Follow The Breadcrumbs with Comedian Anjelah Johnson-Reyes

*This transcript was auto-generated*

Kim Gravel: Coming up on The Kim Gravel Show. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is just to dream.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: And then here I was, this little dreamer, this little Mexican girl from San Jose, and it makes me emotional thinking about like the hunger that I had. I didn't know what I was doing, but I wanted it so bad. And I would like, oh, how do I do it?

I felt... In my spirit, in my gut, that God was saying, I'm not done yet.

Opening Introduction: Let's just go on and spill the tea. This is The Kim Gravel Show. This is one of the realest persons I've ever met in my darn life. You gotta watch this. My mission is to encourage every single woman, we're here to lift y'all up. There's no one more effective than moms. You mess with the bull. You going to get the horns. I need coffee. I need Jesus and I need therapy. If you can bring a smile to people's faces, why would you not? We love our kids. We love our husbands. What a blessing. We're gonna dedicate this to you in finding your superpower. Okay girl. True confidence is knowing who you are and why you're here.

Kim Gravel: Hey y'all, welcome to The Kim Gravel Show. This is a show where we come together. And every single episode, we try to help you level up your life, maybe with a word of encouragement, something we've learned, maybe a guest that we've had on, just anything to help you level up your life. And today, Zac. We have the one and only Anjelah Johnson Reyes.

You want to talk about somebody that's funny, from her rooter to her tutor, this is the girl. Anjelah is a hilarious She's a full package. She's full package. Y'all, she's an hilarious comedian. Her new comedy special is called Say I Won't, Zac, you've got to go watch it if you haven't watched it.

Zac Miller: I watched it.

I would it was really good.

Kim Gravel: So you did. Isn't it hilarious?

Zac Miller: And I laughed my butt off. Yeah.

Kim Gravel: I saw it live. You know, I saw her live with this special.

Zac Miller: I know when I texted you. And I was like, Oh, Kim, we got to watch the comedy special. And we're texting about the show.

And you were like, No, I don't. I saw it live.

Kim Gravel: I saw it live. And I also have her book. Her book is called, Who Do I Think I Am? Who Do I Think I Am? Stories of Chola Wishes and Caviar Dreams. Y'all, when we come back, the one, the only, The Crystal Nail Gel, Bon Qui Qui is with us. Anjelah Johnson Reyes, right after this.

Alright, we are doing review the reviews. It is a segment where we take your reviews and I review how you reviewed the show.

Zac Miller: That's not complicated at all, Kim. I review your review of the show. Could we have made this more complicated? Maybe.

Kim Gravel: It's kind of fun though. Review the reviews. See what people are saying.

Zac Miller: All right. All right. Check it out. So, Chandra, I hope I'm pronouncing that right, left us a review. Fantastic show. I stumbled on your podcast through YouTube and have added it to my regular rotation on Apple Podcasts. I've also made a decision in May to make changes. I've lost nearly 20 pounds and I haven't done anything drastic to do it.

Me either. I can relate to your testimony. Thank you for sharing. Now I need to make some new decisions about other things I have to deal with.

Kim Gravel: Right. So, she, she obviously heard the decision episode.

Zac Miller: That one is crazy popular. Everyone is like, I, I, we've gotten so many emails Kim about people who have made the decision to make some giant change in their life.

Kim Gravel: It's all you have to do. It sounds so ridiculous who I was, I was doing, I was doing a streaming show today and someone put in there, Kim, I made the decision and I've lost 15, 20 pounds. I think it was like 15 pounds. And I was like, it's crazy. It's that we struggle with things for song, but let's get back to review the review.

 I give this review. A 10 out of 10. I'll tell you why. Yeah, because the whole thing about this podcast is to like, of course, laugh, listen to, you know, compelling interviews. And, but honestly, I want you to have takeaways. I want you to listen and say, I'm going to apply this to my life. Or I've learned something or I feel better about myself and I'm going to make change.

It's not really about what we say or do Zac, it's, it's who's listening and what you get from it. So I have to say the fact that you've nearly lost 20 pounds and you've done nothing drastic to do it. You've just made the decision. The fact that you stumbled on the podcast through all Zac's. You know, promotional efforts on YouTube.

Thank you, Zac. The YouTube algorithm, baby. It tells me we're doing our jobs. We're doing our jobs. We're doing what we really set out to do with the podcast. And how many people can say that?

Zac Miller: You can't really go over five, but like, I'll allow it because it's your show. Oh, okay. Well, five. I don't want you to fire me.

I just don't want, look, I just don't want to get fired. Okay. Like, that's it. I just want to keep making the show.

Kim Gravel: Okay, five out of five. Let me, let me.

Zac Miller: If you watching this, listening to this, want to leave a review, leave us a five star review, go to our website, kimgravelshow. com, drop us your review, Apple podcasts, anywhere you get your podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, you know, all of it.

We want to hear from you and we want to know what you think. So, you know, we can make the show better.

Kim Gravel: And you never know, we might review your review. Okay, I promised you one of the funniest, one of my favorite comedians slash women on the planet. Zac, you know I've talked about this woman incessantly.

I've seen... Every video she's ever put out. I just went and saw her live the last time she was in Atlanta, like six months ago, almost around this time last year, I think she was in Atlanta and came and saw her show. And you guys will remember her. Everybody knows her. She's so famous from her viral nail salon bit and her character Bon Qui Qui.

