News and Events => Arts & Entertainment News => Topic started by: Shana A on June 07, 2012, 09:12:12 AM Return to Full Version
Title: Queen-to-King of Comedy - Transgender funnyman opens up about laughing at life
Post by: Shana A on June 07, 2012, 09:12:12 AM
Post by: Shana A on June 07, 2012, 09:12:12 AM
Queen-to-King of Comedy
Transgender funnyman opens up about laughing at life
By Sam Adams
http://alibi.com/art/41866/Queen-to-King-of-Comedy.html (http://alibi.com/art/41866/Queen-to-King-of-Comedy.html)
Ian Harvie is living proof that comedy and catharsis go hand in hand. Billed as the world's first female-to-male transgender comic, Harvie routinely uses his experiences with discovering gender identity as the basis of his stand-up act. He might be riffing on the nipple sensation in his armpits due to a chest reduction surgery. Or he might be talking about how people mistake him for "the lost f---ing member of Wham!" Harvie's humor is hilariously raunchy, but it's also too sincere and well-intentioned to be deemed self-deprecating.
[...]
How does gender identity play into the type of audience you attract?
Whoever you are as a comic, you have a perspective and that perspective is your identity. So if you're Margaret [Cho] you're probably queer, feminist, political, dirty. If you're Jerry Seinfeld, you're talking about everyday events—which, you know, he admits and Larry David admits the comedy and the show was a lot about nothing. Even that's people's identity. And each of those perspectives draws a certain kind of audience.
The people who are probably the most interested in me are probably queer, liberal—they're not all gender-variant, but they have an interest in gender. Generally you'll draw the people who have an interest in what your perspective is.
Transgender funnyman opens up about laughing at life
By Sam Adams
http://alibi.com/art/41866/Queen-to-King-of-Comedy.html (http://alibi.com/art/41866/Queen-to-King-of-Comedy.html)
Ian Harvie is living proof that comedy and catharsis go hand in hand. Billed as the world's first female-to-male transgender comic, Harvie routinely uses his experiences with discovering gender identity as the basis of his stand-up act. He might be riffing on the nipple sensation in his armpits due to a chest reduction surgery. Or he might be talking about how people mistake him for "the lost f---ing member of Wham!" Harvie's humor is hilariously raunchy, but it's also too sincere and well-intentioned to be deemed self-deprecating.
[...]
How does gender identity play into the type of audience you attract?
Whoever you are as a comic, you have a perspective and that perspective is your identity. So if you're Margaret [Cho] you're probably queer, feminist, political, dirty. If you're Jerry Seinfeld, you're talking about everyday events—which, you know, he admits and Larry David admits the comedy and the show was a lot about nothing. Even that's people's identity. And each of those perspectives draws a certain kind of audience.
The people who are probably the most interested in me are probably queer, liberal—they're not all gender-variant, but they have an interest in gender. Generally you'll draw the people who have an interest in what your perspective is.
Title: Re: Queen-to-King of Comedy - Transgender funnyman opens up about laughing at life
Post by: dalebert on June 07, 2012, 09:28:10 AM
Post by: dalebert on June 07, 2012, 09:28:10 AM
"That's rude! He didn't even acknowledge my third hole."
FWIW, I felt very guilty for laughing at that one.
FWIW, I felt very guilty for laughing at that one.