Chelsea Hart picks their comedy favourites

Chelsea Hart is at the Edinburg Fringe performing their show Damet Garm: How I Joined a Revolution about the woman-led, liberation movement in Iran. Here they pick their comedy favourites.

Eddie ​Izzard: Dress to Kill

As a person who is gender non-conforming and makes a hobby out of language, Eddie has served as a huge source of personal inspiration. Eddie seems to straddle the nuances of history, culture, and language in a manner that, at least in my opinion, has never managed to be replicated by anyone else. 

Somehow managing to have the audience rolling through a crash course in etymology, Eddie is a wizard of jam-packing a cultural crash course that pushes boundaries of what comedy can be. 

Vir Das: For India 

I can only describe it as ‘empathetic political comedy’. I remember being taken aback. There is so much love in this show and you can feel it emanating from Vir the entire time as he talks about the nuance of his life in India. It’s not grandiose or forced. It’s approachable to anyone. Anywhere, at any level of understanding. Brilliant storytelling. It’s a one-hour love letter. 

Some Like It Hot

I fell in love with this classic as a kid. I begged my mom to put the DVD in on repeat. Perhaps entranced by the ‘gender-bending’ nature of the storyline, I was addicted. 

For its time, it was rather revolutionary. A story of two men who join a women-only band to escape the pursuit of a mob boss, it explores gender presentation, love, femininity, masculinity, and sexuality, while in the confines of superb comedic timing.

 Jack Lemmon was spel-binding as a woman, and his nervous character next to the smooth Tony Curtis made for an ebullient and rambunctious dynamic. You add in sizzling Marilyn Monroe and it’s a blockbuster. 

Simon Evans on Michael ​McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow

I remember watching this set while I was still living with my parents in Alaska. ‘I know what you’re thinking: where are his eyes.’ It made me fall in love with stand-up. The absurdity of his set was delectable. It was this particular episode that solidified my obsession with British culture and comedy.

Jack Whitehall on Live At The Apollo

Jack Whitehall was probably the first British stand up I ever saw. I didn’t know what "posh" was as a 19-year-old in Alaska, but I quickly found out from his storytelling.

PK

This is the story of an alien who lands in India and learns about religion. It follows a being who has never heard of spirituality, and explores aspects of the human experience that are difficult to make fresh. 

The people who find him name him PK which in Hindi translates to ‘tipsy’ due to the outrageous nature of his questions. We’ve all heard about religious divides, but what happens when we throw in an alien? What would an alien take away from watching our squabbles? 

The movie is delightfully absurd. A hilarious must-watch for anyone, regardless of faith or lack thereof. 

Published: 13 Aug 2023