Janelle James: Head Of The Class

Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa

SiriusXM Podcasts and Poppy Media, LLC

Celebrity, Comedy, Tv & Film, Kelly Ripa, Society & Culture, Pop Culture, Kellyripa, Kelly

4.9 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 2 July 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Abbott Elementary's scene stealer, actress and comedian Janelle James joins Kelly to share her initial reaction to getting the role of Principal Ava Coleman and what she thought when they fired her character. She discusses what it’s like being on tour as a stand up comedian, all of the side hustles she had pre-fame, and bombing on stage. Janelle tells Kelly what her first big purchases were, about the time she lived under a WeWork desk and Kelly puts on her agent hat and pitches her career. Before Janelle hops on, Mark Consuelos enters the studio to share a wild fan encounter he and Kelly had.

Transcript

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0:00.0	But some towns only have white people.
0:04.4	I think when it's those towns and they have never, you can tell they've never,
0:08.7	maybe even seen a black woman in person, much less had to listen to one talk for an hour.
0:14.2	It's like, it's not even that I'm being funny.
0:16.7	They just can't even believe it.
0:20.1	It's not whether I'm being funny or not.
0:22.4	They're just like, what is that?
0:24.0	Like, what is this?
0:25.3	Somebody got to cue me or do I cue myself?
0:27.3	To you.
0:28.0	Okay.
0:29.6	All right, everyone.
0:30.8	Is this it?
0:31.3	Is this it?
0:31.8	Are we rolling?
0:33.0	We are, Seth.
0:34.0	We're rolling.
0:34.5	Wow.
0:35.0	Seth spoke.
0:36.6	Seth, speak into the mic. We're rolling. Wow. Seth spoke. Seth, speaking to the mic.
0:38.8	We're rolling, maybe.
0:39.7	Yeah, people love your voice.
	...

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