{"id":10036331,"date":"2023-11-06T13:33:24","date_gmt":"2023-11-06T18:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vanyaland.com\/?p=10036331"},"modified":"2023-11-13T13:19:01","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T18:19:01","slug":"sam-jays-latest-special-has-a-message-for-everyone-including-herself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vanyaland.com\/2023\/11\/06\/sam-jays-latest-special-has-a-message-for-everyone-including-herself\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Jay’s latest special has a message for everyone, including herself"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For Sam Jay<\/a><\/strong>, the name of her game has always revolved around evolving and striving to be better. As it just so happens, she\u2019s taken the opportunity to use her latest special to live her truth and maybe even have it run off on us a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With her second full-hour special, Salute Me or Shoot Me<\/em>, which recently premiered on HBO, the Dorchester native and critically-acclaimed comedian is pushing the envelope even further than before. Of course, she\u2019s proud of the final product and the praise it\u2019s received, but she\u2019s also relieved that it\u2019s out in the world now, set in stone, and available for interpretation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor me, I\u2019m just glad that it\u2019s done. It feels good to have it out in the world, because after you tour with something like this for so long, you just get to the point of anxiousness while it\u2019s still being worked on,\u201d Jay tells Vanyaland<\/em>. \u201cThen, it\u2019s finally out and with the people, and there\u2019s this feeling of \u2018okay, there\u2019s nothing more I can do with it,\u2019 and now it\u2019s up to them to receive how they\u2019ll receive it, and feel about it how they want to feel about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Embedded deeply within the fibers of stories centered around relationships and her tight rope-level walk involving the use of the word \u201cmidget,\u201d Jay sets a throughline for the hour revolving around empathy and understanding \u2014 something she\u2019s wanted to explore since the release of her 2020 Netflix special, 3 in the Morning<\/em>. However, while she wanted to implement the element of a theme from the very beginning stages of putting the material together, she admits that she didn\u2019t quite have a direction in mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But given the intuition she\u2019s continued to showcase in terms of her creative process through the handful of different projects she\u2019s helmed over the past few years, Jay picked up on the vibe and direction in which the material was heading and let it evolve organically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou leave every project with a little bit of a critical eye, and when it comes to 3 In The Morning<\/em>, I don\u2019t really feel like it had a theme. I really just wanted that throughline to be very clear, and I also wanted callbacks with this special, because 3 In The Morning <\/em>didn\u2019t,\u201d says Jay. \u201cI really wanted to find a natural way to put some callbacks into this hour. I really just wanted it to tie together more and feel like a complete journey, where it all comes together and wraps up when you get to the end. I feel like I\u2019ve grown as a comic, and I\u2019m better than I was when I started, and I\u2019m better than I was when I made 3 In The Morning<\/em>, so I just wanted to show that growth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Jay found that the more she worked out jokes and stories, elements of life outside of comedy began to be affected in a positive way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I look back at putting this special together, I can see that I was living more in the jokes, and I wasn’t really afraid to explore or get deeper into stuff,\u201d says Jay. \u201cI didn\u2019t worry about bringing the audience too deep into something, because I trusted in my ability to bring them back out. At the end of it, I think this special finds me in a more confident place in my life. My work-life balance is a lot more together, and I just feel less frantic about it all, in general.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She can feel the writing, process and execution behind this special was sharper and more focused than before, but what she\u2019s really focusing on is the message, and what she hopes viewers can take away from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOutside of people thinking it\u2019s funny, what I want them to take away from this special is the idea of empathy, and I want people to be more mindful, thoughtful, and considerate as they move around in the world. It\u2019s important to be a bit more intentional and to think a bit more,\u201d says Jay. \u201cThat\u2019s a message I\u2019m always telling myself, as well. As with all of my stand-up, I\u2019m really just talking to my fuckin\u2019 self and reminding myself of these things to stay on track with being the kind of person I want to be in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n