And I'm just going to leave it with this before I introduce this powerhouse of a woman. I'm going to say this, Critical Nail Gel, Anjelah Johnson Reyes, welcome. Anjelah Johnson Reyes.

Play it again, Zac, just so she can hear it. Oh yeah, one more time. Anjelah Johnson Reyes.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Okay. Who is that voice? I need that with me all day long.

Zac Miller: You know, you really do. We'll send it to you.

Kim Gravel: I'll send it to you.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: I feel like I have that voice with me every time I walk into a store or something like, please, everyone settle down.

I have entered the room.

Kim Gravel: Right? Right. Girl, I'm in love with you. I love you. You're like my sister. You don't even know we're best friends, but we are.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Love that.

Kim Gravel: Okay, you are. I remember you back from mad TV. Do you remember those days? I mean, look, I'm way older than you.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: I highly doubt that.

Kim Gravel: You're definitely my new best friend.

You're definitely my new best friend. I've got 10 years on you sister sledge. Okay. So listen, I'm a fan. Everybody's a fan. We have to talk about your long career. I've got to take you all the way back to mad TV. Did, did the nail salon come before mad TV or did Bon Qui Qui come before nail salon.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Nail salon was the first thing.

So the beginning of that is, I, well, should I just start from the beginning of life?

Kim Gravel: Just tell me your entire life. I just want to hear it all.

Zac Miller: Chapter one, I was born.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Chapter one. So Bay Area, I'm from San Jose, California. I started as a professional cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders. I grew up doing like Pop Warner cheerleading, so I had rhythm, right?

But I wasn't a cheerleader trained dancer with like, I didn't know all the technique and all of that kind of stuff. So when I did audition, I made it to the second round where we learned to dance. So here's this, this director choreographer on stage and she has one of those like Britney Spears microphones and she's like five, six, seven, eight, doing all the choreography.

And I'm in a sea of women. There's probably maybe like 300 women left. It started with about 700 and now it's about 300 women. And we're in this like banquet room at a hotel and she's teaching us choreography. And then at one point she stops the music and she gets off the stage and she like weaves her way through the crowd.

And she comes up to me and she says, clearly you have no dance training, but you have something that cannot be taught. And today that is the most powerful. Backhanded compliment I've ever received. I like want to get a tattooed on the back of my neck. I totally got exactly what she was saying because I was out there just like selling it.

Like, I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what pirouette means. I don't know when you say point your toe, which toe, like, I don't know what, but I'm just going to go ahead and sell it. I have sass in my face. I'm whipping my hair back and forth. Like, I'm just going to give you all that I got and I did.

And I made the squad.

Kim Gravel: Oh, my gosh. Okay. So you make this cheerleading squad because of your sassafras and you're something special. Yep. That's right. Anjelah, you know, I'm a woman of faith. You're a woman of faith. You talk about that freely, so do I. That's a God thing. That's a God thing, right?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: 100. Well, so that was a thing.

So I prayed about it and I was like, God, okay, listen. I'm using this as my sign from you. If I make a squad, I will pursue the entertainment industry. And if I don't make the squad, show me another way. I'm going to, I'm going to put this dream out of my brain. It's not for me. I'll just, I'm going to go into massage therapy.

Cause that's the only other thing that I'm good at. You know what I mean? Like, or I'm going to be like a dog walker. Cause I like dogs. Like, right. I don't know what else to do. So I make the squad. And this was, like I said, this was my sign if I'm going to be in the entertainment industry or not. So I remember being in that banquet room.

There's all these hundreds of girls left, and they call your number. My number was like 189, I think. And they call your number. If they call your number, that means you made the squad. And I remember the moment. That I heard my number being called. My first thought was not, Oh my gosh, I'm going to be a cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders.

My first thought was, Oh, I knew it. I knew it right there in that moment that that was it. And so I, I made the squad. We, I was voted like rookie of the year because like I said, I was getting all. And we went to the Superbowl that year. It was against Tampa Bay and I came home from the Superbowl. And I packed up my room and packed it up into my station wagon, and I drove down to Hollywood the very next weekend after the Super Bowl.

And I started from the ground up as an extra on Friends. That was my first job.

Kim Gravel: I know. I read that. I was like, Oh my gosh, what was that like? See people, a lot of people, you got to get, you got to get your book. You got to get the book. You got to get the book. You got to watch the specials. What was that?

Because that's a nice first acting job, girl. Even if that was an extra, that is a very, that is saying, Hey, you know, cause I believe God shows you not, not what he wants you to see where he wants you to go. Right. So he shows you where you could be. He's not, he's not a teaser. He's, he's a, he, he prepares us.

Right. Okay. So what was that like?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: So, okay. I'll tell you even another little thing, another God, tell me, tell me, tell me. So my friend that said, if you come out here, I'll help you get started. She kept her word and she helped me. And so as soon as I got there, she's like, okay, I need you to go sign up to be an extra.

Like that was the thing you go to central casting and you sign up, you say you want to be an extra, right? She said, when you get there, you're going to see a line of people out the door down the block. There's going to be a line of people cause everybody wants to be an extra. She said, I want you to don't wait in line, go to the front window.

I want you to bring a tray of cookies and your raider at headshot. And when you get there, I want you to ask for Sam. Okay. And you just tell him that you're new in town and you want to be an extra. Don't sign up. Don't wait in line. Just give him that and leave him with your phone number. Walk away. I'm like, okay, this sounds real shady.

