Entertainment
Comedian Leo Reich on Gen-Z narcissism: ‘There’s a bleakness to my generation’-Ashley Davies-Entertainment – Metro
His stage persona is an exaggeration of an stereotypical self-obsessed Gen-Zer.
Leo has been wowing Edinburgh Fringe audiences with his debut show (Picture: Raphaël Neal)
No other show has made Edinburgh Fringe audiences bite their lips, blush, sigh, swoon, think and laugh quite like Literally Who Cares?!, Leo Reich’s exhilarating, neon-bathed debut that has seen him nominated as best newcomer in Dave’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards.
Using stand-up, storytelling, electropop songs and dancing – picture a hedonistic gay cabaret in Berlin, whose beautiful and damned young occupants’ eyeliner might be smudged for any number of transgressive or emotional reasons – he seduces us into considering some of the contradictions of life for many Gen-Zers.
As he puts it: ‘I see the show as a kind of loving self-parody about a specific kind of hopeless narcissism that I identify in myself and a lot of others in my generation – where people are rabidly introspective and self-publishing as a way of coping with the lack of hope in the future, whether on a personal level or larger political or environmental level.’
What we see on stage is an exaggeration of a type of person he thinks he is and who he feels a lot of people his age (in the show he says he’s 23, but a pinch of salt might be in order here) have become.
He talks about the origins and impact of toxic love, short attention spans, the pointlessness of caring when there’s just too much to worry about. It’s impossible to look away.
Leo has been nominated for Dave’s Best Newcomer award (Picture: PA)
His stage persona is an exaggeration of a stereotypical narcissistic Gen-Zer (Picture: Raphaël Neal)
It’s dense with ideas and it throbs with truth and vulnerability. And it’s natural to wonder why he chose these themes for his first show. And why now?
‘On a psychological level, that could take years to answer,’ he laughs. ‘I think there’s this bleakness for my age group, especially among metropolitan, self-consciously liberal young people. I felt it was something that hadn’t been skewered in a way that I had experienced it, and it felt like a good opportunity to do that.
‘Also, there’s something therapeutic about doing something that says, “If these are the worst things I feel about myself, here they are. And here’s why.”’
Stand-up has for decades been an interesting, accessible vehicle for creative people to expose their psychological flaws or embarrassments, giving everyone a chance to laugh together and collectively offer some reassurance that, actually, it’s not that bad; you’re not alone in your strangeness.
‘I feel like I’ve done that but on a more sort of general personality level. It’s as if I’m saying, “Here I am: the most self-involved, venal, callous, apathetic, arrogant young person in the world. Is that OK?” And everyone’s like, “Not really, but it’s kind of funny.”’
Leo has been a big comedy fan since the age of 13. His first hero of the genre was Simon Amstell, whom he adored so much he virtually impersonated him for four years – something he still catches himself doing from time to time.
Leo finds revealing ‘the worst parts of himself’ therapeutic (Picture: Raphaël Neal)
As a teenager he discovered the (sadly now gone) Invisible Dot comedy club near to where he lived in north London, and was wholly captivated by the kind of material they championed.
It was a hotbed of experimental creativity that nurtured some great talent, including Jamie Demetriou, Tim Key, Sheeps, Emma Sidi and Phil Dunning, and the culture of collaboration there gave birth to some impressive works and careers.
Leo would be there as often as three nights a week, sometimes with his mother; too young to get involved but absorbing it all with a passion.
A lot of the Invisible Dot gang had been in the Cambridge Footlights, so Leo set his sights on following a similar path, and it was there that he first started performing comedy, making friends with other emerging stars of that cohort such as Ania Magliano, Bella Hull and Celya AB – all of whom are presenting impressive debut shows in Edinburgh this month.
He’s painfully aware of the privilege, from having a dynamic and encouraging drama teacher at his private school, ‘which looked like a bank’ (he wrote a comedy play, critical of the place, which they brought to Edinburgh) to being able to spend nearly all his spare time at university performing comedy to an audience who were already well-disposed towards him.
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After smashing Edinburgh, he’s got a run at London’s Soho Theatre (October 10-15) but after that there’s a good chance he’ll be throwing himself into writing.
He’s already written some episodes of Entitled, a Channel 4/Showtime co-production from the company behind Fleabag.
It stars Brett Gelman (probably best known as Murray in Stranger Things, but also the unpleasant brother-in-law in Fleabag).
He has a few other television projects in development and, while he’s necessarily discreet about what these are about, this young man is on a path to be a compelling Gen Z voice.
This show fires the starting gun on what is going to be an extraordinary career.
Leo performs Literally Who Cares?! at Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, until Sunday.
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