The Work of Being Funny

Virginia Roots

The child of a federal judge from Indiana and a Puerto Rican mother, Hagel grew up in Northern Virginia. Her career reflects years of persistence.

After graduating from William & Mary with a B.A. in theatre, she moved to Chicago seeking work in the city’s thriving improv and sketch comedy scene. After a decade there, she enrolled in the MFA program at Northwestern University. “All my training had been in live theatre,” she says. Earning a graduate degree in stage and screenwriting “forced me to do a ton of writing. The output was insane. The writing muscles became very strong.”

For five years she wrote and performed sketch comedy with Chicago’s The Second City before moving to New York City, where she struggled financially while building a portfolio. Early jobs included writing jokes for awards shows and TV projects she now describes as “bad but valuable. Each bad job led to a slightly less bad job,” she says. “So by the time I got to late night, I had learned a lot of skills.”

She estimates she applied to about 35 comedy openings over six years before finally landing a job on Meyers’ show. “I kept getting closer and closer but never got hired,” she says. “I have lost more jobs than I have gotten.”

At one point, she considered returning to school to become a Spanish teacher. “After all, I had been an education major at William & Mary for about a minute,” she says.

Her break came in 2016, when she got a text from a friend, fellow comedian Amber Ruffin, already a writer on Meyers’ staff. “She said, ‘Hey, I think we might be hiring. Do you want to send me a packet and I’ll pass it along?’” That final submission led to Hagel’s hiring at “Late Night.”

Hagel later became head writer for “The Amber Ruffin Show” and created the recurring “Late Night” segment “Jokes Seth Can’t Tell,” highlighting jokes from lesbian and Black perspectives that Meyers could not comfortably deliver himself.

“Most careers aren’t one big break,” Hagel says. “They’re a lot of small steps forward. It took a lot of weight off of me when I realized that is most people’s experience.”

Debut Author

Now back home in Brooklyn, she’s preparing for the launch of her first book, “Advice No One Asked For” (published by Gallery Books, June 2), which is a collection of comedic essays based on her stage show, “Jenny Hagel Gives Advice.” Students and W&M community members had a chance to see her show when she performed during the Ampersand Festival on March 21 at Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall, her old stomping grounds. The show invites audience members to submit anonymous questions about topics ranging from relationships to career choices.

“I’m not a know-it-all,” Hagel says. “I just love the idea that I might have information that could make someone’s life better.”

Her boss, Meyers, blurbed the book this way: “Jenny is very funny and also very bossy. Please enjoy her bullying her way into your life!”

For Hagel, appearing at the festival combined work with a homecoming. She spoke fondly of college traditions — from late nights watching “Saturday Night Live” to road trips with the improv troupe. “We would rent a van from the college and drive to other universities to meet up with improv groups,” she recalls. “I can’t recommend that highly enough.”

She’d been back to campus when she was part of The Second City’s national touring group. “It was a while ago, though,” she says. “The Hearth memorial hadn’t been built and I wanted to see that.”

She also says the thought of revisiting favorite local spots is always irresistible. “A cheap pitcher of beer at Paul’s is always a must, bread ends and house dressing from The Cheese Shop, 11 out of 10,” she says. “Just being there makes me think back on the days when improv was a new art form on campuses — and then celebrate how far it’s come.”