Comedy / Larry Dean
Interview: Larry Dean
Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Larry Dean brings his critically-acclaimed new show Fandan to the Wqardrobe on Sunday, June 3, following a sold-out Edinburgh Fringe run and a debut appearance on BBC1’s Live At The Apollo.
“Confessional storytelling at its funniest.” The Herald
“Dean’s work is as good as Kevin Bridges.” The List
is needed now More than ever
“Has the easy charm of an arena comic and the high joke rate, too.” The Guardian
“The show is cleverly tethered around a Pret a Manger lunch with two murderers – all true”, one reviewer tells us. Um. Tell us more?
One of my best friends went to jail for culpable homicide and he got weekends out. We usually met up alone when he was out but this time he brought a friend from jail. I had no idea what crime he had committed…
What’s with the show title, Fandan?
Its a Scottish slang term for someone who is a bit of a fanny. I just tend to use words I enjoy saying for show titles. That’s it really. I never really know what a show’s going to be about until a few months after the title deadline, so I can’t really link it to a theme or anything. ‘Fandan’ is such a Scottish word too. I love it.
Some of the show focuses on the stereotypes you’ve come up against as a gay Glaswegian. Has this been a difficult pair of identities to live with?
Not so much, I’d say. I may be generalizing, but I think Scottish people are great at treating you based on your personality, not sexual orientation. Obviously some people are homophobic in Scotland, but we don’t like them, cause of their homophobic personalities. Of course, I do talk about gay stereotypes and the Scots in the show…
Which comics have inspired you, and fed into your own stand-up style?
Billy Connolly and Richard Pryor are the two I grew up watching. Both are incredible storytellers who can personify any of the people, animals or objects in their stories. They also had the ability to change people’s attitudes without ever sounding preachy. Definitely comedians I think anyone can look up to.
Some of the show addresses voting trends in Scotland… tell us more?
Well, with Brexit *and* the General Election in the past couple of years, and with Scotland voting a different way to the rest of the UK both times, I guess it’s unavoidable. It’s only a small part of the show but my family, like a lot of other families, all voted different ways. So we’d argue over the dinner table about it. The show’s main theme is about accepting other peoples’ opinions, even if I think they’re wrong.
Larry Dean performs Fandan at the Wardrobe Theatre on Sunday, June 3. For more info, visit thewardrobetheatre.com/livetheatre/larry-dean-fandan
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