PHOTOSWho Is Jordan Firstman & Why Did He Go Viral? Watch The Funnyman's Best Impressions
If anyone can get funny lady/social media queen Chrissy Teigen to bust up laughing, we definitely want to know about them. And, in 2020, that person happened to be Jordan Firstman, a 29-year-old TV writer who busied himself during quarantine making comedic "impression" videos for his Instagram and TikTok accounts that were so off the wall, they charmed stars and laymen alike.
The video that captured Teigen's attention? In May, Firstman — with no more props than a couch and a telephone — executed a hysterical impression of what a publicist might say if that publicist happened to be repping everyone's favorite quarantine baking project.
In the video, which Teigen regrammed, he raves to "banana bread," crowing about how a quarantine-fueled plot designed to raise the baked good's popularity took off faster and way better than expected.
"We got everyone home, we got them a bunch of f**king rotting bananas, and they went off, b**ch," he raves. "We did it, we're rich, we're set for f**king life."
"Actually gut laughing," commented Teigen, and she wasn't the only one. Firstman amassed more than 800K followers on Instagram with his collection of biting, sly, sardonic, and just ridiculously funny impressions of COVID culture (and sometimes just pop/social culture), with numerous celebs appreciating his handiwork.
As he told The Cut, he started off 2020 on a bad note, breaking up with his boyfriend and finding out that the show he had in development for four years would never get made. Then, shortly after those two bombs, California laid down its stay-at-home order. Deciding to make the most of a bad situation, Firstman leaned into his creative vibe and began making his comedic shorts for social media.
"I’m cocky, and that’s what repels people, but I’m also warm and real,” he told the outlet. “I feel like I’m always bringing people forward and backward at the same time.”
Firstman, whose writing credits include Search Party and Big Mouth, has nearly 20 compilation posts (or, as he says, "seasons") of impressions on his Instagram account.
Check out a few of our favorite ones that he's done to date!
The Fly’s Publicist
Firstman takes a unique approach to the over-meme'd housefly that made an untimely appearance during the Vice Presidential Debate... landing in Mike Pence's hair. First of all, Firstman lets us know this fly is a girl fly. (Who knew?) Second, he reprises the "banana bread" publicist persona, gloating about the successful maneuver. "Even the Republicans are laughing! I saw it on Twitter!"
Impression of a Straight Man
Firstman leads off a series of impressions with a hilariously simple take on the typical lunkhead straight guy... consisting of him staring at the camera blankly and saying "What?" plus the occasional "Word."
God
Right before the contentious 2020 Presidential election, Firstman added a bit of levity to the procedures by doing an impression of God (!), imploring His people not to mess this election up. "I gave you free will, as a gift I might add," Firstman intones. "Some of you are using that free will to elect a fascist leader who will take away that free will...I'm kind of just looking at y'all, like, 'what are these b**ches doing?'"
Summer 2020
Firstman leads off another series of impressions with a distraught Summer of 2020, who is tearfully telling the camera it just doesn't know what to do with itself this topsy-turvy year. "I know I should disappear for a little bit, but then I don't want people to be mad at me, because everyone usually loves me," he sobs.
