From Shakespeare 101 to rapping about female genitalia

Jon Laj  oi  e [jon lash-uh-wey] n. 1. loves Michael Keaton un-ironically. 2. sings about genitals. 3. “Internet celebrity.”
Jon Lajoie, aka that “Show me Your Genitals” dude, has more than 11 millions hits on his Youtube channel, and people in the industry from Adam McKay to Will Ferrell are fans. The best part? Lajoie started here, in Montreal. Plus he’s a Habs fan, so what’s not to like?
Lajoie graduated from Dawson College in theatre in 2001. He got a role in the French TV show L’Auberge du Chien Noir on Radio-Canada. His character, Thomas Edison, was on the show for five of its on-going seven years. During that time, Lajoie and friends created a band, Fluid Rouge, which appeared on “L’Auberge.” In 2006, their self-titled CD came out. Everything was going according to plan. When the band broke up, Lajoie was placed in the difficult position of not knowing what to do with his life.
He watched funny videos on the Internet, and naturally came to the conclusion that if other people could do it, he could too. That’s how you go from studying Shakespeare 101 to rapping about female genitalia. With original song titles such as “Rapist Glasses” and “Everyday Normal Guy,” Lajoie quickly gathered a fan base on Youtube.
He started posting on Funnyordie, a website created by SNL golden boy Will Ferrell and his producing partner Adam McKay. They loved him there; Lajoie got nods of approval from McKay and from Ferrell’s agent, who told Lajoie that Ferrell was a big fan. At first, Lajoie thought the agent was “talking shit, but then he started quoting songs.” Now Will, just say it to his face.
When he was a kid, Lajoie didn’t necessarily want to be a comedian, but he says, he had no idea he’d be “making genitals jokes and saying motherfucker.”
Lajoie is now an “Internet celebrity.” Chances are that if you start singing “I can’t have sex with your personality,” someone will answer straight-faced “And I can’t put my penis in your college degree.”
The Internet allowed Lajoie to become famous without anybody’s help. He can’t even conceive a world where he would be famous without the Internet. “I’d be writing scripts in my basement, trying to get someone to produce them,” now he can write songs, compose beats, post them on the computer machine and be adored.
Jon Lajoie just single-handily recorded Jon Lajoie, You want some of this? in Montreal. Fans wanted a CD and he could give it to them. The album is available on Itunes, at his shows, and on Amazon. His next album will probably get more of the star treatment and get more publicity, but for now, Lajoie really wanted to give something to the fans, and signing a deal with a record company “didn’t make sense.”
Lajoie started touring last November with Live as F*ck. Thankfully, he loves touring and says that being onstage is like “being on the Internet. I can say what I want to say, do what I want to do.” And if ever he was nervous nobody was going to show up, in let’s say Minneapolis, he can calm down, because apparently, people in Minneapolis will wait in line to see this Montreal home-boy. His tour stops at Club Soda, on Thursday night. Advice: Don’t miss it.
Now, the bad news for us, but good news for him, is that Lajoie moved. He moved to LA y’all. Yes, LA. Well, he’s hot shit now. Someone out there ought to recognize talent and print his face on movie posters. Until then though he’s happily living off his job as a comedian, he’s paid okay, he loves moving around and he is very aware that “Internet stardom can come and go.” When asked about LA, Lajoie is honest “it’s expensive as shit living in LA.” When asked why he moved then (in maybe a whiny voice), he answered that “as an English speaking actor in Montreal, possibilities are limited.” He didn’t want to be “l’anglo de service,” plus there are more opportunities for comedy in LA.
Let’s just think about stuff that we just don’t have here. They have Flight of the Conchords, the Lonely Islands, Human Giant Show. Lajoie’s right, he will be better off there with his English awesomeness. Still, what about us? He’s writing a musical now and he wants to direct one day. His musical? “High School Musical meets Across the Universe meets my mind,” right. You show them, Jon.

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