Jessica Delfino
Encyclopedia
Jessica Delfino is a controversial singer, songwriter, and comedienne based in New York City
. Her songs tend to ridicule taboos and typically include jokes about vagina
s and other sexual or dark topics. In her act, she plays an assortment of instruments including guitar
, flying V ukulele
and a rape whistle. She is also an illustrator and attended Philadelphia's Art Institute, as well as the University of Maine
. She has won numerous awards, including beating out Flight of the Conchords
to win the Best Musical Act at the 2005 ECNY awards, and a 2005 Village Voice "Best of" Award, in which the Village Voice declared her to be "fall-off-your-chair hilarious." She has appeared on Good Morning America
as a finalist in a national comedy competition. She has also won many other competitions, some of them unusual, such as The Stoned Spelling Bee in Brooklyn
, the Madagascar Institute's Catholic high
school talent competition and the Arlene's Grocery
"Gong Show," which later became The Gong Show with Dave Attell
on Comedy Central.
, High Times (Best "unsigned" Act of The Week), Arthur Magazine (in a fawning review by Sonic Youth
's Thurston Moore
) and The Onion
(describing her as "Redd Foxx meets Jewel").
Delfino's second CD, I Wanna Be Famous, came out in June, 2008 on the Loudmouth Records label, and was officially the first CD ever to be released by that label. It has received praise from Time Out New York, Time Out London, and Blender Magazine
's Rob Tannenbaum, who described Delfino as "The Joan Baez of the Vagina Song." Animator Nick Fox-Gieg's video for the title cut of the song, I Wanna Be Famous, has been viewed more than one million times on YouTube.
She has appeared on Opie & Anthony's radio show, UK comedian Russell Brand
's radio show, the Sundance Channel, BBC's Loose Ends Radio Programme
, the Montreal Comedy Festival
, the (Scotland) Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Galway (Ireland) Comedy Festival, the Bud Light Comedy Festival (Dublin, Ireland), the NY International Children's Film Festival and toured the USA with Lisa "Suckdog" Crystal Carver, Dame Darcy
, The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players
, and Corn Mo
as their opening act. She has also appeared on the Fox News Channel show, "Red Eye" with Greg Gutfeld.
Delfino, together with Meatcake
author and fellow musician Dame Darcy
created Naughty Nautical Nite, a monthly maritime-themed cabaret show at The Slipper Room in New York City, which showcases off-beat acts from around the world, such as ventriloquist Carla Rhodes
and world-renowned thereminist Pamelia Kurstin
. In September, 2008, she appeared in sold-out performances of her show, Dirty Folk Rock, at the Soho Theatre
in London, for which she received a "Critics Choice" from Time Out London.
Delfino is also known for performing as various unusual characters, including "Bilge Baron" in her histrionic fear-metal band Haunted Pussy and "T-Top Trans-Am" (her white-trash burlesque act) amongst many others, some of which appear in "Skits N Tits" the monthly sketch comedy show she co-produces in NYC with Diane O'Debra Langan and Steph Sabelli.
, and she was featured in the 2009 documentary, The Promise of New York
.
's game show
, I Bet You Will
. Later, Morgan Spurlock hired her to write songs for his recent documentary film, What Would Jesus Buy?
.
Delfino writes a blog that Wil Wheaton
called "the funniest thing I've ever read." She has also been a regular contributor for TNT
's Saving Grace
television series blog.
president William A. Donohue
publicly attacked Delfino's act, asserting that it "provides ammunition" to Muslim terrorists by "harboring a depraved understanding of liberty."
On the day after Google
announced its purchase of YouTube
, YouTube removed a popular video of one of Delfino's songs, the subject of which was that her vagina was magic. On October 11, 2008, that same video was featured as the top pick on playboy.com's "Video Hotlist," and was featured on the main front page of playboy.com's Web site.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Her songs tend to ridicule taboos and typically include jokes about vagina
Vagina
The vagina is a fibromuscular tubular tract leading from the uterus to the exterior of the body in female placental mammals and marsupials, or to the cloaca in female birds, monotremes, and some reptiles. Female insects and other invertebrates also have a vagina, which is the terminal part of the...
s and other sexual or dark topics. In her act, she plays an assortment of instruments including guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, flying V ukulele
Ukulele
The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
and a rape whistle. She is also an illustrator and attended Philadelphia's Art Institute, as well as the University of Maine
University of Maine
The University of Maine is a public research university located in Orono, Maine, United States. The university was established in 1865 as a land grant college and is referred to as the flagship university of the University of Maine System...
