admits there is something special about performing in Nashville.
“I’ve been coming to Nashville for many years touring and with my husband [singer-songwriter Manwell Reyes’] music career,” Johnson-Reyes says. “And now that we’ve decided to live there, it’s been great to come to the comedy club, Zanies, and get to know people there, and build a comedy community there. I know a lot of comedians that have moved to Nashville, and it’s great to be able to just show up on a Monday or a Tuesday. You never know who you’re gonna see there, and who’s practicing their material before they go out on the road for the weekend and stuff like that. It’s very cool.”
Tickets for Johnson-Reyes’ Ryman Auditorium show, Who Do You Think I Am? are available here. Johnson-Reyes, who recently starred on FOX‘s The Real Dirty Dancing, recently released a new book, Who Do I Think I Am: Stories of Chola Wishes and Caviar Dreams. Find tour dates and more at Anjelah.com.