Zainab Johnson: Bio, Comedy Style, and Where to Watch

Who is Zainab Johnson?

Zainab Johnson was born in Brooklyn, grew up in Harlem as one of thirteen siblings in a Black Muslim family, got a degree in mathematics education from City College of New York, did a semester at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, taught for a period, and then moved toward stand-up — not through a clear plan but through accumulation of the right environments. She and her friends used to visit the Comedy Cellar regularly before she ever performed.

She won the American Black Film Festival’s inaugural Comedy Wings competition in 2013 and was a contestant on NBC’s Last Comic Standing in 2014. Variety listed her in its 10 Comics to Watch for 2019. She is known for her role as Aleesha on Greg Daniels’ Amazon Prime series Upload, which ran from 2020 to 2025. She co-hosted Netflix’s 100 Humans and voiced a character in the YouTube Original series Tab Time. She has performed at Late Night with Seth Meyers, HBO’s All Def Comedy, and Last Comic Standing. She released her debut comedy album Model Citizen independently in 2016, a half-hour television special in 2018, and her hour-long special Hijabs Off on Amazon Prime in 2023. Vulture named her a Comedian You Should and Will Know in 2025. She is a paid regular at the Comedy Cellar in New York and the Comedy Store and Improv in Los Angeles.

Zainab Johnson’s Comedy Style

Johnson’s comedy is built on a perspective that is genuinely singular — growing up as one of thirteen siblings in a Black Muslim family in Harlem produces a worldview that most people performing stand-up comedy don’t have access to, and she has spent years finding the exact right way to make that perspective land with audiences far outside her origin story. She is direct, confident, and warm without being soft.

The mathematics education degree is not irrelevant. There is a precision to her construction that reflects someone who learned to think about problems in terms of what is actually true, not what is merely plausible.

Where to Find Zainab Johnson

Hijabs Off is on Amazon Prime. Upload is on Amazon Prime. Find tour dates at zainabjohnson.com and follow her on Instagram @zainabjohnson.

Zainab Johnson has performed at the Comedy Cellar in New York City’s Greenwich Village. Check the current lineup and upcoming shows at comedycellar.com.

Catch Comedy Cellar shows live from New York on Mint Comedy at watch.mintcomedy.com.