Alana Johnston’s “Self-Esteem Party” podcast: a timely blend of comedy and candour

Alana Johnston is a comedic actress, sketch performer and writer from Orangeville, Ontario, Canada. She is a series regular for the Disney XD & Warner Brothers produced cartoon “Right Now KaPow.” She has been featured as a guest star on shows such as “Conan” (TBS), “Comedy Bang Bang” and “Birthday Boys” (IFC), ”Adam Ruins Everything” (TruTV), “BLAIR” (TBS Online), and “The UCB Show” (Seeso). She is also a frequent performer for shows at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade. 

Johnston’s passion for the performing arts developed when she was a child and grew stronger throughout her teen years. “It was actually something I found to be really interesting because I always loved performing as a kid and would join the school plays, but I didn’t know that you could just do comedy as a full-time job. I went to the University of Toronto’s Erindale campus which had a program with Sheridan College for an acting program, and so I would go to both schools. After the first year, I found out that you can do comedy if you want to, and you don’t have to go to school. So when I was about 19 years old I dropped out and started building a career in comedy.”

Now as an adult, Johnston says she cannot imagine her life without acting. “I love the attention and the laughs you get from performing comedy. I honestly just really love being the center of attention,” she laughs. “You get to entertain people, and they’re giving you that validation back. I love being able to connect with the audience and develop that special relationship with each and every one of them.”

In 2011, Johnston wrote a comedic pop album called Self Esteem Party, a collection of songs all about confidence, self esteem and overcoming insecurities. “The album is all about my personal self-esteem journey, and all of the songs are 30 seconds to a minute long. The first song I had written started out as a joke, and I started performing it live and hired dancers. Eventually, I decided to start a podcast because people encouraged me to do a podcast. I didn’t really know what I wanted it to be about, but then a friend of mine suggested self-help, like the stuff I was already doing in my album, so I ended up using Self Esteem Party as my title for it.”

Johnston started her podcast in July 2019. Since then, she has recorded over 70 episodes and has had many guests appear on the show. The Self-Esteem Party recently joined The Sonar Network, which showcases a curation of original comedy and arts podcasts. “My two favourite guests that I’ve had on the podcast are Nick Wiger and Mike Mitchell,” Says Johnston. “They do the Doughboys podcast. I interviewed each of them separately, and it was really fun because I had also been a guest on their podcast in the past. I’ve known these guys for a long time, but with having both of them as guests, I feel I got to know them a bit more personally, learn about their self-esteem struggles, anxiety, etc. It was really nice to discover an old friend. Not a lot of people are comfortable enough to be vulnerable or share their emotions online, so it’s cool to see people break down their barriers and really open up. It’s always a big treat.”

Aside from her podcast, Johnston has achieved many great accomplishments throughout the course of her acting career. She has sold two different TV shows, one to Bell Media (with Pat Skelton) and the other to Comedy Central. She also auditioned for Saturday Night Live, which she described as a “dream come true, wild experience that I’ve always wanted. I feel really grateful that I, a girl from a small town in Ontario, Canada, got the chance to audition for SNL. It was such an honour being able to do that.”

Currently, Johnston is living with her husband in Los Angeles, quarantining due to the ever-lasting Covid-19 pandemic. And while there may be no live shows to perform, she still manages to keep herself busy. “I wrote a pilot for a television show. I’ve also got the podcast, and I’ve been guest starring on other people’s podcasts, some of those are comedic or improv, and I’ve also filmed a couple of music videos throughout quarantine,” she says. “I did a couple of writing gigs, one of them was a Disney show which kept me pretty busy. I went pretty hardcore during lockdown, so most things I was willing to do from my house, but I was able to keep myself entertained.”

Going forward, Johnston says she hopes to sell another television show once things return to normal. She also dreams of having more special guests featured on her podcast, including American actress and comedian Maria Bamford. “I’m such a big fan of Maria, and I thought her show, Lady Dynamite, was so awesome and really showed a lot of the mental health issues that people struggle with on a daily basis. I would love to have her on the podcast because I think she would make a phenomenal guest.”

So, you want to get into comedy and don’t know where to start? No worries, as an experienced performer and writer, Johnston is here to help. “If you want to launch a career in comedy, the most important thing is to know your audience. You have to know how to read people if you want to be able to give them what they want or what they don’t know they want, but possibly need,” she explains. “Comedy is so subjective, so if you know your audience, you’re able to cater performances or do your own thing and learn how to manage a crowd, who to talk to and who not to talk to. But I would just say, know your audience, because that’s what comedy is all about. It’s all about reading people, impersonating people, talking to people, observing people. So if you’re not paying attention to your audience, why should they pay attention to you?”

Follow Alana on Instagram @theonlyalanajohnston.

© Tamara von Estorff, SesayArts Magazine, 2021