A multi-lingual, multi-disciplinary author and comedian who graduated from the prestigious HEC Paris business school, Jo Güstin left the world of marketing behind – much to our delight – and has gone back to writing, which she began doing at an early age.
Je n’suis pas venue ici pour souffrir, OK? (“I didn’t come here to suffer, OK?”), she reminds us. With her microphone in hand and her feet firmly planted on the ground, she offers a humorous and caustic version of reality in this stand-up show, in the service of intersectional Afro-feminism. Using cathartic punchlines and anecdotes from her life between Europe and Canada, she denounces racism, sexism and systemic LGBTphobia.
Jo Güstin knows how to create discomfort while freeing the mind, inviting us to laugh grudgingly at dramatic and tragic events in a way that is as hilarious as it is moving.
Prickly yet benevolent, she subtly raises awareness both among those affected and those who have yet to realise it. And her show doesn’t stop there: she doesn’t hesitate to mix in songs with evocative titles: “Ce pays est raciste” (“This country is racist”) or “J’ai rendez-vous chez la psy” (“I’ve got an appointment with my therapist”) in reference to mental health issues specifically affecting black people or activists.
As you can see, Jo Güstin’s stand-up is not ordinary; it’s intersectional.

Jo Güstin is a published writer, comedian, creative producer, and public speaker who tells the dopest queer African jokes and stories in French and English. Intersectionality Black feminist, she uses fiction and her dry wit to celebrate Black and queer joy. Born and raised in Cameroon, she studied at prestigious institutions in France, Germany and Japan. She is now a Canadian permanent resident based in Toronto, ON. After a two-minute marketing career (L’Oréal, Orange, Gleeden, Citroën), she said, “fuck this, I’m an artist,” and started freelancing as a French language specialist as PROFESSION:SCRIBE in 2015, as she layed the foundations of her artistic career. She accidentally started stand-up comedy in 2016, her first book (“9 Histoires lumineuses où le bien est le mal”) came out in 2017, a one-woman-show (“Je n’suis pas venue ici pour souffrir, OK ?”) in 2018, a second book (“Ah Sissi, il faut souffrir pour être française !”) in 2019. In 2020, she founded the creative production company DEARNGE SOCIETY in Canada. Her award-winning short film Don’t Text Your Ex (Best LGBT short, Cannes Short Film Festival 2022) and audio drama series Contes et légendes du Queeriqoo (Out d’Or 2021) are the first productions under the label.