Ain’t It Funny
Viral stand-up comedian and Emmy-nominated writer Josh Johnson relates hip-hop to hilarity.
Interview: Joey Echevarria
Editor’s Note: This story appears in the Fall 2025 issue of XXL Magazine, on newsstands now and available for sale on the XXL website.
As a prominent writer, stand-up comic and all-around entertainer, Josh Johnson finds many similarities between hip-hop culture and the world of comedy. The Alexandria, La. native, referred to as the funniest guy on the internet, often uses rappers and their lives as fodder for his most hilarious bits.
While he’s an Emmy-nominated writer and nightly correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, Josh is most widely known for his viral, 27-minute stand-up set titled “Drake vs. Kendrick Explained to White People.” The world-famous battle and some of hip-hop’s biggest moments, like the overtly bizarre Young Thug YSL RICO trial, serve as inspiration for the 35-year-old’s hilarious social commentary.
Josh joined XXL via Zoom during some downtime before a comedy gig in Portland, Maine in August. Here, he discusses the parallels between hip-hop and comedy, jokes about comedians who want to live the rap life, the rhymers he admires most and more.
XXL: Why do you gravitate to hip-hop music and the culture it represents?
Josh Johnson: With everything that’s happening in the world now, you need different forms of expression to get out specific ideas. In hip-hop, there’s lanes of expression for everybody. Most of us have these very shared experiences of being in love or losing a job, or really wanting something and getting it, or feeling like you’re it and nobody sees it yet. Those things are universal.
So, you can connect with someone’s journey through hip-hop way better than someone just trying to do regular pop that appeals to everybody. I see a lot of potential for strengthened relationships between [rap] artists and their communities right now. I think people, more than ever, need these outlets to feel normal and heard.
Who are your top five favorite rappers?
It gets harder and harder every year. The more I discover, the more that I want that Mount Rushmore to be the size of Congress. There’s Kendrick Lamar because of how I discovered him and the fact that he still has such longevity. Eminem is definitely in there. Discography-wise, Ye. Missy Elliott as well. Journey-wise, I’m interested in everything Chance The Rapper does. Every move, every connection that he builds, and even the way he bounces back if he’s ever had a hurdle, is something that I really respect and something that I see as what an all-time great does.
How does hip-hop influence the comedy world?
A lot of comics wish that they were rappers. Even the trouble that you see comics get into sometimes, you’re like, you’re trying to be a rapper. That’s what’s happening. There’s no reason for a comedian to get shot. There are comedians getting caught up like they’re really about that life and I’m like, “Why? You do jokes. How were you moving that you ended up getting shot in the thigh?”
What about hip-hop inspires your approach to comedy?
I approach comedy the way I imagine a lot of rappers approach hip-hop. It’s a very narcissistic endeavor to get up on stage and feel like you have the most to say and you really deserve to be there. You have to believe that is true. Even if you have a humble approach to the craft, you have to believe that you are one of the best to do it and then put that belief into your work.
How do you incorporate hip-hop topics into your stand-up comedy sets?
I do my best to talk about things that I feel very strongly about, so that there’s an authenticity there to what the set becomes. Just like the rest of America and to a certain point, the rest of the world, I was captivated by the [Drake vs. Kendrick] battle. Just like a lot of America, I was watching Young Thug’s trial and all the funny business going on there. I look at it as I want to do my best to speak on things that I feel like I have something to say about.
Are there any rappers you think would make good stand-up comics?
Eminem for timing. He’s got good timing. I also think 50 Cent for content. The way he roasts is like it’s coming from a place that is so deeply funny. When he goes in on somebody, it’ll be like, Wow, this is crazy, and this is what a comic would do.
Watch Josh Johnson’s XXL Interview
The fall 2025 issue of XXL magazine featuring comedian Josh Johnson’s interview is available to purchase here. The issue also includes Joey Bada$$ and J.I.D’s cover story interviews, conversations with Chance The Rapper, Rob49, Curren$y, Hit-Boy, Wallo267, Bay Swag, KenTheMan, Hanumankind, Babyfxce E, Ghostface Killah, KenTheMan, Hurricane Wisdom, Conway The Machine, TiaCorine, Pluto, Isaiah Falls, Vice President of Music at SiriusXM and Pandora Joshua “J1” Raiford, a look at the change in album rollouts over the years highlighted by Clipse’s Let God Sort Em Out album and more.
See Photos From Joey Bada$$ and J.I.D’s XXL Magazine Fall 2025 Cover Shoot
