Seven Questions With… Laura Lexx
Laura Lexx is a sweet-talking comedian with a surprisingly sharp bite. Lexx has been making waves in recent years since her 2018 show Trying was met with high criticial acclaim. She is soon to embark on a tour of her latest show, Knee Jerk.
1) How did you decide to approach developing Knee Jerk after the huge success of Trying?
Well, this tour is actually an amalgamation of those two shows… they naturally link in to each other really well and while Trying is more personal and Knee Jerk is more socially-focused, they work very well as companion pieces. I’m excited to be able to do some of the material from Trying without the full emotional narrative, and to update some of the social politics of Knee Jerk to make it up to date for 2020. It’s really refreshing to have more than an hour to play with and to be able to play with the audience a lot more because there are no time constraints.
2) What motivates you as a performer?
I am at my happiest on stage… it’s where I feel relaxed, confident, in control and like a professional. It’s the thing in my life I really back myself to do and while I’m doing it my mind is focused and calm. I think other people talk about running or games or something in a way that’s similar to how I feel about being on stage… it’s a time where my extraneous thoughts are all focused on what I’m doing and I can shut out white noise. I just love being on that stage and I love making people laugh. It’s what I was born to do.
3) Where would you go if you could go anywhere?
Oh… lots of places. I would love to go to Japan, I would love to go to Canada. I usually want to go home. I like beautiful places and stuff but I’m a very people-based person. I’ll go where the people are, I don’t much care about places without people.
4) What is the worst thing anyone could say to you right now?
They could tell me I have upset someone. I hate upsetting people. I try and be very careful about what I put out into the world and I’m not good at confrontation. I hate the idea that I’d be responsible for hurting someone.
5) How have you changed as a comic over the past five years?
I’ve got much much faster at finding the funny. I’m more confident in what I’m doing and whether something has potential so now I can get myself to a point where things are working much quicker. I can make my natural way of wanting to do things work rather than trying to adapt everything to make it fit what I’m supposed to be doing.
6) What are you bored of?
Assuming the worst of people. I am so bored of the current climate where everyone wants an easy reason for things being wrong and the easy reason is always to just label a bunch of people as awful. It’s mind-numbingly single minded, crass and unhelpful. I wish we could all assume nobody is out to hurt us until we have to assume that.
7) What character trait do you most envy in others?
The ability to not be jealous and to celebrate other people’s success. I like being enthusiastic about other people but I feel like naturally I run to jealousy first and then have to work my round to being a better person. I’d like to not have that first hurdle and just to go straight to being a cheerleader for other people.
For more information, visit Laura Lexx’s website and follow her on Twitter
