Hey y'all, welcome to Biscuits and Jam from Southern Living. I'm your host, Sid Evans.

And in this episode, I'm talking to a comedian and Instagram star who made a name for herself by having some very funny conversations with the Lord.

Ellen Scermetti was born and raised in Ripley, Mississippi, not far from Memphis, in a family

that was devoted to the Southern Baptist Church. For Ellen, a person of faith, but also an aspiring

comedian, this turned out to be great source material, as did all the characters in her small

southern town. During the pandemic, she started posting videos

that all started with, hey Jesus, it's me. And then she would launch into gossipy monologues about her

neighbors, critiques of a cousin's potato salad, or famously what would have happened if Queen Elizabeth

had died in the South. Now she's got a new book that takes

its name from those viral hits and expands it a bit. Hey Jesus, it's me. I have questions,

comments, and concerns. Ellen lives in Birmingham now, so we got to do this one in the

Southern Living Offices, and she was just as charming and funny in person as she is on

Instagram. We talked about why her yeast rolls are controversial, what it's been like getting back

to stand up after a fruitful detour through social media, and having what she calls a true

Southern Church Lady for a mother. All in this week's Biscuits and Jam.

Ellen's Kermeddy, welcome to Biscuits and Jam.

Thank you for having me. This is a treat.

So, Ellen, we're here in Alabama doing this live at our offices, and you've been in Birmingham

for a while now. Talk to me about your hometown and your connection to Birmingham.

So we've lived here eight years, and I was born and raised in North Mississippi in a little town called Ripley.

My husband and I lived in Jackson for 13 years after we graduated college, and we got married in Jackson,

and then realized that everyone we knew in Jackson live there

...