Jelly Roll revisited one of his worst-ever performances during a recent stop on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, sharing the story of a time that his usually-compelling blend of music and storytelling backfired big-time.
It all went down at Princeton University some years back, when Jelly was booked to perform for students at an event helmed by actor and stand-up comedian Chelsea Handler.
The singer described the event as a “talk,” though his time onstage included a musical element, too.
- In addition to his busy career as a touring musician, Jelly also frequently delivers motivational speeches, especially at places like jails, addiction recovery centers and medical facilities.
- The singer is known for his magnetic onstage presence, and typically, he has no trouble captivating audiences — but apparently, this event was an exception.
“Chelsea Handler took me to Princeton once to speak to the student population. Jelly Roll and Chelsea Handler at Princeton. What a connectivity,” the singer joked as he set the scene.
“I’m not a comedian, but in y’alls world, you use the word “bomb” a lot — this is me bombing,” Jelly went on to say. “I mean, dude, I was eating crow up there. Ice cold crow.”
The crowd wasn’t responding to him as a speaker, so Jelly decided to pivot to music. “I was like, ‘Bring the guitar, this’ll win. Music always works,'” he remembers.
The song he performed, Jelly goes on to say, had a component where he sang about the grief of losing a loved one. Jelly fans already know that tough subject matter like this is a big part of his show, and that he always finds ways to allow the audience to honor their own stories of loss and hardship while listening to his music.
“And I had a part of the song where I go, ‘If you’ve ever lost someone you love, just put your hands up, please sing this song with us.’ Normally everybody in the crowd here has lost somebody they love and they connect and they put their hands up,” Jelly says.
But this time? “Not a soul,” he deadpans.
“I forgot that Princeton kids hadn’t even lost their grandparents yet,” Jelly jokes. “There was zero connection there. It was literally the worst show of my career to date.”
Wait, Jelly Roll and Chelsea Handler Know Each Other?
Yep. According to social media, the unlikely friend pair have hung out on several occasions dating back to at least 2019, when Handler tapped Jelly to appear in her 2019 Netflix documentary, Hello Privilege. It’s Me, Chelsea.
Jelly posted a photo of himself and his wife Bunnie Xo with Handler around this time, writing about the documentary, “She shared a piece of her story that had never been told and I appreciate that for whatever reason she chose me to be a sounding board for it.”
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Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes
