JAMES BARR is best known as the star of applauded podcast A Gay and a Non-Gay (which is also playing Edinburgh for the last week of the Fringe). Painfully relatable and delectably funny, his Edinburgh Fringe show THIRST TRAP sees him IRL tinder-swipes his way through the audience whilst dressed as an avocado. Ahead of that, he tells us about his favourite comedian Stephen Bailey and why gay comedians should support one another.
James Barr by Corrine Cumming
I just read a really interesting deep dive on Regina George, the suggestion being that the original mean girl was just a frightened woman in the grip of a scarcity complex. That’s right, Regina is the victim. A scarcity complex is what happens to us when the patriarchy makes us believe that there aren’t enough jobs, men or ‘creatine bars’ to go around. We end up hating, bitching and shaming each other for our similarities. We create a self-fulfilling circle of fear and in some cases even limit our opportunities to succeed. As a new ‘out of the closet’ comedian, other gay comics would tell me regularly “comedy is closed”, “there’s only room for one gay” or “all the gay jokes are written”. In fact, even the head of ITV Studios - Kevin Lygo - recently said “there are quite enough gays on television”, literally establishing a ‘pink ceiling’ for up and coming gay talent… nah mate.
Two years ago, I had the pleasure of seeing Stephen Bailey live for the first time. If you’ve not experienced his effortless, honest and fabulously funny comedy yet, you’re missing out. In his most recent Comedy Central special Stephen discusses his life as a supermarket check-out queen, his working-class roots and our need to support each other. The audience can’t get enough of his brutal honesty, his proudly Northern wit and hysterical live re-enactment of bum sex. He’s one of the UK’s sharpest rising comedians and (after bumping into each other at a restaurant) he’s now one of my best friends. We could so easily hate each other. We’re both ginger and we’re both gay. It would seem likely that we’d feel crushed by the pink ceiling, but one of the most wonderful things about feminism, is the ripple effect it’s had on some of the gay community. Inspired by high profile female comedians sharing stories and opportunities with each other in WhatsApp groups, Stephen and I have made it our mission to smash the pink ceiling and support each other. Stephen sat front row at my work in progress last year, he invited me to open for his UK tour (!), he’s about to appear on my podcast ‘A Gay and A NonGay’ and I couldn’t be more proud of his recent achievements hosting Channel 5’s ‘Celebs On The Farm’. Society wants us to feel jealous of our counterparts’ success; it wants us to isolate ourselves and believe that there are only limited opportunities for tick-the-box, on screen minorities. This is a lie. Talent is unique to every single one of us, it completely transcends sexuality and gender and celebrates the one single truth that unites us: we’re all human.
James Barr: Thirst Trap is at Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 1st–25th August (not 12th). Tickets and more information: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/james-barr-thirst-trap
Tagged in Edinburgh Festival Fringe