First of all, this sounds like some squeezy. Like, what kind of sleazy cookie deal do you got me going down?

Kim Gravel: What am I trading them cookies for?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: What am I mean? Like, I ain't like that. Okay, let's just slow our roll.

Zac Miller: Turns out it's way worse than that, Anjelah in a lot of situations. You got off easy.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Right. Thankfully, sprinkle cookies just means sprinkle cookies. And that's it. So, I get there. She was right lining people at the door. I walk in. And this is, we're coming right off the Superbowl. Okay. And I have my Raiderette head shot and my tray of cookies. And I go in, I asked for Sam.

She said, okay, he'll be right out. And then here comes this guy walking out from like the back offices and he comes out wearing a Raider's hat. Now he doesn't. Yes. And immediately, like, I feel my spirit, like jumping on the inside. Like I, I know what's happening. And so I go, Oh, hi. This is for you. I give him the cookies.

And my Raider at headshot, as soon as he sees it, he's like Raiders. No way. He's clearly a Raiders fan. We just came off the Superbowl. He's like, Oh my God, it's incredible. Blah, blah, blah. We talk Superbowl real quick. And he's like, okay, leave me with your phone number. I'll call you if I have anything. Two days later, he calls me and he's like, Hey, do you want to be an extra on friends?

And I was like, Oh, you mean like my favorite show of all time?

Kim Gravel: Yeah, right. The number one show in the whole entire world. Right.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, I do. Thank you very much. And he's like, okay, you start on Thursday, right? And so I remember walking onto the Warner Brothers studios lot and I'm driving by all, I'm walking by all these sound stages and there's all these different shows that are filming and the trams that are driving by and like people taking a tour of the studio.

And then here I was. This little dreamer, this little Mexican girl from San Jose who had that little dream in her heart. But she was like tucking it away. She was embarrassed to even say it out loud because who am I, the audacity to say something outrageous, like I want to be an actress one day. And then here I am walking on this lot and I can still smell the sound stages.

It smelled so magical, so brand new. It was like this is movie magic being made and here I am and I'm walking on and I remember walking onto the set. It And seeing like, the guy's apartment, the girl's apartment, the coffee shop, and this TV show that I've been watching, that I've been a huge fan. I'm standing there with them.

And it was like, I made it. I, my career is, this is all I needed. I, I made it. I'm sending out the newsletter. Tell all the family members, here I am. Dreams have come true. And I was just an extra, but to me, I was like taking free class from the best actors in the world. The highest paid actors on television at the time.

I'm over here taking free class. Free class from Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Courtney Cox, and I get to watch them. I get to learn all the lingo cause I didn't know what things meant like, okay, find your mark. Okay. A camera, B camera. I don't know any of these things. I'm just this girl from San Jose who was a Raiderette cheerleader.

And now here I am just faking it till I make it just like I did in the Raiderette audition. Listen, I don't know any of this technique, but I'm just going to go ahead and give it all I got. Same thing. I don't know any of these words that you're saying, but I'm going to blend in. I'm going to act like I do.

I'm going to show up and you're going to think that I've been doing this for years, but guess what? It's my first time and you're not going to know it.

Kim Gravel: I love what you said when you said you were dreaming beyond what you saw in your community. What? You got to explain that because to me, I believe sometimes the hardest thing to do is just to dream. Sometimes it's the hardest thing to just imagine things that you've never seen before.

And then to watch God unfold it because that's how good God is, girl. Don't make me get on it because he don't was. If you had the audacity to, to throw your fleece out and ask him to show you, don't think he won't back up what he promises because he will. So what did you mean by you dreamt beyond what you saw in your community?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: So kind of. What you just said, like it's hard to have vision for something that you've never seen before. So like if I, if I saw a lot of Latina actresses on TV every day, every show that I watch, I could see them and point to them and go, Oh, she's like me. I could totally do this too. Wow. But we, I didn't see that.

I, the closest I saw to that, like there, there was hardly any, there was, there was no Eva Longoria is at the time, you know, there, there was nobody that I could point to and say, Oh, she's like me. It was Sandra Bullock. She was my, my go to. She wasn't Latina, but she had brown hair. Yep. She had brown eyes.

Yep. She kind of looked like me. And I'm like, Oh, okay. I could do that. Right? Right. So in my community, I didn't know of anybody growing up. I didn't know of anybody who was famous. I didn't know people who were in tv and commercials.

Kim Gravel: So it seems so far away.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Seems so far away. It was, it was for those people.

It was for privileged people. It was for people who had money or who knew how. That's always been a thing with me. Well, I don't know how. to do it. I don't know how to write a script. I don't know how to like be an actress. And I remember when I was in San Jose, this is when, okay, I'm about to age myself, girl.

The internet was brand new. Okay. . The internet .

Kim Gravel: The worldwide web.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Yeah, the worldwide web was a new thing. It was www, it was well dial up.

Kim Gravel: My gosh, I remember all of that.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Right? So I go on this brand new internet thing and I'm trying to look up like, how do I make a resume for, movies for tv.

For agencies, right? Where is there a talent agent in my area? Like how do I find. A talent agent and it makes me emotional thinking about like the hunger that I had I didn't know what I was doing But I wanted it so bad And I would like oh, how do I do it and I would call I would call call Acting studios and be like, how do I do it?

