In an interview with Northern Virginia Magazine, comedian Aparna Nancherla discusses her time at Thomas Jefferson High School, comedic origins, and her new book on imposter syndrome.
I see that you went to Thomas Jefferson High School, which is our top-ranked high school in this issue. What was your experience like there?
I was, honestly, not a very science and tech–inclined student, so I think it was probably like my last foray into science and math. And then I kind of went down a more creative, humanities path after that, but it definitely felt like a very challenging high school experience. Like I would say, college almost felt a little bit easier after TJ.
How did you get into comedy?
One summer when I was home from college, my friend from high school who had kind of turned me on to a lot of stand-ups that I hadn’t heard of before … discovered this free comedy open mic that was, I think, at a Best Western just off the highway near Tysons Corner mall. … So we both kind of made this unofficial pact that we’d both go up once before the summer ended. I remember the first time I went up was on my birthday, which I think was my attempt to get more sympathy from the audience. And it went well enough that I had enough confidence to be like, ‘Maybe this is something I could keep doing,’ because I feel that first time always has pretty high stakes.
Tell me about your new book, Unreliable Narrator: Me, Myself, and Imposter Syndrome.
It’s a book of personal essays, and the theme is impostor syndrome or self-doubt. But yeah, it’s just something I’ve struggled with in pretty much like every area of my life, whether that’s career or relationships, or even, like, you know, a daily interaction I might have with a stranger. I think it was something I wanted to be able to explore more and, you know, with stand-up, you only have so much time to get to the punchline. And I think I just wanted a format where I could sit with things more and maybe not come to a clean resolution the way sometimes a joke always has a neat, like, finish to it.
When you get back to NoVA, what are your favorite things to do?
Sometimes my parents and I will just go walk across the Key Bridge and just walk around Georgetown. I feel there’s a lot of good trails, too, that I liked because I ran a lot when I lived there, and I liked to explore all the little trails like [the ones on] Roosevelt Island.
Feature image of Aparna Nancherla by Robyn Von Swank, book cover courtesy Viking
This story originally ran in our October issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
