Man of many voices Jay Pharoah brings his comedy to Tacoma this weekend
Jay Pharoah was struggling with omicron Tuesday.
“Omicron ... Omicon?” the comedian says in a phone interview. “That sounds like it’s a transformer, right? This is definitely Megatron’s cousin.”
Then he reconsiders.
“Or it sounds like a ComicCon for strictly origami folding.”
Pharoah is performing at the Tacoma Comedy Club Friday through Sunday. Fans should expect the actor, rapper, comic and impressionist to mine the news of the day, no matter how dire the situation might be.
“If I was a comedian who didn’t talk about the current state of affairs and the current state of the world right now, then I wouldn’t be a comedian,” he said.
Pharoah rose to fame during his six-year stint on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live”, where he performed in skits and as Barack Obama. His impressions and characters included other comedians like Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock and actor Denzel Washington.
Pharoah’s multi-talents serve him well. He just released his first EP, “Spittin Image”, a mix of his impressions and rapping.
His feature length rom-com, “Resort to Love” co-starring Christina Milian, came out in July on Netflix. The film was produced by Alicia Keys. Working with Milian was a pre-fame fantasy come true for Pharoah, 34.
“I used to have a crush on her, and I got to work with her,” he said. The film was made in 2020 on the island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar off Africa’s east coast.
Other recent films include “2 Minutes of Fame” with Katt Williams, director Justin Simien’s “Bad Hair” and the Harry Shum Jr. tearjerker “All My Life”. He also hosts Nickelodeon’s “Unfiltered”.
Pharoah’s various entertainment paths benefit each other and allow him to stay nimble for the next opportunity. He doesn’t feel like he’s the passenger in somebody else’s career.
“I’m definitely in the driver’s seat,” he said.
Pharoah was born Jared Farrow. He changed the spelling but not the pronunciation of his surname. He uses his old name when he’s making reservations at a hard to get into restaurant.
“And I use my white voice,” he said. “It always works.”