. She has won numerous awards, including beating out Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords are a New Zealand-based comedy duo composed of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. The duo's comedy and music became the basis of a BBC radio series and then an American television series, which premiered in 2007 on HBO, also called Flight of the Conchords.They were named...
to win the Best Musical Act at the 2005 ECNY awards, and a 2005 Village Voice "Best of" Award, in which the Village Voice declared her to be "fall-off-your-chair hilarious." She has appeared on Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
as a finalist in a national comedy competition. She has also won many other competitions, some of them unusual, such as The Stoned Spelling Bee in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, the Madagascar Institute's Catholic high
school talent competition and the Arlene's Grocery
Arlene's Grocery
Arlene's Grocery is a bar and music venue in the Lower East Side, Manhattan. It is located at 95 Stanton Street, and has been a bar/venue since 1996....
"Gong Show," which later became The Gong Show with Dave Attell
The Gong Show with Dave Attell
The Gong Show with Dave Attell is a revival of the 1970s Chuck Barris comedy game show called The Gong Show, hosted by comedian Dave Attell. The show premiered on July 17, 2008...
on Comedy Central.
Music and Performance
Jessica Delfino's first CD, Dirty Folk Rock came out in 2004 on the Soundcakes International label. It received excellent reviews all across the United States, including in Jane MagazineJane (magazine)
Jane was an American magazine created to appeal to the women who grew up reading Sassy Magazine, both of which had Jane Pratt as founding editor. Its original target audience was aged 18–34, and was designed to appeal to women who are irreverent...
, High Times (Best "unsigned" Act of The Week), Arthur Magazine (in a fawning review by Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
's Thurston Moore
Thurston Moore
Thurston Joseph Moore is an American musician best known as a singer, songwriter and guitarist of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside of Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label...
) and The Onion
The Onion
The Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...
(describing her as "Redd Foxx meets Jewel").
Delfino's second CD, I Wanna Be Famous, came out in June, 2008 on the Loudmouth Records label, and was officially the first CD ever to be released by that label. It has received praise from Time Out New York, Time Out London, and Blender Magazine
Blender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....
's Rob Tannenbaum, who described Delfino as "The Joan Baez of the Vagina Song." Animator Nick Fox-Gieg's video for the title cut of the song, I Wanna Be Famous, has been viewed more than one million times on YouTube.
She has appeared on Opie & Anthony's radio show, UK comedian Russell Brand
Russell Brand
Russell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, columnist, singer, author and radio/television presenter.Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK in 2004 for his role as host of Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth. His first major film role was in the 2007 film St Trinians...
's radio show, the Sundance Channel, BBC's Loose Ends Radio Programme
Loose Ends (radio)
Loose Ends is a British radio programme originally broadcast on Saturday mornings, and then transmitted early Saturday evenings from 1998 by BBC Radio 4. It was hosted by Ned Sherrin until he became ill in late 2006 with a reported throat infection, and later throat cancer...
, the Montreal Comedy Festival
Just for Laughs
Just for Laughs is a comedy festival held each July in Montreal, Quebec, founded in 1983. It is the largest international comedy festival in the world.- Information :...
, the (Scotland) Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Galway (Ireland) Comedy Festival, the Bud Light Comedy Festival (Dublin, Ireland), the NY International Children's Film Festival and toured the USA with Lisa "Suckdog" Crystal Carver, Dame Darcy
Dame Darcy
Dame Darcy is an alternative cartoonist. Her comic book, Meatcake, has been published by Fantagraphics since 1993. Darcy has also released several graphic novels, Frightful Fairytales, Dame Darcy's Meatcake Compilation, The Illustrated Jane Eyre, Dollerium , Comic Book Tattoo, and Gasoline .-...
, The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players
Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players
The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players describe themselves as an "indie-vaudeville conceptual art-rock pop band", from the United States. Originally from Seattle, Washington, they are now based in New York, New York.-Overview:...
, and Corn Mo
Corn Mo
Corn Mo is the stage name of Jon Cunningham, a Brooklyn-based musician. Corn Mo sings, plays the accordion, keyboards, and sometimes performs as a one man band. His music style is a mixture of circus music, glam rock, and humorous novelty songs. He is currently recording his third solo album, and...
as their opening act. She has also appeared on the Fox News Channel show, "Red Eye" with Greg Gutfeld.
