Jordan Firstman and the Art of the Asshole

He made a name for himself by finding comedy in imperfection and egomania before contending with cancel culture for old missteps. Meet social media’s sexy impression chameleon

- BEATRICE HAZLEHURST

Nestled into the bed he brands as “sex stained,” Jordan Firstman wears his button-down wide open, revealing a large-link silver choker as thick as a bike chain. The texture of his green-tinged locks coalesces perfectly with the shag of the faux fur–covered wall looming behind him. Though I’ve never been in it—we’re speaking via Zoom—I know his bedroom well. It was featured in Architectural Digest.

The bedroom also stars in many of the waggish Instagram posts that helped rocket Firstman into wide pop cultural consciousness at the outset of the pandemic. Last year was strange for all of us, but perhaps especially so for Firstman, who claims to be simply a “fat Jewish bitch from Long Island.” First he found fame by way of social-media comedy. Then he nearly lost it—and some say should have lost it—over three offensive tweets from 2012, the same year he arrived in Los Angeles with dreams of making it big.

It was early April 2020 when Firstman uploaded his first batch of impressions to Instagram, starting with the timely and spot-on “impression of a guy who is addicted to saying that quarantine isn’t that different from his normal life.” Conceited L.A. denizens, inanimate objects, pet peeves, clichés, “banana bread’s publicist” and “the truth trying to catch up with Donald Trump” all come to life in Firstman’s episodic impersonations. Usually shot selfie-style with a front-facing iPhone camera, the clips showcase his ability to capture the absurdity of the human condition during one of the most unprecedented years on record. They’re hilarious, and he knows it.