Karen Jones: From Jan. 6 Rap to Comedy Clap-back
By James Fenkner, CFA
Karen Jones, a former Santa Ynez Valley community leader turned comedian, electrified a sold-out crowd at a Saturday Santa Barbara Conservative Republicans event at Timbers, blending biting humor with unapologetic political defiance. The grandmother – convicted of disorderly conduct for her role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol “insurrection” – used her 32-minute monologue to recount her journey from local politics to national infamy, framing her legal battles as a badge of honor.
Jones faced house arrest and probation after entering the Capitol post-Trump rally, experiences she now mines for comedy. Her Santa Barbara homecoming, after relocating to Texas amid personal and legal turmoil, drew a packed house eager for her take on election integrity, government overreach, and her pivot to stand-up.
Her humor, often self-deprecating and salty, targeted her public image. She quipped about the sharp squeal the microphone made as she started her set: “I always say I never met a microphone I didn’t like, but I don’t like this microphone. I’m telling you, it’s dangerous. Good. Stay way back away.” The line sparked chuckles, setting a lively tone.
Jones leaned into her “convicted domestic terrorist” label: "I thought you’d be afraid to be in the same room with a convicted domestic terrorist. Makes my heart feel good to see so many people would risk coming out to be around a dangerous criminal like me.” The sarcasm landed hard, disarming the audience.
She insisted that she and her husband entered the Capitol on January 6th peacefully with police permission, and eventually became aware of what she suspected were Antifa infiltrators in the rotunda. “Excuse my language, but we had no pink pussy hats on,” she jabbed, contrasting genuine patriots with clandestine progressive protesters bent on mischief. “We were not there to shout people down, silence people, interfere with a process.”
She recounted her post-Jan. 6 fallout—FBI visits, a no-fly list, and media scrutiny. Joining the Dead Voters Society she investigated alleged 2020 election fraud. “I know that Trump won in 2020,” she declared. “I’m not crying about it, because everything has played out the way it should, including me being arrested.”
Jones called the ordeal a “choreographed trap,” adding, “This was Kent State meets Tiananmen Square. Some of the finest Americans showed up because we care about election integrity.”
Boarding the Comedy Mothership
Her comedy career, born in Texas amid family challenges, became her resilience. At Joe Rogan’s Comedy Mothership on the “Kill Tony” podcast, she debuted with, “Some lady out there has a shirt that says, ‘Pussy is the new dick,’ But I’m pretty sure Karen’s the new dick.” The crowd roared, appreciating the punchy wordplay on her first name's cultural baggage.
Karen recounted holding the show’s leather joke book, defying protocol to share her Jan. 6 story: “Tony, you still don’t know the most interesting thing about me,” making her a legend for the longest interview in the show’s history.
Now senior correspondent for YouTube’s “Joke World,” Jones has appeared on “Drinking Brothers,” and mingled at Trump’s 2024 Madison Square Garden rally. “Comedy is so therapeutic,” she says, crediting it with reaching ex-Democrats wary of progressive policies. She urged Republicans to reject Covid vaccine and gender narratives: “Stop believing these people that gave us Covid, that gave us that vaccine that made a lot of people sicker than the disease did.”
Election integrity, she warned, is non-negotiable, or “it doesn’t matter how much we donate. Show up. whatever”
Defiant To the End
Local media doxxed Jones as a “seditionist,” with the FBI pulling the paper’s Jan. 6 footage in her arrest warrant. It was “the nicest story that the [Santa Barbara] Independent had ever written about me. Good pictures of me … I was slim, my hair was dark,” quipped Jones, throwing back her long greying hair. Jones says she doesn’t hold a grudge. Echoing other Jan. 6 defendants: “The process is the punishment. They break you.”
Jones sees silver linings: “Every bad thing that’s ever happened to me has ended up making my life better.” She’s eyeing a regular spot at Rogan’s club and vows to keep speaking out. “We’re Americans, we’re Californians, we are from the people who settled this frontier, and we need to take back our country,” she rallied.
Her story resonates with conservatives seeking vindication for what they view as political oppression, from Trump’s own battles to Governor Newsom’s dastardly scheme to gerrymander the California Republican Party into oblivion. In a post-speech Q&A, Jones expressed optimism: “I was pardoned, but I have not yet been vindicated. But it’s coming.”
For now, she turns her trials into punchlines, rallying the base with a combination of salty humor and steely defiance.
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Karen Jones’s full Timber’s monologue is available here.
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Karen Jones is one of our greatest Americans. I didn't know anything about her until I read the Independent piece and all I could think was - this is the best thing to come out of Trump Derangement Syndrome! The Independent is trying to destroy this woman and the reverse is happening! It's like that moment in the action movie when the villains inadvertently create a super-hero. Watch this https://youtube.com/shorts/ZWg3VLeqtso?si=YsfGCPeue7NSszJM and listen to this - Kinky Friedman and Willie Nelson sing the name Karen Jones https://youtu.be/5MeoyH_iob4. If only Kinky were here now. He'd be so proud of his friend.
We went to see her at the timbers and she was terrific. It’s great that she is able to see the bright side of her tribulations because someone else might see this mist treatment by one’s own government as a reason to act out violently. What our elected government did to the J Sixers was abhorrent and no one should ever forget what was done in OUR name!