By Mike Templeton
While the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition tends to focus on the local for a host of very good reasons, there remains the wider world where Appalachians make a powerful impact. Popular culture has long been made and re-made by Appalachian talent, and this goes well beyond bluegrass and country music. Television and film have also been influenced by talented people from the Appalachian region. Most recently Perry County, Kentucky, native Katie Kershaw has been making quite an impact in comedy and television, along with a few other things you may not expect.
For a good many people, the comic actor who captured the essence of old timey Appalachia is Andy Griffith. Mayberry may have been more properly southern than Appalachian, but Andy Griffith himself built his early career as a good ol’ boy from the hills, and this character is what launched him into show business. His monologue on football is a classic of American humor. Appalachians have long been the butt of jokes, and this is why we have been so adept at creating a form of comedy uniquely our own that can fight fire with fire. Katie Kershaw is a comic actor whose Appalachian roots have defined in her is many ways, but whose talent far exceeds the limitations of a regional actor/comedian. She brings her Appalachian flair to her current work on the stage, on television, and in the world of podcasts.
From the coalfields of Perry County and then Lexington, Kershaw is a Kentuckian who is definitely on the rise. From her Appalachian origins, and by way of Northern Kentucky University, Kershaw has taken her Appalachian background to the stage and now the small screen. Perhaps the work that stands out as a lynchpin for Katie Kershaw is her work in comedy improv, most notably with The Second City in Chicago. In the unlikely case that you do not know, The Second City is the comedy improv theater that launched the careers of people like Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, and John Belushi. It was basically the farm team for Saturday Night Live, and The Second City remans a place that draws some of the most talented actors in the country. Kentucky’s own Katie Kershaw now takes her place amid the comedy stars of The Second City.
Kershaw admits it is daunting to take stock of what she is doing. She mentioned in a recent interview that it can be intimidating taking the stage with the awareness of the comedy greats who have come from this prestigious theater. As Kershaw said, “I feel like the worst comedy student.” But in many ways, her background sheltered her from knowing the full import of The Second City, and she began with an “ignorance is bliss” kind of naivete about what she was doing. Now, she explained, she only occasionally finds out someone such as Steve Martin is in the audience and thinks, “What? This is my job?” The humility of a person from smalltown Eastern Kentucky up against legitimate stardom makes for a genuine shock, one can imagine.
Katie Kershaw has also been making a name for herself on the small screen. She has a long list of credits in television. She has appeared in Fargo, the television show based on the Coen Brothers’ film. The tv show takes some creative license from the film, but it retains the dark comedic quality associated with the Coen Brothers. Fargo won numerous awards, including seven Prime-time Emmy Awards. Kershaw played the character of Dessie Gillis in Episodes 8 and 9 of Season Two of the program. Most recently, Katie Kershaw has taken a prominent role as the character of Natalie-Ray Boone in the tv show Killing It which is steadily gaining viewers and endearing itself to critics, a rare combination in television.
As if Katie Kershaw were not busy enough, she also takes part in a podcast called Jockular. While Jockular is a sports podcast, it is a specific kind of sports podcast. Variety Magazinesaid it is “a podcast from three queer best friends, Katie Kershaw, Tien Tran, and E.R. Fightmaster—who, along with their guests, will discuss all things queer, trans and women-forward in the world of sports.” Like many podcasts of this type, Jockular will mix light-hearted banter and gossip with some real commentary on sports as it pertains to women, trans, and queer experiences in sports. The creators and participants say they intend to cover sports in the broadest sense possible, ranging from things we would expect like college basketball to sports that are perhaps less well-known such as “power slapping.” And yeah, that is a real sport.
Even in the midst of her steady rise in show business, Katie Kershaw holds onto her Kentucky and Appalachian roots. She says she has found a bar in Chicago where the patrons express a strong attachment to the UK Wildcats, and she can sip her bourbon and watch basketball. Still, Kershaw explains that being an Appalachian, a good many people simply may not be able to understand where she is coming from sometimes. As she puts it: “Being that I’m from Eastern Kentucky, even most Kentuckians don’t always get me. We’re a whole different breed down there.” Indeed, Katie, indeed.
Perhaps the thing that Katie Kershaw is doing that is the most laudable is that she is taking on everything she does on her terms, and she does it with an honesty and integrity that anyone can admire. Perry County has every right to be proud of Katie Kershaw as she puts little old Eastern Kentucky on the world stage in the best possible ways. And Kershaw appears to embody a kind of Twenty-first Century urban Appalachian experience that is well worth noting, something the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition is always happy to support. If we do not get to see Katie Kershaw at The Second City, her most recent tv show Killing It is available on the Peacock network.
Michael Templeton is a writer, and independent scholar. He is the author of The Chief of Birds: A Memoir published with Erratum Press and Impossible to Believe, forthcoming from Iff Books. He is also the author of Collected Apoems, forthcoming from LJMcD Communications and the awaiting of awaiting: a novella, with Nut Hole Publishing. Check out his profile in UACC’s Cultural Directory. He has published numerous articles and essays on contemporary culture and works of creative non-fiction as well as experimental works and poetry. He lives in West Milton, Ohio with his wife who is an artist.