Jamie Kilstein

Comedian and political satirist Jamie Kilstein, 28, has come a long way since dropping out of high school. He has contributed to the Onion, the Huffington Post, and currently co-hosts the comedy-focused news internet podcast Citizen Radio with fellow humorist, left-wing radical, and wife Allison Kilkenny.

What did you get into first: politics or comedy?
Comedy. I cared a lot about certain political issues, but I did generic shock-value garbage because that’s what the local shock jocks on the radio liked. If you ever find yourself in a situation where your idols have a fart button, run far, far away from that idol and don’t ever look back. The other thing was, I wasn’t very smart. I knew I wanted to be political because I thought religion was crazy and gay people should have equal rights, but I was dumb as shit. Now that I read a lot and spend all day watching Democracy Now or other news programs that didn’t lead us to war, I use comedy to defend people instead of just making fun of them.