We had the good fortune of connecting with Jarret Liotta and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jarret, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
The short answer is because I don’t have a choice. Believe me, life would be so much simpler — and far more lucrative — if I could trade in my so-called artistic sensitivity and an ever-present yearning to create stuff, for a job at the bank. Unfortunately, along with an extremely short attention span, I’ve never been able to escape my pestering desires to write, perform, make film, or do photography, for any significant length of time, thus making the possibility of a hedgefund career extremely impractical.

Of course, all this begs the question of why that sensitivity and desire to create are there to begin with. There are probably many reasons one could look at, but I just assume it’s because my mother drank so much and leave it at that!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Along with a perhaps silly drive to always want to tell the truth about things, at the heart of everything I do is a deep need & desire to make people laugh …

The world is genuinely so insane and weird to me, that all I ultimately want to do is reflect back some of that insanity in such a way as we can’t help but laugh. That’s what’s finally led me to standup comedy this year. I’m finding it’s the ultimate culmination of all of the disciplines I’ve practiced and dabbled in, professionally as well as creatively.

For a long time I’ve worked as a freelance journalist. I’ve written thousands of news stories, including many pieces for The New York Times, National Geographic, the L.A. Times, and of late many with the L.A. Daily News and SoCal News Group. I’m also an accomplished photojournalist and have a great love of telling stories with pictures … This seeking of truth as a journalist, something I kind of revere for its nobility at the best of times, lends itself so well to my observing and exploring the comedy of life.

Journalism led me into documentary work and filmmaking. To date, I’ve written & directed three indy feature-length films — all dark comedies, along with some short projects. I’ve found filmmaking to be an amazing compilation of many different creative mediums, including movement, music, sound and more. It’s a real passion for me and something I think I do exceptionally well.

As I continue to explore my standup comedy this new season — performing at some L.A.-area clubs — it’s connecting quite interestingly to new ideas for film and video content, which are simultaneously being honed through my professional work, as well as recreational creative escapades in photography, writing, etc.

At the end of the day, though, I just want to make people laugh and uplift them in some way … And that should be easy enough, if I try!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
It’s all about the road trips to me … I live in West Hollywood and, before anything, I’d drive us along the Sunset Strip and up Laurel Canyon Blvd. to Mulholland Drive … Then west all the way to Encino, then out across to Malibu, down the coast to Redondo Beach … We’ll probably kill three days just driving straight … I’m also obsessed with good matcha, so I’d get us over the Cha Cha Matcha, which is my favorite hangout, then follow up with an awesome vegan burger at Mr. Charlie’s …

There are so many places to go, I can’t begin to list them all, including great comedy spots, little theaters, like the Lyric Hyperion in Silverlake, iconic locations like the beach in Venice and Griffith Observatory, but for me, it’s also about the amazing, awe-inspiring second-run movie houses that are the very best thing about L.A. — Brain Dead Studios, New Beverly, Egyptian, Vista, etc. Wow!!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Growing up, when she wasn’t drinking, my mother — Olga Liotta — used to always tell me I was a genius. She seemed to really mean it, and being she was such a volatile drunk, I never argued …

Something in that, however, planted seeds of belief for me in what I was doing at any time. When I wrote a story, I really believed it was an awesome story, and when I performed in a play or sang a song, I thought — at least in that moment — “I’m really frickin awesome!” …

And while her alcoholism — coupled with my father’s — was certainly responsible for my deep desire to be heard and understood (because growing up in an alcoholic household, one rarely is!), as I set out to find and use my voice in its various forms, I’ve always had a strong knowledge and sense, even years after her death, that my mother was my biggest fan and consistently celebrated whatever it was that I made …

Website: https://www.jarretliotta.com/

Instagram: @Reel_Jarret_Liotta

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jarret.liotta

Image Credits
Corrina Palarino, Jarret Liotta

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