Comedian, actress, and writer Mitra Jouhari is the Cut’s cover star this November. Jouhari, 27, most notably co-founded the improv-comedy group Three Busy Debras, which was picked up by Adult Swim for a live-action comedy series which premiered earlier this year. The six-episode series co-starring and co-written by Jouhari was produced by Amy Poehler and was renewed for a second season back in May. Her writing has also been featured in shows like Big Mouth, High Maintenance, and Miracle Workers. Not everything is a joke with her, though. During the pandemic, Jouhari has been volunteering by making hygiene kits for the homeless, and she organized a drive that’s produced about 4,500 of them. Read the full interview by Sangeeta Singh-Kurtz here.
Shot inside a century-old house in Los Angeles by photographer Lelanie Foster, Jouhari poses in a green dress and purple tights. Foster noted that when collaborating with stylist Rebecca Ramsey, they chose to dress Jouhari in an eccentric look as an extension of the L.A. home’s antique aesthetic. Prior to the shoot, the photographer looked at images from Jouhari’s social accounts in order to present her as naturally as possible, hence the simple hair and makeup.
Foster was excited to take on a subject who’s newer to the scene: “There’s not a lot of imagery of her out there, so I felt really excited by the opportunity, and a responsibility, of course, in terms of presenting her to the world.” She chose not to go the route of shooting the comedian as comic buffoon, instead taking a more natural approach. “I wanted to get away from shooting her as a jokester,” said Foster. “She’s also a beautiful woman and I wanted to highlight that … I wanted to celebrate her in a more natural form and not as a performer.”
Foster is excited for viewers to familiarize themselves with Jouhari and her work. “There’s this intimacy there that she gave to me,” she said. “And I hope viewers value how much of herself she opened up.”