Well We're 2, 000 for an, I'm like, I don't have that money. Like I'm just this little girl who's wants to be an actress, but it's not going to say it out loud because it's embarrassing because I get things like this. Oh, it's 2, 000. Well, see, that's for people who have money. That's not for people like me.

Kim Gravel: It's almost like reaffirming what you felt inside. Exactly. But girl, why did you keep, that's what I'm saying. Like, what, what was it that's cause everybody wants to know. Cause you're so uber successful and we're getting there. But I just want, what kept you going? The drive, there had to be something spiritual.

There had to be something bigger than you at play there. Right? What was that?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: So I would go to the movies and I would just be mad that I wasn't in it. Like I would watch it and be like, I could do that.

Kim Gravel: Girl, I love that. You're not audacity, honey. You're tenacity.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Listen, I'd be like, I could do that. How, who taught this girl how to be in that?

Cause I could do that. If somebody would just teach me. How to get there. I could do that. Just somebody get me there. How do I get there? It was, it was that right. And then it was, it was those little things. It was like, I see my friend, I ran into her at a nightclub. We were dancing. Hey, get our groove on.

And she's like, I'm a cheerleader for the Raiders. You should come try out. And I was like, well, it's not really my jam. And then right around the same time I see my other friends in this commercial. Like what? That's Sandra in a Ross commercial? No way. And then I talked to her and I'm like, yeah, you know, I kind of want to do that too.

And she's like, okay, we'll come out here and I'll help you. What? Ding, ding, ding, ding. Now all of a sudden, this far fetched fantasy is feeling more like an attainable dream.

Kim Gravel: I call those breadcrumbs. I call those breadcrumbs. To me, it's like every single step that you have even said thus far has led you to the next step to the next step.

Don't you think that that's true for all of us? I mean, it's always there in front of us for the taking. I mean, what if you had not followed that, Anjelah? What if you had not gone and done the Raiders? What if you, you know what I'm saying? Like, you, you, you were an active participant and you're not knowing how to do it.

But, but it's like it, it was there in front of you, right?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Listen, when you talk about breadcrumbs. Okay. Here's an important thing. Everybody listen, in order to see the breadcrumbs that God has laid out before you, you have to be focused on your path, not your friend next to you, not the girl to the right, not the girl you follow on Instagram, not that new TikTok account, not any of that.

You have to have your blinders on looking at your journey, your dreams, your vision, fine tuning you so that when you see that breadcrumb that God has left for you on your trail, you are equipped and ready to utilize the breadcrumb that is there. You're not like depleted. Well, no, what do I do? Because I've been focused on homegirl over here and homegirl over here and comparing myself to them being like, Oh, well, how come her husband always gives her flowers every day?

It seems like she'd be posting that on Instagram. My husband don't give me flowers every day. Oh, how come this girl over here? Like she just got a brand ad. Like she's getting paid a lot of money just to post about this new blender that she got, like, should I be doing that? And then you start looking left and right.

What should I be doing? What should I be doing? And then you're, you're not equipped. focusing on you, preparing you, whatever that looks like for you, eating right, exercising, drinking more water, meditating, just waking up early, grounding in the grass, whatever that looks like for you so that you're ready.

When you see that breadcrumb, you go, Oh, I know exactly what to do with this. Come with it. And then you go, you keep going and going and going until you get that next breadcrumb.

Kim Gravel: I mean, that is what I think that is what everybody They want what God has for them. What is for me is for me, you know what I'm saying?

And you're right. We're looking left or right, but how. You say that your next step was that you took a comedy class at a church. Now only in LA. Okay. Can you take acting classes and comedy classes and hear about the Bible all in the same building? Okay. How do you take a comedy class at a church?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Exactly that.

It's Hollywood and the church is well aware that most of the people that come here, most of this congregation is here because they want to be in the entertainment industry.

Kim Gravel: Correct.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: So they offer classes for people that were free. It was like their ministry. So on Tuesday nights, it was creative arts night and you could come and take a dance class and acting class.

You can take a production class and learn how to do like sound equipment. You could take a standup comedy class. Fantastic. I was in the classroom class and we would do like improv games and I was funny in the improv games. And so this woman who was teaching the stand up class saw me and she was like, Hey, do you want to come take my joke writing class?

And I was like, I don't know, is it free? Is it free? And she was like, yes, yes, yes, it is free. And I was like, okay, sure. You had no money. Listen, I was on unemployment, honey. No, no money. And. I had no desire to be a comedian at the time. I didn't know I was funny.

Kim Gravel: Oh, okay. You never thought about that. Okay. All right.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: In my brain, I was a dramatic actress. I was about to be on Law and Order SVU. Like, let me tell you, like, that's where I thought I was going. I didn't know I was funny.

Zac Miller: The extras don't do well on Law and Order SVU. Yeah.

Kim Gravel: No, they don't. They don't make it to the next, they don't make it to the next episode.

So, so you never said, oh my gosh, like you never started in comedy when you were young. You never said, oh gosh, I'm funny. I should do jokes. Never. That's a good point to everybody listening.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: My whole family's funny. Okay. My dad is funny. My siblings are hilarious. We have a hilarious text thread that we just text each other all day long.

 And we were all just funny with each other. So I would never have looked at that and said like, Oh, I can make money off that. Oh, I could do that for a living. It was just like who we are. That's just our personality. We get it from my dad. He gets it from his dad.

