“It's a gloriously varied life”

Laura Lexx is a graduate of the University of Kent, where she studied stand-up comedy under Oliver Double, with whom she now does the Comedy Bureau podcast. Steven spoke to Laura about her recent tour of Australia, her upcoming show, Yo-Yo, and her imaginary marriage to Jürgen Klopp.

What is your official occupation? 
Comedian.

Do you count podcaster under the role of comedian?
Yeah, I think so because I'm an author. I've written two books, but it's all just me. My only job is being professionally me. All the different roles fall under that. Otherwise, you start at my MC work and post under X, Y, and Z. Comedian will do.

You've got a new tour coming up this year. What can you tell us about Yo-Yo? 
Yo-Yo is about turning 40, hitting a decade of being married and a bit of a re-evaluation of myself and life, given the way the world currently is. Trying to be relevant and 40 in a world of social media, and trying to be married and engaged in a world with a four-year-old, and all of those feelings when you hit that bit where you go, “I'm not 22 anymore.” How do I still feel about myself and everything around me? It's one of those shows where you stop and just take stock. 

You've just come back from Australia. Was that a warm-up for Yo-Yo? 
That was actually the tail end of the last tour I did, Slinky, which ran in England in autumn 2024. That was the last leg of that tour. I took it to Australia to Adelaide, Melbourne, and Brisbane, and then finished it up in London. 

Is the Australian audience different?
I think so. I think Australian audiences tend to be a bit more tender-hearted. They don't go in so hard for edgier jokes or the darker jokes, whereas British audiences have a bit of a darker sense of humour.

You are praised for being repetitive, and I think that that is creatively problematic

You mentioned social media earlier. What is it like to find out you've gone viral online?
A relief because that's what you're trying to do every bloody day.
It's useful. I think that's the thing with social media. Completely honestly, it stopped being fun and started being the only way to reach your audience. It feels like it's become a game where you're being told what to do more than you're being praised for creativity. Going viral is the key now to tour sales. You can directly link views on Instagram to how tour sales sell that week, and it does make it a little bit like you are just the marketing wing. You're not genuinely being creative and comedic, you're being the marketing team. That's how I feel anyway, but I'm despondent about social media because I think social media blasts any nuance. The videos that do the best are always the ones with the most extreme baity title or the things that do one thing clearly and then once that works you are supposed to then do the same thing 50 times in a row to consolidate your audience and it feels harder and harder to put out an array of different abilities and go “I do comedy on lots of things, in lots of different ways.” You are praised for being repetitive, and I think that that is creatively problematic.