Comedian Gina Yashere Reflects on Leaving America After Losing Home in L.A. Fires and Her Hollywood Journey

Comedian and actress Gina Yashere has decided to temporarily leave America after her house was destroyed in the devastating Los Angeles Eaton fire. The Bob Hearts Abishola co-creator and star shared with The Hollywood Reporter at the Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal that the fire gave her “a good kick” to step away from the country she had long dreamed of joining as a child growing up in London’s East End.

Yashere’s home in a predominantly Black community in Altadena, near downtown Los Angeles, was destroyed in the January 7 fire. She recalls being in Costa Rica at the time and unable to save treasured possessions including her comedy notebooks, club posters, and media reviews.

Despite still owning the land, Yashere’s hopes to rebuild were dashed when her home insurance was canceled. Currently, she splits her time between Costa Rica and Toronto, where she spends six months a year working as an instructor on Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

Yashere, a British-Nigerian comic, reflects on her complex relationship with America. Despite being a citizen, she feels alienated due to her dark skin and accent, highlighting societal issues with racial profiling. She originally moved to Los Angeles chasing the glamorous Melrose Place lifestyle seen in TV shows but quickly learned success in Hollywood was much harder and slower to achieve.

In the early years, Yashere struggled as comedy club bookers dismissed her fame from England, and only top headliners made a decent income. Undeterred, she waited patiently for stage opportunities and promoted her first comedy special, Laughing to America, which she filmed in San Francisco.

Her persistence paid off with subsequent gigs including her second special, Ticking Boxes, and work as a British correspondent on The Daily Show. Yashere’s breakthrough came in 2019 when legendary producer Chuck Lorre invited her to co-create and showrun the sitcom Bob Hearts Abishola, where she also played the character Kemi.

Lorre’s mentorship gave her creative freedom, and the show ran successfully for five seasons until 2024. Yashere attributes her understanding of comedy and timing to her stand-up background, which helped shape the show’s humor.

With major studios increasingly filming outside Los Angeles, Yashere recently landed a role on the Star Trek series filming in Toronto. After years climbing the Hollywood ladder, she now looks to establish more permanent roots beyond the TV and comedy stages, reflecting on the bittersweet experience of losing her home.

“It’s been a smooth ride for me, apart from my house burning down and me losing everything,” Yashere sighs.