Delfino, together with Meatcake
Meatcake (comics)
Meatcake is a comic book series written by Dame Darcy. Originally published by Caliber Press, Meatcake has been published by Fantagraphics in the United States since 1993 and is still in publication, despite varied and prolonged periods of time between the releases of issues....
author and fellow musician Dame Darcy
Dame Darcy
Dame Darcy is an alternative cartoonist. Her comic book, Meatcake, has been published by Fantagraphics since 1993. Darcy has also released several graphic novels, Frightful Fairytales, Dame Darcy's Meatcake Compilation, The Illustrated Jane Eyre, Dollerium , Comic Book Tattoo, and Gasoline .-...
created Naughty Nautical Nite, a monthly maritime-themed cabaret show at The Slipper Room in New York City, which showcases off-beat acts from around the world, such as ventriloquist Carla Rhodes
Carla Rhodes
Carla Rhodes is an American ventriloquist, comedienne and musician who was mentored by Shari Lewis as a teenager. She currently lives in New York City and appears regularly at alternative performance establishments and rock clubs all over New York City and Brooklyn...
and world-renowned thereminist Pamelia Kurstin
Pamelia Kurstin
Pamelia Kurstin is a theremin player who has performed and recorded with artists such as David Byrne, Richard Cheese, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, and Ulver and has performed on the television show Saturday Night Live...
. In September, 2008, she appeared in sold-out performances of her show, Dirty Folk Rock, at the Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre is a theatre in the eponymous Soho district of the City of Westminster. It presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret....
in London, for which she received a "Critics Choice" from Time Out London.
Delfino is also known for performing as various unusual characters, including "Bilge Baron" in her histrionic fear-metal band Haunted Pussy and "T-Top Trans-Am" (her white-trash burlesque act) amongst many others, some of which appear in "Skits N Tits" the monthly sketch comedy show she co-produces in NYC with Diane O'Debra Langan and Steph Sabelli.
Politics
Delfino managed the 2005 mayoral campaign of Christopher X. BrodeurChristopher X. Brodeur
Christopher X. Brodeur is an artist, writer, and musician. Brodeur has been acquitted and found not guilty after being arrested and spending time in jail for harassing members of New York City's mayor's press office staff...
, and she was featured in the 2009 documentary, The Promise of New York
The Promise of New York
The Promise of New York is a 2009 documentary film documenting some less-well-known candidates in the New York City 2005 mayoral race. The film follows Seth Blum, a high-school math teacher, Andy Horwitz, a blogger and performer, and Christopher X...
.
Writing
Delfino wrote for MTVMTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
, I Bet You Will
I Bet You Will
I Bet You Will was an Internet webcast, and later a show on MTV that paid people to do outrageous things for money. In 2008, reruns of the program began to air on Spike. It was created by Morgan Spurlock...
. Later, Morgan Spurlock hired her to write songs for his recent documentary film, What Would Jesus Buy?
What Would Jesus Buy?
What Would Jesus Buy? is 2007 a documentary film produced by Morgan Spurlock and directed by Rob VanAlkemade. The title is a play on the phrase "What would Jesus do?" The film debuted on the festival circuit on March 11, 2007, at the South By Southwest conference in Austin, Texas...
.
Delfino writes a blog that Wil Wheaton
Wil Wheaton
Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III is an American actor and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me and Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers...
called "the funniest thing I've ever read." She has also been a regular contributor for TNT
Turner Network Television
Turner Network Television is an American cable television channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner...
's Saving Grace
Saving Grace (TV series)
Saving Grace is an American television crime drama series which premiered on TNT on July 23, 2007 and ran until June 21, 2010. The show stars Academy Award-winner Holly Hunter in her first television series, as well as Leon Rippy, Kenny Johnson, Laura San Giacomo, Bailey Chase, Bokeem Woodbine,...
television series blog.
Controversy
On December 19, 2006, Catholic LeagueCatholic League (U.S.)
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, often shortened to the Catholic League, is an American Catholic anti-defamation and civil rights organization...
president William A. Donohue
William A. Donohue
William Anthony "Bill" Donohue is the president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in the United States, a position he has held since 1993.-Life and career:...
publicly attacked Delfino's act, asserting that it "provides ammunition" to Muslim terrorists by "harboring a depraved understanding of liberty."
On the day after Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
announced its purchase of YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, YouTube removed a popular video of one of Delfino's songs, the subject of which was that her vagina was magic. On October 11, 2008, that same video was featured as the top pick on playboy.com's "Video Hotlist," and was featured on the main front page of playboy.com's Web site.