Comedian Jessica Watkins walked so you could run. Over a period of about 8 months, Watkins took a walk across the United States. Her new documentary, SPECIALish, follows the trek. Watkins directed and wrote the piece herself, documenting her past, her present, and her hopes for her future. The film combines both bits of her standup, as well as her attempts to heal from a difficult past.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Written and directed by Jessica Watkins, this moving feature-length documentary is her story which began with her leaving Nashville at 18 years old to become a star. Now, ten years later, she finds herself struggling as a standup comedian in New York City. In the age of self-promotion and crowdsourcing, Jessica hatches a plan to quit her job waiting tables and jump start her career, hopefully landing her BIG comedy special — she will walk across America. Leaving behind her partner, dog, and life as she knows it, with minimum physical training and having gone on two hikes ever, Jessica sets out on her tour.
“For eight months, from Delaware to California I pushed a running stroller full of gear,” says Watkins. “Staying with strangers, sleeping on the side of the road and gathering hundreds of hours of footage” She pushed that stroller full of camping gear and whiskey to the West Coast, performing standup and meeting locals to assist her along the way. Three months into the walk Jessica has made it through six states, a knee injury, and almost giving up when an interview on a radio show brings painful memories of a teenage assault into focus.
Jessica Watkins says “It was a radical experience that shifted my whole perspective, but after the walk is over you return back to normal life, and that was probably the most eye opening part.”
SPECIALish comes to streaming platforms and Video on Demand May 11, 2021.