Kim Gravel: Like that's just how it is. Your calling is always hiding in plain sight.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Right? Exactly. And so that's kind of what it was. And so I took this class and one of the very first jokes that I wrote in this class was this nail salon bit that ended up blowing up five years later.

Kim Gravel: Oh my gosh. Okay. So that, that is the whole. Nail salon bit that that it birthed that okay, so tell me how that came about because I'm sure you get so sick and tired of everybody because when I saw you live, it was just last year.

I saw you live in Atlanta. And you were doing it was sold out. We had nosebleed seats and you were doing, you're like, I'm gonna do this one more time because I mean, it is, Probably what launched you into your career, would you say the nail salon bit? Absolutely, for sure. Did you know that when you wrote it?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: No.

Kim Gravel: Okay. Tell me how all that came about.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: I grew up in San Jose. There's a huge Vietnamese population in San Jose. One of my best friends growing up, his name is D Lay. His name is Daniel Lay, but we call him D Lay. He used to teach me Vietnamese. I would come to his house all the time and his mom would make us pho and like, teach me all the things.

They would teach me how to say things. So that I could say them to my nail salon lady when I would go get my nails done. So they would teach me a new thing and then I would go to my nail salon and I would impress them with this new phrase that I learned it was great at one point. I could just count to 100 vietnamese.

Like I was very determined. And So I, I'm very good at accents. I have a, a very quick ear. Like I can hear things and like, I'll start talking. However, you're talking pretty much like you have a draw. I'm a, it's going to be in there. Here. She can, I mean, like, and that's just how my ears work. And, So I would be able to do this accent very well.

And then people would ask me to do it, be like, Oh my gosh, do, do the, do the accent, do the thing. Right. And so then I became that. Person for my friends, because it was funny. They'd be like, okay. And then I would get into character and all the things. And then, so when I took this class, I remember telling the lady who was teaching it, I was like, oh, I have this nail salon character that I can do this voice.

And I could do the accent really well. I think I could write a joke about it. And she was like, no, nail salon jokes are so hacky. Like everybody has a nail salon joke. I would just steer clear of nail salon jokes. And I was like, okay, I don't know if they do it the way I do it. Cause I'm pretty good. Maybe I'll just do it anyway.

So I did, I did it anyway. Thank God. And that was the joke that blew up my career that it was, I wrote it in my free joke writing class back in 2006 and here I am today, 2000, 2023, if I do a show and I do not do that joke, people will shout it.

Kim Gravel: They were shouting it out at the show I went to. Oh yeah. It is you just stepping into what God created you to do.

When you say your career blew up from that, did it go viral? How does a career blow up? So give people, like, cause you wrote it in 2006, right? And so when did the blow up happen, girl? Like, give me, give me the waiting period or, you know, when that happened.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Yes. So, I wrote this bit I did about 12 minutes of material in this free class and then people I still wasn't trying to be a comedian It was just a thing that I did for fun.

You just were doing you were just being you Exactly, and then I get this call. Hey, do you want to come perform at the ice house? They're recording these this is again aging myself again before youtube They were flip phones. Okay. Everybody had flip phones and you could download a comedy clip for a dollar 99, a dollar 99.

And you could hear some comedy clips on your phone. So they're like, if you come and do your 10 minutes of material, they'll give you 25 bucks. And I was like, Stop it.

You're going to give me 25 for doing my jokes? Yes. I'm on my way. Save my spot. I'll be there. So... I do that. I, I get my 25 bucks. I do my 10 minutes and they're like, okay, we're going to upload this and people will download these clips for a dollar night item Verizon cell phones. I'm like, okay, great. Bye. I don't care.

And then, brand new thing called YouTube comes out. Yeah. Okay. So now all of those clips, instead of people paying for them, cause who's going to pay for comedy clips when you could get them for free on YouTube. Now they just upload them all to YouTube. So this is around the time when if you got an email from your friend and there was a video in it, You definitely watched it because that was a brand new thing to get.

It was hot. I remember. It was a video. It was like, what? I can watch this in my email? Hold on. Yeah. It was like that. So then, I start getting phone calls from people that I know. Okay. And I remember one from my cousin. She worked at the bank or... Somewhere. I don't remember where and, she called me. She was like, Hey, there's this email going around at work.

There's a video in it and they sent it to me and it was a video of you. And I was like, girl, what video? Hold on. Stand by.

And she was like, It's this video of you doing stand up comedy and you're doing this nail salon joke and they sent it to me. She's like, but the weird thing is they didn't send it to me because they know you're my cousin. They just sent it to me. Like, it's just going around. Everybody's sharing it. And I was like, what?

That's weird. And this is MySpace days, right? So all of a sudden, my MySpace page starts blowing up. People start messaging me from all over the world. Hey, when are you coming to perform in the Philippines? When are you coming to Australia? When are you coming here? When are you coming there? All these people.

And I'm like, Oh my gosh, like what? I only have like 12 minutes of material. People want me to come perform. I don't know how to do this. Right. And then people started finding things out about me and they'd be like, Hey, I see that you went to Lincoln high school and this year and that year, whatever. And, people started like.

Researching me and finding out things about me. I don't know how to be a celebrity. I don't know how to be famous. Right. And so, You just want to be an actress. Let me tell you, I am sitting there for hours and hours replying to every message that comes in. Lord have mercy, girl. I don't know that you don't have to reply to every person who sends you a message.

So I am doing copy paste, copy paste. Thank you so much for the support. Thank you so much. Copy paste.

