Bodies are incredibly funny.
Broadway dancer turned yoga instructor turned writer/producer/performer JoAnna Ross not only knows this due to her multi-hyphenate career, she crafted her latest project “Hot 50!” around it, covering everything from medical diagnoses in kids yoga to drug-induced abdominal muscles to wearing menopause as a badge of honor despite science slacking on it.
Out Apr 16, 2026 via Howl & Roar Records, JoAnna’s debut special “Hot 50!” rips into the ridiculous patriarchy of it all, one fastball of a joke after another.
This is the powerhouse performer’s most personal work yet, and that resonates with her fans, both previous and new. Her audiences have young women thanking her, older women hugging her and men asking about VAG of Honor hats. So, of course, she made some herself.
JoAnna is a Jersey girl most regularly seen on the Lower East Side in the nightlife institution Schtick A Pole In It, a comedy and pole dancing show co-created with her partner Dan Goodman. The celebrated show started thirteen years ago and has been featured in the New York Times, Time Out NY, Gothamist, and AM NewYork. JoAnna performs regularly at the New York Comedy Clubs, West Side Comedy Club, and independent shows all over the 5 boroughs. JoAnna has featured/opened for Jackie the Joke Man, Sarah Colonna, Rich Vos, Lance Weiss among others. Online, she recently launched the “You Only Wear It Once” podcast, where she sits with former brides in their wedding gowns to discuss marriage and the complex issues that get revealed when planning a wedding- all over bubbly, of course.
Little JoAnna started dancing at three years old and had a dream come true when cast in the original company of FOOTLOOSE on Broadway, which included performances on both the MACY’s Thanksgiving Parade and 4th of July Specials as well as CBS Saturday Morning and The Rosie O’Donnell Show. She’s also done major commercial work, including Dell’s “Dancing Pentiums” campaign for the Superbowl and on the west coast, danced in CHESS at the Ford Amphitheater. Ross found yoga when working through an injury and became an Anusara yoga teacher, teaching young and old along the way. She lent her expertise to “Got Zen” and “Naturally Beautiful” on Zen TV and even produced her own kids’ yoga instructional video “Yoga by the Dozen.” To get her fix of performing while healing, she took a women’s comedy class while living in Los Angeles and now refuses to leave the scene. Always a storyteller, Ross married her love of comedy with wisdom from her yoga students in her memoir “The Students I Hate: How I Achieved Happiness by Despising Everyone Around Me.” On film, she is featured in the hit short “Pretty Dead Girl-A Musical Necromance” directed by Shawn Ku and has produced them as well, including “Baby Abs” and “Skinja” which was shown at LA Comedy Film Festival and Fantasia Fest in Montreal.
