TikTok star Morgan Jay gets real on alarming L.A. unrest, politics, & love for Amsterdam

Viral comedian Morgan Jay says he’s never used his platform to be particularly political. He broke that streak when he sat down with the Dam Yankee podcast, in partnership with NL Times, for an interview in Amsterdam in the middle of his European tour. The comic, whose popular musical bits have spread across the internet like wildfire, is a rare content machine that appeals to an audience that is extremely diverse in every way, including outlook on politics.

In the podcast studio, unshielded by autotune and his pianist, the self proclaimed “goofy guy” became reflective when talking about his adoptive hometown of Los Angeles. He discussed the protests in L.A. against mass immigration raids that began on June 6, and which turned violent as authorities and the military clashed with demonstrators.

While he is extremely popular on social media, he also knows his audience is not necessarily looking for him to wade into political debates. He doesn't really care when he is criticized for not being edgy. "I'm not doing this to get a rise out of people," he says, respecting those who work long hours and maybe have just enough money to pay to see one performer. "I essentially have a broad appeal. You know what I mean? And I'm like wondering, at what point is it my responsibility to start using that broad appeal to influence and shape the minds of the youths?"

TikTok regulars are already familiar with this master of crowd work. Jay has been a touring stand-up for years, but his career skyrocketed after a 2023 clip of his signature autotune comedy gained popularity. But the paradox of TikTok is precisely that users can awkwardly bounce from serious videos about rioting in California to the lighthearted performances which made him famous. His relationship with TikTok is a double-edged sword, he says.

The comedian is touring this year in cities spanning the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. But instead of an extremely trying pace, he has decided to book some more time in cities he enjoys and wants to explore more. That included return visits to Amsterdam, which even had him investigating whether he could purchase a home in the Dutch capital. He swears he's serious. "I love it here, and I think the people are awesome."

Dam Yankee: Your style is quite raw. You don’t seem like someone who’s terribly concerned with being cancelled.

Morgan Jay: No, I mean, in my show, we stay away from religion, race, and politics. Although it's funny, I was having a conversation with a friend today. I haven't used my platform to be particularly political. ... But with things going on in America right now, I'm kind of like sick to my fucking stomach right now. ... But I'm the son of an immigrant, so to see what's happening to the population. I would say 99% of the majority of these people are coming to America to look for a better life.

You know, I'm from LA, so I'm seeing the images coming out of LA right now. If people don't know, there's like full-on riots going on in LA. But like I said, like cancelable, again, my show stays away from that, but like, I don't know what to do at this point because it's hitting a point where I'm really sick to my stomach. And it's like, I'm out here touring Europe, enjoying my life and having the best time of my life. Meanwhile, all these other things are going on.

Especially because I am on TikTok so much. TikTok is like a really beautiful platform for artists, entrepreneurs, anybody who's trying to create something from the ground up for themselves, even people who are doing podcasts and things like that.

However, there is this weird thing about it where you'll swipe and you'll see a funny cat video, and then you'll swipe up and see like, you know, a Palestinian child trapped in rubble. And I'm like, I don't know. I don't know what to do. It's like a paralyzing effect. It's such a weird, twisted, dystopian application because it's led me to having such an amazing career, but I'm like, I don't know what I should be doing.

DY: The nature of your show is very lighthearted. I get the sense that it’s where people go to get away from a lot of what is going on in the world.

MJ: I mean, look, you know, I think there are people who for sure criticize me for what my show is. It's not edgy. That's fine with me. I'm not doing it to get a rise out of people. I'm doing it for the people who work an 80-hour work week and just need a place where they can forget about what's going on.

There are artists who are really good at doing both, you know, but I don't know. If you worked 80 hours and you only have, you know, 100 dollars to buy one ticket that year, and you went to a show and the whole show was political, I might be upset about it. I might be emotionally and physically exhausted coming to it. And I think it kind of depends on who you're buying the ticket to see.

If you came to my show and all of a sudden I started talking about the current administration and Donald Trump, I don't know how it would be perceived. Because I do sell tickets in every part of the country, and if you see my audience, it's both sides. Everybody's coming to my show. I'm talking about the people who—I'm talking about everybody. Every color of the rainbow is at my show. And a lot of ages. The age range has gotten a lot wider. From 12 to 60. So you know how I do. I essentially have broad appeal, you know what I mean? And I'm wondering at what point is it my responsibility to start using that broad appeal to influence and shape the minds of the youth.

DY: How has it been to be outside of the U.S. on your European tour right now?

MJ: I do like this city. I like the canals. I like the bicycles. I like it on a day that's not— I mean, even when it's rainy, I don't mind it.

I like the goofy-ass gingerbread houses that people live in. It's just a nice vibe here. I like walking around here. I mean, maybe it's because every time I come here, I do mushrooms or truffles, but I don't know. I like it here. I've been to a lot of cities in Europe, and this is probably among one of my favorite ones.

I don't know what it is about Europe, but Amsterdam is among the cities where I'm most popular in Europe. I'm talking about, like, I think I sold 4,000 tickets here, and I probably could have sold another 2,000 or 3,000 more.

For this tour, I really wanted to have time to do the shows but enjoy the city as well. So I had today off, I had yesterday off. In London, we had a couple days off because that's a big market. The last time I was in Europe, it was like city, city, city, city, city. I didn't have any time to do anything.

So now I get to hang out and hang with locals and do stuff and make connections and stuff like that. It just seems like a really easy, livable city. I don't know. That's why I scheduled extra time here in Amsterdam, because I like this city more than others…

DY: Would you ever think about coming and moving out?

MJ: One hundred percent. Yeah. I mean, I literally am Googling apartments and homes and what it costs to buy something here. It's not too much different than Los Angeles, to be honest with you.

Listen to this entire episode of Dam Yankee wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the full videos on YouTube. Jay reveals that pop star Megan Trainer was a good sport about sitting in his crowd once, he talks about how he keeps comedy fun for himself, and hints at the television plans he has cooking up.

The rest of his European shows are sold out, though he does use his waitlist and newsletter to announce extra shows. Tickets can still be purchased for his performances in Brazil for as little as 10 euros, in the United Arab Emirates starting around 60 euros, some seats are still available at various shows in the U.S. Tickets for his 2025 shows range up to about 175 euros depending on the location. The first months of 2026, he says, will be devoted to making music...