Kim Gravel: Oh, that's fantastic though. That's fantastic.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: And I, like, I have no idea what I'm doing. And then I start getting messages from people that were like, Hey, I'm the assistant to the executive at CBS, at ABC, at Fox, at NBC, all these networks.

Send their assistant to come and find me on my space. Because at that time I didn't have an agent. Nobody knew how to get a hold of me, so they would send their assistant to MySpace to come and find me. I'm at this place in my life where I'm on unemployment, like I said, I have no job. At this point, Friends is done, Friends ended, and I don't have a job anymore, and I'm like waitressing, but then when I'm not waitress, like if I get an audition, but when am I going to get an audition because I don't have an agent?

It's like all those things, right? So I have no money. I'm on unemployment. And at this point, my unemployment checks had run out. So now I like literally have no income coming in. So it was at this point. where everything in my life was saying, Hey, you tried, you gave it a good go.

Kim Gravel: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: It didn't really work for you. This wasn't for you. Everything in my life is saying.

Kim Gravel: That was your level up moment. That was new levels, new devils. That's all that is. Yeah.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: So, so I'm sitting here. I have no money. I have no way to pay my bills. I have no way to buy groceries. So anytime I get a phone call like, Hey, we'll give you 25 bucks.

I'll be like, yes, honey. Yes. So I'm at this point in my life, no unemployment checks, nothing. My sister back home in San Jose, she was sending me money for rent, yeah. She would send me gift certificates to the grocery store so that I would have food to eat. She was like. Don't give up, don't do it.

So I had, there was two reasons why I stayed, why I didn't give up. One was my sister financing my dream. And two, I felt in my spirit, in my gut that God was saying, I'm not done yet. He's not. I know it looks a type of way. It looks like it's time to go home. Just trust me. Trust. I'm not done yet. And so I held on to the little voice saying I'm not done yet And I held on to that gift certificate that my sister sent me so I could go get some top ramen and some cheerios and I waited and during this time where I have no agent, I have no opportunities in my life.

I have nothing saying, Hey, you're on the right track. Keep going. I have nothing like that happening. I turned this season of my life into my pursuing God with everything I had time. And so it became my time. Of praying, yeah, draw close, draw close by reading, worshiping, singing. Yeah, it was like, it was my time to like, just grow.

Kim Gravel: That's your growth. That's your growth. He was growing you.

Yes, he was growing you so that you can survive in this world of entertainment. Much less comedy. I mean right girl. Okay, fast forward. So you're there you're in that season Fast forward to this comedy special now. I mean you have 75 million views, babe I mean you were on that TV.

You did Bon Qui Qui. We welcome to King burger. I mean, I remember it it was wild.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: So I'll I'll finish that right there. It was 2007. This video starts blowing up. I, I'm like, what's going on? All these networks start calling me in for meetings. So January 2007, by February, I got an agent and a new manager. By March, April, May, like that season, I had auditioned for MADtv, ended up booking it for MADtv.

 I ended up writing more material so that I could go tour with Stand Up Comedy. So by the end of the year, I was a headlining comedian, touring the country with my Stand Up Comedy. From January 2007, when I had nothing to my name. To the end of the year where I was on a hit television show called mad TV, and I was touring the country as a headlining comedian, my life had completely changed.

So from that in 2007 to today, 2023, I have six one hour specials. I've had a special on Netflix. I've had a special on comedy central. I've had a special on networks that aren't even. You know working anymore. i've had specials Anywhere, you can google them and find them. There's six hour specials and this one that I just did.

It's amazing was Thank you. It was my first time self producing self financing my own special, we filmed it at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, which has been, hosted such legends as Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Bruce Presley, and then they let us riff raff come in there and tell some jokes, and.

So we filmed it. I said, you know what? I'm going to take this special back to the platform that started off my career for me. And I put it on YouTube for free for all the fans. And it's my way of saying thank you for riding with me for so long. Thank you for coming to my shows after all these years.

Thank you for still caring about the things that I say and the things that I talk about. Here's my hour special. I invested in it. I had so much fun writing this material, touring this material. Here it is. for you, share it with your friends and family and enjoy.

Kim Gravel: Okay. Well, we want you to enjoy too. We have a clip.

Can we listen to it real quick, Anjelah? Listen to this clip. I love it.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: And then somebody told me this. They were like, Hey. When people say, bless your heart, they can mean it in a good way or a bad

way. And I was like, what? Like, how you do a bad bless? And they're like, no, trust me, sometimes that's not what they mean. So now, anytime somebody tells me, bless your heart, just to be safe. I reply with, bless your heart. Yeah, I wish you would Bless it again, go ahead.

Kim Gravel: Oh my god, I absolutely, As a true southerner who says bless your heart all the time in many different ways, I completely, a thousand percent agree with that.

Zac Miller: She says it to me, Anjelah, and I never know how to take it. I'm always confused. As not a Southerner, yeah, I don't know.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: You take it with one stunted eye.

Kim Gravel: This is when I'm like, is she getting ready to knife me? No, I mean, seriously, you have come so far and so on, and now you're almost When you say you're kind of entrepreneurial too, I mean, with, with financing it yourself, putting it out to, I mean, to me, that's where it's at these days now anyway, like tell me this experience, what it's been like, like this show in particular, because I've seen it live.

