Jamie Lever on Her Mimicking Journey: ‘My Father Played a Big Role in Making Me the Artist I Am Today’

If one takes a look at Jamie Lever’s Instagram, one would immediately notice his incredible talent and skill as an artist. His funny videos and celebrity spoofs earn him a lot of praise from fans. However, Jamie, who is the daughter of veteran actor Johnny Lever, faced many hurdles in the beginning due to the male-dominated nature of the stand-up industry.

Recalling the time when she entered the industry, Jamie told Hindustan Times, “I saw myself as an artiste and I never let the gender issue affect me that much. I was competing with some men out there, but I felt it didn’t matter whether I was a man or a woman, I just wanted to carve out a niche for myself as an artist and that was my challenge.”

At that moment, all Jamie was looking for was just who’s who in the market and who’s the reigning comics. “I just had to do something to make my mark and that was my motivation. I never thought I’d want to be the next big female comedian.”

Jamie’s primary focus was self-improvement, and in his early days, he received assistance from his uncle Jimmy Moses and his father. She explained, “Hence, I started watching a lot of videos to capture the body language, speech and tonality. The skills I worked on in the beginning helped me to make my place.”

According to Jamie, female comedians are often the butt of jokes by their male counterparts. She explained, “We would never get the punch line, but we were but the butt of jokes. Men would always throw punch lines at us instead of cracking jokes at us. I didn’t like that at all. It wasn’t just me, it was everyone else.” There were women who were in the show. At that time (10 years back) the general perception and the mindset of the society was that women are not funny, so we were not given many lines. But, after a few years, I gained a lot of confidence And I started standing up for myself. I don’t blame anyone for not offering me much, but we had to prove ourselves.”