Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin Um.
Hi Justin, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Ever since I was a young, fat little boy, my dream was to become a late-night talk show host! I was born in Seattle, WA, but my family and I moved to Los Angeles, CA when I was about four years old. Being in the mecca of the entertainment industry was cool, but I was too young to fully appreciate and understand “show business”. When I was 13 years old, my family and I moved to Washington, DC. It was definitely a different scene, but my formidable years have been in the DC area, so I’ve grown to love it here.
Growing up, my family and I had nothing. Times were always tough, and life felt like a constant struggle. When we didn’t have much, my only focus was on what we did have, which was each other. I have one sibling – an older brother named James, and I call him “Hyung” (형), which directly translates to “older brother” in Korean.
He’s my hero, but also my biggest fan, supporter, and critic. So much of my personality and wit was developed because of him. He has this incredibly unique sense of humor – imagine if Bill Burr and Jim Carrey had a Korean son, it’d be my older brother. His celebrity impressions are really dang good, like SNL good. Hyung – if you’re reading this, I want you to know I love you… and that I’m Mom’s favorite child.
Aside from my family’s influence, my first introduction to stand-up comedy was by a gentleman named Kevin Hart. I’ll never, ever forget the first time I watched his comedy special “Grown Little Man” in high school. I’d never seen anything like it before. It was so raw, authentic, and absolutely hilarious – I was immediately hooked. Whatever he was doing, I wanted to do the exact same! I watched that special when I was 16 years old, and I was convinced I could get to Kevin’s level of selling out theaters and making complete strangers belly laugh at what I had to say. I chuckle at how naïve I was back then. I wasn’t mature enough to view and understand stand-up comedy as an art form.
Although I had these larger-than-life dreams in comedy, I never pursued it when I was younger. It seemed that everyday aspects of life took precedence, and comedy started to become more and more of a pipe dream. During college, I simultaneously worked full-time and went to school full-time, so I was lucky to get any time to myself. After graduating college, my focus immediately shifted to landing a job, and advancing in my professional career so I could better support my family.
At this point, comedy was an afterthought. There was absolutely zero chance I’d pursue it. After all, my new dream in high school was to become a wide receiver in the NFL (spoiler alert, I wasn’t even close to making it). At this stage in my life, I felt I was able to distinguish between what was and wasn’t, attainable. A career in comedy definitely wasn’t attainable.
In early 2018, I started running into some health complications. Being young and stubborn, I didn’t pay much attention to it because surely something like this wouldn’t affect me. I was wrong… very, very wrong. From July 2019 until March 2020, the hospital became a second home to my family and me. In that eight-month timeframe, I was hospitalized for over 27 days, not including multiple visits to the emergency room. The physical, mental, and emotional toll this took on me was incomprehensible. Even worse, seeing my beautiful mom suffer because of me broke my heart.
While at the hospital, I had many days and nights to reflect on the entirety of my life. I asked myself “Justin – if your life came to a screeching halt at the age of 26, what would I regret the most?” Comedy. Actually, not pursuing comedy. It was the clear answer. I vowed to myself that once I got healthier, I’d finally muster up the courage to perform at open mics… then came COVID-19.
Luckily, I was able to perform at a few shows before the pandemic, which were some of the most terrifying experiences of my life, but I was relieved to finally “attempt” comedy. Unfortunately, live comedy shows were shut down for the foreseeable future, which was extremely unfortunate.
Fast forward to now, early 2023, and I’m not anywhere near where I thought I’d be as a stand-up comedian. I was expecting to perform across the country, sell out theaters, and have my own Hulu comedy special (Netflix is too mainstream), but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I thought I was naïve about comedy in high school but turns out I’m even more clueless now.
For now, I’ll have to settle with performing at multiple open mics on weeknights because I’m not consistently good enough to get stage time on the weekends – that’s the sacred spot for the real talented comedians. Fortunately, though, it gives me something to aim for, and I’m hoping this type of momentum will catapult me to living out my dream as a late-night talk show host!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
No way! Not at all. If you would’ve asked my younger self, I would’ve wished for a smooth road to comedic success, but I’m really glad that’s not the case.