So this show, tell me what it has meant to you to come full circle right now.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: So, one. It's, you have to take a big risk on yourself to finance something like this. We, this was big budget. This, it's beautiful. You've already seen it. But for those who haven't seen it, it's stunning. We went all out. We, I didn't want this to be like the cheap version of something that Netflix would do or HBO would do.

Like I want this to be right on par. With excellence. I want to create excellence and put that out there. So I need to invest in myself and take a risk on myself in the same way. I started at the Raiderettes audition. I need to take a risk on myself. And so that's what I did with this special. I took a risk on myself and I said.

I'm gonna put it out there. This is something my husband taught me a long time ago when we first got married He would say like yes, you you can ask god to bless things for you But you you have to give him something to bless like you do the work create it And then give it to god and say god bless this But what was he gonna bless if you don't do and put it you gotta do your part.

You gotta do your part exactly Exactly faith without works is dead. It's dead. Somebody's saying me. So we did the work And ask God to bless it. And we just put it out in into the interwebs and said, okay, Lord, do what you do. I pray that it grows my fan base. I pray, I pray that it goes globally, that I get to travel globally with my family, with my daughter and show her the world that that comedy has opened this door for me, that joy that I get to be medicine for people because Laughter is medicine.

And so I get to come and bring medicine to all these different cities that I go to the fact that I get to be medicine and show my daughter that let's go do that. Like open those doors globally, open those doors for like TV shows and movies and all those projects. Like that's what I was praying and hoping for in this investment in myself in the same way.

That Raiderettes popped me off in the same way that nail salon video popped me off. I'm praying that this special does something even more powerful in my life and my career by the faith, the work, and the investment that I put into it.

Kim Gravel: I'm going to tell you, it's, you are just beginning. You're just beginning.

Everybody right now, really, really quickly go check out this special on YouTube. Now, Anjelah, before you leave, cause I know you have to go, but I want, I want to do this thing I do with every single person that comes on the show. We do what we call rapid fire questions, and I have such hope and faith in you.

Okay? Rapid fire questions. We want rapid fire. What comes up comes out. Okay? First thing comes to your mind. All right, here we go. What job would you absolutely be horrible at?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Waitress. I was when I did it, and I would be horrible again if I did it again. Okay.

Kim Gravel: There is an empty 20 foot wall in front of you.

What do you graffiti on the wall?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Oh, I would probably do that letter S that we used to do in high school with the lines and then you connect them for what you're not ever spelling anything with the S.

Kim Gravel: It's just an S that you just an S. It's just it's just a symbol.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: The symbol. I would let it show my age.

It would be like this is how old I am.

Kim Gravel: It's such a good answer.

Zac Miller: It's like a flashback, like a strong flashback. Sorry.

Kim Gravel: It's just I've had it. I had it when she said it. That's what makes her good at writing. Okay, what fortune cookie saying best describes you?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Hmm, All your dreams will come true.

Kim Gravel: Oh, I love that.

Okay, fill in the blank. I discovered blank before it was

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: cool. Oh. I discovered blank before it was cool. I discovered loungewear before it was cool.

Kim Gravel: Excellent. Oh my gosh, that is so excellent. I discovered loungewear before it was cool. Because that's all the kids wear now. I mean, they don't even wear bras anymore.

Okay, here we go. What's one thing about you that sounds fake but is 100 percent true?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: I don't speak Spanish.

Kim Gravel: What? Yeah, that's the best answer ever. Okay. What's on the top of your bucket list?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Top of my bucket list. Okay. I always say travel, but then I travel for a living so that anytime I get the opportunity to travel, I'm like, I don't want to stay home. I travel for, you know what I mean? So I say travel like I want to go to Thailand.

I want to go to Vietnam. I want to go have my eat, pray, love. You know go just travel

Kim Gravel: every pasta dish on the planet

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: That's what i'm saying. Have a good glass of wine and like I want to do all that thing but then that means I actually have to like Plan and dry it right. I'm like, Oh, I'm exhausted. I'll just take home.

Kim Gravel: So you just want someone to pay for it and plan it and then you'll go.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Oh, that would be amazing. If I could borrow someones private jet, that would be great, too Because yes

Kim Gravel: Yes, just no checking luggage no like pat downs none of that, okay What is the ideal way to spend 30 minutes for you?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Laying down watching Law and Order SVU.

Kim Gravel: Oh, God, right? Just like, incessantly. Just back to back to back to back. What is your go to favorite movie?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: The Wizard of Oz.

Kim Gravel: Okay. You're so Dorothy. If you could instantly learn anything, what would it be? Spanish. Okay, I was gonna say. That was an easy one. We gave you that one.

What is the nastiest thing you've ever eaten?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Oh. Oh. Shoot. I don't know. Like, oysters? I don't like oysters. The texture in my mouth.

Kim Gravel: Okay. Oysters are nasty. Especially if they're just steamed. Yeah, I get that. Favorite junk food?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Flamin Hot Cheetos.

Kim Gravel: Dang, girl. I can't eat, but like, it's a good answer. But you don't get the indigestion and the heartburn and all that going on right there.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: I mean, I probably do, but it's worth it to me.

Kim Gravel: It's worth it. Okay.

It's worth it. Now, what's your favorite drink? Because, you know, you can't just eat those. You got to have that drink. What's the favorite drink to go right with it?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: I, I love soda water. I don't, I don't drink soda with that?

I gotta do the bubble waters. Just plain bubble waters.

