The Backpack Tour: Punkie & Kalea

About: Punkie Johnson is a comedian and writer from New Orleans, Louisiana who joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2020. Past credits include Space Force (Netflix), A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO), and Bill Burr Presents: The Ringers (Comedy Central). Punkie was a New Face at the Just For Laughs Festival in 2019, and is a proud paid regular at the World Famous Comedy Store in Hollywood. She is also a series regular on the upcoming season of Love Life (HBO Max).

About: Kalea McNeill is an actor and stand-up comedian from the Bay Area. She gained a love for performance at an early age through various plays, oratorical competitions, and community events. She graduated from Clark Atlanta University with a BA in Theatre Arts before moving to Los Angeles to pursue her career.

She is best known for her recurring role as Hanifa Downey on season four of The CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, along with numerous television guest appearances. In 2022, Kalea was selected as a prestigious New Face of Comedy at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. Since then, she has appeared on Netflix’s Funny AF with Kevin Hart and BET’s ComicView: Rooftop Series, taped sets with Comedy Central and Don’t Tell Comedy, and become a favorite at both the Netflix Is A Joke Festival and the Moontower Comedy Festival in Austin, Texas. Her debut, Grammy-considered comedy special Sma’am, is available on Amazon Prime Video and can also be heard as an album on streaming platforms worldwide.