Similar to many others’ experiences during their infancy stage of performing stand-up, I was awful. I’d become paralyzed by the thought of getting on stage. If you saw me when I started out, the first thought across your mind would’ve been “this dude should never perform again”. Honestly, even now, there are many performances where you’d think it was my first time ever doing stand-up comedy, and that’s okay. It took me a very, very long time to accept failure on stage.
Failing on stage every single night is vastly different than any other failure I’ve ever experienced. Failing in front of your comedy peers is horrifying. These are the same people who will determine whether or not to put you on their stage ever again. When you fail at other aspects of life, it’s easy to keep it private, but not stand-up. When you’re bombing a set, everyone knows it’s happening. I equate it to watching the Titanic ship sink – everyone knows you’re going down, and there’s nothing you, or anyone else, can do.
Other than performance failures, the next biggest challenge I run into is upward comparison. I have a bad habit of comparing myself to other talented and successful comedians rather than focusing on personal incremental improvements. I attribute this to my comedy immaturity, but I’m taking strides to appreciate and learn from the best comedians in the area because, hopefully someday, it’ll elevate me to their levels of skill.
When people used to say to me “the journey is more important than the destination”, I would scoff at them, but they were 100% right. I’ve really grown to embrace the titanic failures (ha, get it?) because I get to decide what my next steps are. I have a really, really, really long way to go before I get to my perceived idea of success. Of course, there’s self-doubt, and while the future is daunting, I’m really looking forward to it.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
What I do/specialize in:
I’m a hopeful stand-up comedian with the dream of making comedy my career. As of right now, my current job title is “Management Consultant”, and I’m extremely fortunate to have this as my professional career. I wanted to be in consulting since college, and I’m still figuring out how to balance my career with the grueling nights of comedy.
What I want to be known for:
I’m a clean comedian with high emotional intelligence (I hope), and I would classify my style of comedy as “empathetic humor” since my biggest goal is to engage and connect with the audience and their emotions. A famous stand-up comedian named Dane Cook once told me, “Stand-up is far more than jokes – it’s about the human condition and how we cope… and, sometimes, it involves really dirty jokes, too.” Okay, he didn’t say “really dirty jokes,” but you get the idea.
His words really stuck with me because, yes, comedy is so much about making people laugh, but his emphasis on human connection completely shifted my viewpoint on comedy. His advice has allowed me to hone in on my comedic persona, and to focus on the type of comedian I want to be, not what others want me to be.
Proudest comedy accomplishment:
So far, I don’t really have much to be proud of in my comedy life, but back in November 2022, I did a guest spot for a famous nationally touring comedian named Ian Bagg.
It was the first time my loving mom ever saw me perform me live. It was a dream come true, and getting to share it with my mom and brother was magical. Fortunately, Ian is now one of my comedy mentors, and we talk all the time… okay, maybe it’s me always bugging him first, but he always responds! If you’ve never heard of Ian Bagg, you’re truly missing out. He’s one of the most talented comedians of all time, but most importantly to me, he’s my friend.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
From a stand-up comedy perspective, the best aspect about DC is that it’s an amazing place to get really good, really fast. There are opportunities to perform at two to three open mics every single night. There are only a few cities in the country that can say the same, and I don’t take it for granted.
This segues nicely with another one of my favorite aspects of DC, which is the high talent level of comedians here. Everywhere I perform, there are insanely funny people who produce new material on a daily basis. If you’re not careful, it can be very discouraging because it may seem impossible to keep up with some of DC’s best comedians such as Rahmein Mostafavi, Winston Hodges, Eddie Morrison, DeWayne White, and Shelley Kim. You may think I’m just name-dropping some friends, but to be honest, most of the comedians I just named don’t even know I exist, but I always pay extra attention to them while they’re performing because it’s like a free Masterclass session for me.
Other than the cold winters, there’s not too many things to dislike about DC. I’ve always been a “glass half full” kind of guy, so I don’t focus too much on the negative things. Actually, you know what, I strongly dislike the housing prices in the DC area. Also, it pains me knowing an In-N-Out Burger won’t open here for a long time.
Thank you to VoyageBaltimore for the opportunity to share my story! It’s been a blast. As always, I love you, Mommy!
Contact Info:
- Website: justinum.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/justinumcomedy
- Youtube: youtube.com/@justinum
- Other: tiktok.com/@justinumcomedy
Image Credits
Ricky and Alex Tkac
Kathy Corena
Angel Penn