Kim Gravel: I love it. Well, at least it gives you a little something, something to wash it down with. Who's your celebrity crush?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Bruno Mars.

Kim Gravel: Oh, he's hot, right? That's a good one.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: I love Bruno Mars.

Kim Gravel: But don't you think he's the modern day prince?

Don't you think he's the new prince? Oh, I love me some Bruno Mars.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Somebody's gonna hate me for agreeing with that. But, yeah.

Kim Gravel: Who cares if they hate you? I'm in full agreement with you. I totally agree with you on that. What is the next big thing for you that you're speaking into existence?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: My multi cam sitcom.

Kim Gravel: What is that? What is that? What is that? What's a multi cam sitcom?

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: So, the difference between a multi cam and a single cam is like, modern family. Is a single cam show friends is a multi cam show multi cams friends willing grace Seinfeld there on a sound stage.

Zac Miller: One set or a couple.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: It's on a sound stage.

Kim Gravel: What would it be called?

What would your sitcom be called? Let's go ahead and we're bringing this into existence right now together.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Well, before I took my husband's last name as Reyes, I was just Johnson, and so my show is going to be called Los Johnsons, but now I took on Reyes, so I don't know. That's a good one. I got to start naming it so that I can visualize it. Name it and claim it. Name it my sitcom. I got to think about that one.

Kim Gravel: Okay. Well, if you have it, when, oh, no, no, no, no, no. When you have it, please let me be the bless your heart Southerner that's the extra on the show, please.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: Oh, my God. Oh, my God. It's happening. It's happening. It's happening. I can see. I visualize that.

Kim Gravel: I'll be the Southern neighbor that brings over your casserole when you move into the neighborhood.

And then I hand it to you and say, bless your heart. And I'll walk off. I love it. I walk on. I love it. I love you, girl. Thank you for coming on. You are a light. You are a talent and you are an inspiration to everyone who dreams big. I love you, girl.

Y'all go check it out. Check out her comedy special on YouTube, like, follow, and just get that, get that shot of joy that she only Anjelah can bring to you and do it now. We love you, girl. Come back and be with us.

You know what? I mean, Anjelah is such a person of depth. She is. You know, she has, she's hilarious, you know that, I mean, but Zac, her story and her journey on how she is where she is, isn't that just, I love her God messaging, I love how she followed the breadcrumbs, Zac, I love how one thing led to the next, and now she's not even done, she's on to the next, and I think that's what we want to do with the show, we want all of you guys to be thinking about your calling, your dream, your life in a fresh new way, Right?

I mean, who doesn't remember the nail salon bit? I mean, it's hilarious.

Zac Miller: It's so funny how much, like, that one thing that, that is just so relatable can like change your whole life, right?

Kim Gravel: Well, she said she didn't even think she was funny. Remember? She's like, I didn't even know. And I say this all the time. I say this all the time.

Your calling is always been with you and we take it for granted. That's why we don't recognize it.

Zac Miller: You know, well, it's funny. It, it reminds me of some of the folks like you coach and you talk to and, and we get like letters from, cause it's like, I know I'm like set for something more. I just don't know what it is.

You know, you haven't identified it yet, but you're kind of, you're following those breadcrumbs and you know, it will click one day, right?

Kim Gravel: And I will tell you, I, I think I said this in the, in the episode, I said this to Anjelah, you're, you're calling your purpose, your talents, your giftings, you know? We're hiding in plain sight.

And I want to tell you that right now. I want to leave you with that. I mean, listen to the interview with Anjelah John, cause we love her buying quick, we crystal nail gel. We love all that. But more importantly, she was, she was really downloading us all on. How she followed the breadcrumbs and how her calling and her main purpose in life was hiding in plain sight.

She took it for granted. She didn't even know that's what she had until it made itself known. So whatever your calling and purpose is, is it hiding in plain sight? Is it something that you take for granted that comes very easily to you that you never thought of? And if that's the case, Get busy following those breadcrumbs.

We love you so much, Zac. I told you Anjelah was going to be fire. I knew she was going to be fantastic.

Zac Miller: I'm so glad we got her on the show. She's so much

Kim Gravel: fun. So I'm going to say it. I love it. Yep. Hope you did. Now review, review, like, and share and tell people about the Kim Gravel show. Until next time. I'm Kim.

Zac Miller: I'm Zac.

Kim Gravel: And we love you. Bye.

Zac Miller: Bless your heart. Ah ha!

Kim Gravel: Red light is on! Ah! Red light is on!

Zac Miller: Alright, that's recording. Hey, we're making a podcast. And we'll review your review.

Kim Gravel: I love it. There you go. That's it. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Ooh.

Zac Miller: I have my backup.

Kim Gravel: Got your backup for the backup.

Zac Miller: I like how she says it like an insult. Bless your heart. You know what? Bless your heart.

Kim Gravel: No, no, bless your heart.

Zac Miller: You know what? Yeah. No. Bless your heart.

Kim Gravel: Bless your heart.

The Kim Gravel Show is produced and edited by Zac Miller at Uncommon Audio. Our associate producer is Kathleen Grant, the Brunette Exec. Production help from Emily Bredin and Sara Noto.

Our cover art is designed by Sanaz Huber at Memarian Creative and Mike Kligerman Edits the show and a special thanks to the team at QVC. Head over to kimgravelshow.com and sign up for our mailing list. Again, we can't do this without you, so thank you for listening, and we love you.