Comedian Jono Zalay’s sophomore album Midnight Oil is out TODAY on Blonde Medicine (we promise this is NOT an April Fool’s Day prank). On Midnight Oil, Zalay marries his understated delivery with watertight writing to weave hilarious stories of his adventures in Ph.D.-level drug research, his pandemic personal growth, and a hellish corporate gig in front of some of his most beloved sports idols.
Originally from San Diego, Zalay started doing standup comedy in grad school at Boston University, researching the neuroscience of addiction by day and performing comedy by night. However, he found that he had become addicted… to comedy, and upon graduating he moved to NYC to pursue standup full time. Zalay has been chasing the dragon ever since, a pursuit that has led him to Los Angeles where he currently resides.
Describing where the unusual trajectory from scientist to comedian has found him, Zalay states:
“As a man in his late 30s I grapple with how to be a functional member of society, despite (and because) of the time I wasted as a scientist in my 20s. I now have to take a silly profession very seriously as we navigate the crumbling of society. (As Joe Rogan demonstrated, the world has chosen to listen to stand up comedians over renowned scientists). So I talk about personal experiences like getting engaged during the pandemic and a cancer scare as well as societal woes like the gender pay gap and Trump’s enemies list.”
Zalay had planned to record Midnight Oil in March 2020, but instead barely made it home from a tour of South East Asia on March 8, rebooking his return flight six times to avoid layover cities that were experiencing their first outbreaks. Over the next year, while in quarantine he added and improved a large portion of the material to reflect the times, and rescheduled the recording for October 2021 (which turned out to be only a window between two of the deadliest variant spikes).
“The recording process felt a little like I was lifting this album from a boobie-trapped tomb and barely escaping with my life.”
JONO ZALAY - MIDNIGHT OIL TRACK LISTING:
1. Welcome to Jono's Album!
2. Let's Get Silly!
3. Stay Out of School
4. Oops, Too Much Science!
5. First Blood
6. Ejected from the Gene Pool
7. Whitewashing Ancestry
8. Self-ish Help
9. Keep It Clean
10. Decent Proposals
11. Am I Right?
12. Natural Born Allies
13. Crimes Against Literacy
14. How to Get into Heaven
15. Dick's Last Resort
16. Diagnostic Tool
17. Strike One
18. Strikes Two & Three
ABOUT JONO ZALAY:
Jono Zalay began his standup career in Boston, while simultaneously earning his Doctorate in Neuroscience (he gave cocaine to rats). Since dropping his science hobby to pursue comedy full time, Jono has been named one of Comedy Central’s ‘Comics to Watch,’ and earned international press for his pranks on the DMV. Jono has been featured in over 30 comedy festivals around the country and now lives in Los Angeles where he has written comedy for FOX, Amazon, and Comedy Central.
ABOUT BLONDE MEDICINE:
Blonde Medicine is a record label and production company based out of the San Francisco Bay Area. With roots in comedy and music production, they aim to help Artists make great art, no matter what form it may take. Their genre-spanning releases can be found at blondemedicine.com.
For all media requests, please contact Andrew Gerhan - ag@sharkpartymedia.com