Canadian comedian Johnnie McNamara Walker heads to the Edinburgh Fringe this summer with his solo show The Heterosexuals.
“A deep dive into the shocking world of heterosexuality! They walk among us!! But where did they come from? And what do they think they’re wearing? Find out in this explosive solo show based on undercover research gathered while posing as one of their own! Combining storytelling, satire and deep personal humiliation, The Heterosexuals are here to spill the T on what The Queers really think about The Straights.”
Where: Bothie at Gilded Balloon Patter House
When: 5-31 Aug
Ticket link: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/the-heterosexuals
What can you tell us about your show?Â
The Heterosexuals is a show I have been performing at festivals and venues across (mostly) North America since 2022. It’s a satirical solo comedy piece, and after a debut at the Edmonton Fringe, I’ve toured it to places like Toronto, New York City, Vancouver, Dublin, and many others.
It won the English Comedy Award at Montreal Fringe, an Outstanding Theatre Award at Orlando Fringe, the Audience Favourite Award at Lavender Fest in Atlanta, and last winter, I took it for a six-city tour of Canada’s East Coast.
What is it about and where did the idea come from?
The Heterosexuals is about… the heterosexuals! People often laugh at the very idea of the show, but I think there’s something really interesting in the way that a dominant culture is typically considered “neutral.” We often act like there aren’t specific idiosyncrasies and norms to straight culture, even though most people would be able to identify those things within queer culture.
So, it’s part roast, but part exploration into the ways that the idea of “compulsory heterosexuality” is so deeply ingrained in our culture that it tends to interrupt the development of queer people literally from the moment of birth.
How would you sell it to audiences in one paragraph?Â
The conceit of the show is that I am holding a secret meeting in a hidden location where the queer people of the world can finally air our grievances about straight people, discuss the things we would never mention if we knew they were in the room, and figure out, once and for all, what is to be done about The Heterosexuals?
Of course, in reality, a 100% queer audience is extremely unlikely. But this actually makes the satire sharper and the game of the show a bit more fun to play. For the queer members of the audience: they’re already in on the joke! For the straight audience members: I get to tell them “you’re a lesbian!” and for one hour, they get to be part of a club into which they would never usually be admitted and share complicity in their own roast, which tends to be a rather delicious experience for all involved.
Do you enjoy participating in the Fringe? And do you have any moments you particularly remember?Â
I have been producing my own work for the stage at Fringe Festivals for over 20 years, and it’s absolutely where I cut my teeth as an artist and found my voice. But the first time I ever performed The Heterosexuals stands out in my mind as especially memorable. 2022 was the first proper year back after COVID for a lot of North American festivals.
An old friend was running a venue at the Edmonton Fringe and asked if I had a show ready and was thinking of coming. At the time, I didn’t, and I wasn’t, but I said yes to his offer, wrote the show, and flew to Alberta. At that point, it had been years since I’d been properly on stage in front of an audience, and I genuinely wondered if I still knew how to do it. That first performance of the show was a little rough – I made some mistakes, some of the cues came out wrong – but there was still something electric in the room, and I could feel the audience leaning in with curiosity, provoked and excited by the material.
Later that night, I took a 5-minute excerpt from the show and performed it at the festival’s Late Night Cabaret. And for those five minutes, I had the audience in the palm of my hand. Something clicked that night, and I realized that I had hit on something really special with this one, and I knew this was a show I would be performing for a long time to come.
What are you looking forward to the most in Edinburgh?Â
While I have toured all the major Fringes in North America, this will be my first time bringing a show to Edinburgh, which is very exciting – and more than a little scary! Years ago, when I was in undergrad, I spent a summer abroad in the UK and spent one weekend in Edinburgh to check out the Fringe, so I have an idea of the festival’s massive scope and scale.
Bringing a show to Edinburgh has been an ambition for basically my entire adult life, so taking The Heterosexuals to the Gilded Balloon this year is a bit of a dream come true for me. I’m sure it will be a real endurance challenge, but if I ever had a show I felt confident was ready for Edinburgh, it’s this one.
What’s next for the show?
I’m actually shifting gears very frequently this year as an artist. Earlier this year, I had a bunch of dates for The Heterosexuals on the East Coast, including performing for 400 people at the beautiful Fredericton Playhouse in New Brunswick.
Right now, I’m rehearsing my other solo show, Iggy Beamish Destroys Traditional Marriage, for a run at Montreal Fringe. Then it will be The Heterosexuals for a couple of nights in Toronto, followed by Edinburgh. And then in the fall, I’m going to be workshopping a new play I’ve been developing—not a solo show, for once!—and continuing work on a novel.
I don’t know where The Heterosexuals will pop up next after Edinburgh, but I have no doubt it will return. As long as there are still straight people to make fun of, the world will continue to need this show!