Life & Work with Jason Klamm

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Klamm.

Hi Jason, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself. 
I started doing improv and sketch in middle school with my best friend and comedy partner, Dan Gomiller. Since then, we’ve called ourselves “Dan and Jay’s Comedy Hour,” releasing comedy albums, feature films, and podcasts under that same name. Our first hit on the internet was in 2001, with the web’s first lip dub of the Indian pop song “Tunak Tunak Tun.” Our video went viral and shut down the server Dan’s website was hosted on at the time. 

I attended Columbia College Chicago right after that, shooting for directing, then screenwriting. My last semester was spent in LA, where I wrote dozens of scripts and eventually launched my site StolenDress.com as a resume-sharing site for filmmakers, but it developed into the place I would put my videos before YouTube came along. I had another hit, “Dinosaurs: They Certainly Were Big,” that won an early internet short film contest, which was played on Frontier Airlines, got the attention of the science community, and got me my first press in the New York Times. 

Eventually, StolenDress Entertainment moved into podcasts, and we’ve released thousands of episodes since I released the first episode of the “Comedy on Vinyl” podcast in 2011. As the podcast network grew, I self-published two books and directed my first two feature films, one of which was the documentary “Lords of Soaptown.” I was also a founding member of the worldwide hit show “A Drinking Game,” where I’ve played Marty McFly, Hans Gruber, and even Vizzini in “The Princess Bride” (that show has since spread to Minneapolis, NYC, and Vienna, Austria – and I have plans to bring it to the Metro Detroit area). 

After moving to Metro Detroit, I started concentrating on audiobook production while also thinking about what I was going to write next, planning on a “Comedy on Vinyl” book. A few months into living here, I signed a book deal with 1984 Publishing for “We’re Not Worthy,” my history of ’90s TV sketch comedy that comes out September 12. I’m now working on my next couple of books and producing audiobooks and podcasts, and working on StolenDress Stories, a repository of nonfiction subjects I’m fascinated on and developing into books, shows, and movies. 

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Struggling is a part of the process, and we all experience a bump or two if not a few potholes and sinkholes. In LA, I lost my apartment and slept on couches for an extended period, and I never sold a script or a TV pitch after 18 years. Coming to the Detroit area, on the other hand – while there have been plenty of obstacles – has been a blessing of finding collaborators and potential venues for future productions, and of course my first successful book pitch. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m an author and a voice actor, so those are the things I most specialize in. I’ve loved voice acting since I was a kid, and one of my favorite things about performing in “A Drinking Game” is getting to do impressions of my favorite movie characters. I’ve been an avid writer (mostly of comedy) since grade school, but non-fiction has become a passion of mine since I started researching and writing for more detailed episodes of the “Comedy on Vinyl” podcast, which is probably the thing I’m best known for outside of some highly appreciated recognition for “A Drinking Game” localized in LA. 

I’m most proud of having accomplished so many of my career goals, some of which I accomplished while I was struggling personally and financially – I made three low-budget films, I’ve produced over 1,200 podcast episodes, I was in a stage show for 10 years, and I just wrote “We’re Not Worthy,” which was twice as long as it was intended to be, but was a thrill to write, especially as I interviewed 150 people for it from all of my favorite shows, like Carol Burnett, Bob Odenkirk, Mike Myers, and Marsha Warfield. 

I will always find a way to make these things happen – sometimes on a shoestring budget or on a tighter deadline than I want – but I do it. What sets me apart is my tenacity – making comedy and art is compulsive for me. 

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
COVID has left me, like many people, stuck inside. Three years in, I still primarily stay at home, with the exception of that crazy halfway-cross-country trip to move to Metro Detroit. Finding clients and gigs as an independent artist has been difficult, even at the height of working from home. I’ve learned to keep an eye on who is willing to let you stay safe or feel safe and who isn’t and work with the people who respect your health and your boundaries. Everyone needs deadlines and some oversight, but in-person work isn’t necessary for someone like me, who does 100% of the stuff I need to do from home. 

It’s also taught me that I miss being onstage, and I am itching for things to feel safe enough to bring “A Drinking Game” here. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jasonklamm.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/jasonklamm
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/itsjasonklamm
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/jklamm
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/jklamm
• Other: https://sketchcomedybook.com

Image Credits
Jen Smith