“Every teacher hated me,” actor and comedian Jen Kober says. “They were like, ‘Will you please just sit down and be quiet?’’
Then, with a dismissive eyeroll and vowels stretched like taffy, the Lake Charles native adds, “the only phrase I learned in French was ’fermez la bouche.’”
But shut it she did not. In fact, her chronic talking had an upside. It was a warm-up for what has become a fruitful entertainment career. This summer, the 50-year-old delivers a 26-city Pride Month comedy tour that includes a performance at Manship Theatre. She’s also shooting two films: a horror remake shot in New Orleans, and a feature starring some of Hollywood’s most beloved actors filmed in North Carolina. In October, she takes her stand-up on the road again for LGBT History Month.
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This year’s busy slate follows nearly two decades of not just comedy, but parts in numerous films and television shows that include The Righteous Gemstones, Hacks, The Mandalorian and American Horror Story. Kober’s bread-and-butter is small parts that deliver a memorable comedic punch, and it’s a trend that’s kept her working—often on high-profile productions.
Her big break came in the 2004 film Freshman Orientation, in which she played a college student who recites a protest poem about the social inequities of coffee production, and concludes by angrily ripping off her shirt. In her audition tape, Kober pushed the joke further by painting “drink more tea” on her breasts. She was told later that it made the director and his team burst out laughing.
“He called me within 20 minutes of getting the tape and said, ‘You’re hired,’” Kober says. “That’s been sort of what I do. Put my own spin on things.”
For her comedy sketches, the Los Angeles-based Kober writes monologues that fuse the edgy and the homespun. Some of the best known include an award-winning bit about Girl Scout cookies and what it’s like to watch television with “Nana.” This month’s show features new material, but it’ll no doubt include well-timed kickers delivered in a disarming drawl.
“The minute I open my mouth, people are like, ‘Oh my God,’” she says. “The accent gives me a lot of opportunity.” manshiptheatre.org
Jen Kober with special guest Jeff D
Manship Theatre
Friday, June 23 at 7:30 p.m.
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Hosted by Baton Rouge Pride
This article was originally published in the June 2023 issue of 225 magazine.