Leo Kearse: The Edinburgh Interviews 2019
Who? Leo Kearse
What? Transgressive
Where? Gilded Balloon Teviot – Nightclub (Venue 14)
When? 21:15
What are your feelings as you enter into this year’s Edinburgh Fringe season?
I’m scared. I’ve got a proper big promoter producing my show this year in a big room at the Gilded Balloon, so it’s an opportunity for me to do a good show. If this goes well they’ll tour the show, I’ll make money, I’ll maybe get famous. Then I can crush my enemies.
What is the premise of your Edinburgh show this year?
I was banned from my venue at the Perth Fringe in Australia because people complained that my material is transphobic. But I wrote that material with a transgender woman I was dating (a hot one) because I’m so woke I dated a transgender woman. Most people who complained weren’t even transgender – there were straight people who say they’re queer because they think it makes them more interesting, and there were drag queens. Drag is trans blackface. A drag queen complaining about transphobia is like a minstrel complaining about racism. So my show is about the tyranny of ‘wokeness’, victim culture and how all these right on lefty pricks are ruining everything for everyone, including themselves.
What is the biggest obstacle you face(d) while putting this show together?
I’m really lazy. It’s easy to fall into the trap of sitting about all day playing games on my phone and wanking. Everyone applauds Stephen Hawking for pushing forward the boundaries of physics despite his disabilities, but I’d be able to focus and achieve lots if I couldn’t form a fist around my dick. The only thing that really motivates me is spite.
Has your attitude towards the Fringe changed at all in recent years?
I like it because all my friends are there, I make money and it forces me to write new stuff. Anyone who says they lose money at the Fringe is doing it wrong. Likewise, any comedian who says there’s no money on the live circuit is really just saying that they’re too shit to get booked for the good clubs. The importance of the Fringe has dwindled as social media allows people to connect directly with their audience and build a following. But I am too lazy to put up videos all the time. If I had the self discipline to sit at a computer putting subtitles on videos, I’d get a proper job.
Do you have any other Edinburgh show recommendations?
Darius Davies: Persian Of Interest. Darius is hilarious and totally Islamic even though he looks like a white guy. For years I’ve been telling him to do the Muslim thing so that the white saviour-complex diversity fetishising liberal comedy gatekeepers let him on TV. He refused, saying they should book him because he’s funny. It doesn’t work like that – they’d rather book someone who fits their patronising, reductive, box-ticking idea of what an ethnic comedian should be. So now he’s doing a show about being Muslim or Iranian or something so that they let him on TV. He’s very funny. He also MC’s my late night show Hate ‘n’ Live which has a panel of comedians hating on audience suggestions. It’s brilliant raucous improvised fun and we’re doing it in the Big Cave this year.
Where would you like to be in a year’s time?
I don’t know. I’m already doing better than I thought I would. I drive a bright red shiny Audi and I spend winter in the tropics. I’d quite like to get famous and powerful so I can marry a really really hot woman like Melania Trump and smite anyone who has crossed me.
