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Before actress Jess Hilarious pursued her comedic dreams, she was on track for a career as a mortician. The “Rel” star made the interesting revelation during an appearance on OWN’s “Girlfriends Check In” alongside fellow comedians Wendy Raquel Robinson, Kim Whitley, and Luenell. After a series of negative job experiences, Jess decided that a job in a mortuary might be more fitting for her personality.
“So… I started because… I had got fired from this job, right?” Jess explained. “The reason why was because I don’t get along with — people! So let me do something where people don’t have to talk to me. I went to school for mortuary science, right.”
The comedian quickly learned that working with the deceased has unique downsides as well.
“Yeah you know, dead people can’t talk so they can’t get you fired,” Jess went on. “I didn’t realize if you put too much embalming fluid in one part of the body, other parts will start moving, which is worse than real people talking. So I was like, you know what, I’m just going to do comedy, cuz that’s where I need to be.”
Of course, her fellow comedians were equally shocked and amused by her story.
“I was like I can’t do nothing with dead people so the opposite of that is life and laughter,” she added.
Jess isn’t the first celebrity to show interest in mortuary science. “Real Housewives of Atlanta” alum, Phaedra Parks, who is a licensed funeral director and mortician, chronicled her journey in the industry during her time on the series. Most recently, she served as a funeral director for the memorial service of Rayshard Brooks, the 27-year-old black man who was senselessly murdered by police in a Wendy’s parking lot.
“It was an honor to serve the family, to help them at that very hard moment,” Phaedra told Page Six on earlier this month. “They have four children. I’m a mother of two beautiful African American boys and I can only imagine having to bury a spouse and knowing you’ve got these beautiful children and you have this expectation of raising in a two-parent household.”
R&B singer Monica is also a certified mortician.
