Big Jay Oakerson
A crowd-work specialist disguised as a 90s nu-metal roadie.
4 specials · 2016–2025
Start with Live at Webster Hall, the breakout (2016 · 68 min · Comedy Central)
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Big Jay Oakerson takes the stage in fingerless gloves and a wallet chain, usually taking a seat on a stool within the first few minutes. From there, he treats the room like a smoking section. He zeroes in on a couple in the front row, asks an innocuous question, and stretches their answer into a long, highly explicit conversation about their sex life. He doesn’t interrogate his targets; he gossips with them. The tone is so conspiratorial that the people he talks to end up leaning forward to offer up more embarrassing details.
Specials
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The Crowd Work Sessions: I Promised Myself I Wouldn't Ask
Comedy Central Records · Album · 55 min
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A filthy hour of crowd work and stand-up from Webster Hall.
Comedy Central · 68 min
On stage
He operates as a central pillar of the East Coast dirtbag comedy scene. Through his podcast Legion of Skanks and its associated festival, SkankFest, Oakerson helped build an independent circuit for comics who aggressively ignore polite taste. He is the guy other comedians drift to the back of the room to watch when they want to see how to command a crowd without ever raising their voice.
You rarely catch the moment he slides from a long crowd interaction into a prepared bit. He builds his sets entirely on the energy in the room. This means a routine can occasionally wander, stretching out while he looks for a new angle if an audience gives him nothing to work with. But the wandering is the reason people buy tickets. He finds the exact line of what a room will tolerate, crosses it by an inch, and chuckles into the microphone until everyone decides to go along with it.
Before comedy paid the bills, he drove escorts to jobs around his native Philadelphia, a background that completely explains his ease with the seedy side of human behavior. Fans get his conversational riffing in massive doses on his SiriusXM show The Bonfire, turning his live sets into a chance to hang out with a deeply inappropriate friend.
Turning points
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Launch of The Bonfire on SiriusXM
Oakerson teamed up with Dan Soder to launch the live daily comedy talk show The Bonfire, which eventually moved to Faction Talk and brought on Robert Kelly as co-host in 2023.
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First Hour Special Live at Webster Hall
Oakerson released his first hour-long stand-up special with Comedy Central, staging the performance from a lowered thrust on a stool to capture an intimate club atmosphere.
At a glance
- Born
- , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Style
- crowd work, observational, satire
- Breakout
- Live at Webster Hall
- Topics
- Elsewhere
- Website, Wikipedia
Fans also like
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Dan SoderDan Soder was the original co-host with Big Jay Oakerson on SiriusXM's The Bonfire, sharing an effortless conversational chemistry and mutual audience.
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Ari Shaffir
Ari Shaffir executive produced Oakerson's special Dog Belly and featured him on This Is Not Happening, sharing an unapologetic edge.
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Robert Kelly
Robert Kelly is the current co-host alongside Oakerson on The Bonfire, sharing a blunt, raw East Coast comedic sensibility.
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Joe ListJoe List is a frequent guest on The Bonfire and shares the contemporary New York club comedy ecosystem.
Podcasts
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The Bonfire · co-host
A live radio talk show and podcast featuring blunt humor and unfiltered conversations about comedy, pop culture, and life.
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Legion of Skanks · co-host
A comedy podcast recorded live at The Stand NYC.
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The SDR Show · co-host
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Story Warz · co-host
A game show spin-off that originated as part of the Legion of Skanks podcast.
Also on screen
- Crashing
- Tires
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- Z Rock
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- Louie
A clip to start with
A clip of Big Jay Oakerson