Background and career
Jessica Robin Moore (born February 13, 1992), known professionally as Jess Hilarious, is an American comedian, actress, radio personality, and social media personality. Since 2024, she has co-hosted the radio show The Breakfast Club. Hilarious rose to prominence with her weekly "Jess with the Mess" pop culture news segment on Instagram starting in 2017. On television, she recurred on the MTV series Wild 'n Out (2017–2018) and starred in the short-lived Fox sitcom Rel (2018–2019) as Brittany. From 2020 to 2025, she hosted the podcast Carefully Reckless.
Jessica Robin Moore was born on February 13, 1992 in Baltimore, Maryland. She has described herself as having "a nice foundation and structured family" as a child. As a teenager, Moore's mother sent her from Baltimore to Pennsylvania due to her marijuana usage and rebellious behavior, where she attended a predominantly white high school. Prior to working in comedy, she aspired to be a model. She worked various jobs, including at McDonald's, Walmart, and with children, all of which she was fired from, before studying mortuary science at a trade school. She dropped out after being scared by the embalming process and soon decided to pursue a career in comedy instead.
Hilarious started her comedy career in stand-up. In 2017, she rose to prominence with her weekly Instagram series "Jess with the Mess", in which she recounted prominent pop culture and news items from throughout the previous week. Delores Shante of The St. Louis American reviewed her 2017 stand-up performance in St. Louis negatively, writing, "Jess found out the hard way that poppin' off on celebrities for 60 seconds and engaging an audience ... for a full-length routine, are night and day."
In 2018, Hilarious had more than four million Instagram followers. In July 2018, her comedic Instagram rant about being confused for a New Yorker and explaining aspects of the Baltimore dialect went viral online, and a Baltimore club remix of the video by DJ BooMan, titled "Jess H Bmore Anthem", was released in September 2018. She co-hosted the BET Social Awards with D.C. Young Fly in March 2019.
After Nick Cannon direct messaged Hilarious, she made her television debut on his MTV series Wild 'n Out in 2017, on which she appeared for three seasons. She made her television acting debut on the Fox sitcom Rel—which premiered in September 2018 and was named after and starred comedian Lil Rel Howery as Rel—playing Brittany, Rel's stubborn best friend. She replaced Angel Laketa Moore, whose role was recast after the pilot's table read in March 2018. Anna Moeslein of Glamour described Hilarious's as a breakout role, writing that she "steals the show", while Decider's Joel Keller praised her in a review of the show as "elevat[ing] every scene she was in" and "grounding the show in some realism". The series was cancelled in April 2019 after its first season. Hilarious also starred in the 2019 film I Got the Hook-Up 2 as Officer Keisha. She later claimed in 2023 that she had not been properly compensated by Master P for her role in the film. She later starred in the 2023 BET+ biographical film First Lady of BMF: The Tonesa Welch Story, which was Vivica A. Fox's directorial debut and premiered in October of that year, and as Leah in the drama film I Hate I Love You, which was directed by Jabriel McIntosh and released in late 2024.
Hilarious's podcast Carefully Reckless, in which she discussed topics such as sexuality, politics, and dating, premiered in 2020 as part of the launch lineup of Charlamagne Tha God's Black Effect Podcast Network. It was one of the first podcasts to be released by Facebook as part of their in-platform podcast streaming service in June 2021. The podcast was hosted at the Roots Picnic in 2022 as part of their Podcast Stage. By 2023, the podcast was part of the iHeartPodcasts network and had entered its third season. Hilarious appeared on the scripted, Kym Whitley–helmed Audible podcast Kym, which premiered in October 2022. She guest co-hosted the radio show The Breakfast Club several times throughout 2023, including during a December interview with Sexyy Red during which the rapper confronted her over her alleged "sneak dissing". She also had a brief feud with Lil Meech and his then–girlfriend Summer Walker after calling Lil Meech "deli smelly" and a "cheater" on the show in June of that year. She announced at a party in Baltimore in December 2023 that she had been hired as a permanent host of the show, replacing Angela Yee, who had left the show in August 2022. It was officially announced in a video on The Breakfast Club's social media accounts in January 2024 and she began her tenure on the show the following month. She announced later that month that she was pregnant with her second child and went on maternity leave that summer, picking producer Loren LoRosa to fill in for her "Jess with the Mess" segment.
